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How Many RV Clubs Poll


freestoneangler

RV Club Membership  

94 members have voted

  1. 1. Which RV Clubs Do You Belong Too?

    • Escapees
    • Passport America
    • Harvest Hosts
    • Good Sam
    • Happy Camper
    • RVUSA
      0
    • Thousand Trails
    • Sunrise Resorts
      0
    • Western Horizon Resorts


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Good feedback as always. I am reading that many abhor the deluge of e-mail advertisements from Good Sam... someone even quitting their membership due to that. Is that something any of you have experienced?

 

It's a toss-up between Good Sam and AARP, which is one reason why I dropped both.

Everybody wanna hear the truth, but everybody tell a lie.  Everybody wanna go to Heaven, but nobody want to die.  Albert King

 

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We belong to Escapees, Passport America, Good Sam, and KOA's VIK programs. All of them more then pay for themselves every year for us. I will say that our Escapees membership is overall the most important and useful to us, with benefits well beyond the campground discounts. The magazine alone is worth the membership cost!

 

Back when Good Sam allowed you to select your snail and email preferences in your online account, we opted out of everything except membership renewal notices. We very rarely see any mail of either type from them anymore. I believe you have to call them now to change your preferences, but I could be wrong...

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F-53 Chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/brake system

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I am reading that many abhor the deluge of e-mail advertisements from Good Sam... someone even quitting their membership due to that. Is that something any of you have experienced?

Yes. But it was junk mail rather than email that caused me to drop membership. I hadto pay forwarding costs on all the crap ...junk email is easier to divert. They said I could opt out but it never worked. Since the change in CEO, it is MUCH better now. I re-joined a few years ago.

Paul (KE5LXU), former fulltimer, now sometimer...

'03 Winnebago Ultimate Advantage 40E

'05 Honda Odyssey

Escapees, FMCA, WIT, SMART

http://www.pjrider.com

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Good feedback as always. I am reading that many abhor the deluge of e-mail advertisements from Good Sam... someone even quitting their membership due to that. Is that something any of you have experienced?

 

I dumped them due to cost vs benefit. The junk mail was just an added annoyance. I shred a lot of stuff. Any pre-paid envelope that came in the junk mail was returned with shred in the envelope. Cost THEM a little money for postage.

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We are lifetime members of GS, PA, and Escapees. Thousand Trails and FMCA are yearly memberships. Various reasons already mentioned but here's a summary:

Good Sam: the fall back to any and every discount. 10% isn't much but it is 10%. Also enjoy the discounts at Camping World (go there usually for the popcorn and to browse) and the $.08 per gallon discount at Flying J/Pilot. The discounts have already paid for the membership.

Passport America: Our first check and go to when not near a TT or Escapee park. The discounts have already paid for the membership.

Escapees: I figure, despite not being a member for very long, this group has saved me more than enough to cover the lifetime membership costs. The knowledge base is deep and broad. Parks we've stayed in have always been friendly.

Thousand Trails: When we first started, our area was the WA/OR coast and TT is well suited for staying in those areas. We started as zone members then as our travels became longer and farther reaching we upgraded (bought a used membership). We figure one month of park visits and that membership is paid for in full.

FMCA: This is probably the only membership that has not paid for itself - YET. We got it for the as already mentioned medical evac program and of course the tire discount when that comes time. If we use either of those benefits it will have paid for itself. We also joined the Lewis & Clark TT Chapter which is great for fun monthly rallies in the pacific northwest during the summer season and from what I understand, some gatherings down south in the winter (we'll be "researching" those next week).

 

Good feedback as always. I am reading that many abhor the deluge of e-mail advertisements from Good Sam... someone even quitting their membership due to that. Is that something any of you have experienced?

I called customer service and requested no mailers, flyers etc. Took a couple of times but it finally did happen and so the only flyer we get now is the sales thing that comes out once every few weeks. Don't mind that one as it shows what is on sale at CW. Have yet to receive any email spam from them and have to remind myself to check their website once a month to see what's up.

 

Note: All three lifetime memberships came with a deep discount for veterans which was a deciding factor in buying in.

Berkshire XL 40QL

Camphosting and touring


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Escapees, FMCA and Good Sam,GS, as RV clubs. Passport America,PA, as a half price camper business. Elks as a fraternal club. VFW and American Legion as a veteran.

VFW and Good Sam are lifetime memberships. Good Sam offered a half price lifetime membership for half price. At the time it was about $150.

USSVI, United States Submarine Veterans Inc, as a lifetime membership. Have used the 'Stoppin Spots', members yard a couple of times.

 

When traveling look at PA and Elks first. Then GS and FMCA and Escapees discount parks. Boondocking two to three nights then a campground.

 

During the Alaska trip, 2016, dry camping about 40%. Partial hookups for 30%, Elks. The last 30% was campgrounds. Had to pay full price maybe 10 times in six months.

 

Best magazine - Escapees.

 

Bill

Bill & Lynn Baxter

MCI102A3 Conversion, Detroit Diesel S50  

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  • 1 month later...

We are members of WIT (Winnebago International Travelers). We are active with a local chapter," Evergreen Winnies" in the Seattle area that has 12 or so outings a year. We are not full timers and probably will never be, so this keeps us active and keeps the RV itself exercised monthly. Below is a link so any Winnebago product owner, motorhome and trailer, can take a look at some of the other clubs around the country and activities each do monthly or so.

 

http://witclub.com/

 

Evan

 

2021 Winnebago 26t 27'1" LONG, TWO SLIDES, WALK A ROUNF BED  August delivery Picked up on the 8th

2012 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid (toad)

2013 F150 EcoBoost

Escapee #97975

WIT Club #157495

Evergreen Winnies

 

1st RV 2010 Wildwood 5er bunk house

2nd RV used 2001 Itasca Suncrusier

3rd RV Winnebago 22R

4th & finial RV 2021 MW 26T Ford 450 Chassis with the new 7.3lT V8

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We are members of WIT (Winnebago International Travelers). We are active with a local chapter," Evergreen Winnies" in the Seattle area that has 12 or so outings a year. We are not full timers and probably will never be, so this keeps us active and keeps the RV itself exercised monthly. Below is a link so any Winnebago product owner, motorhome and trailer, can take a look at some of the other clubs around the country and activities each do monthly or so.

 

http://witclub.com/

 

Evan

 

If you ever get a chance to go to their Grand National Rally, do it! It is a great time to meet others and learn from them and from Winnebago employees. We went when we had our View and they park all the View/Navions together in the same row so it was easy to meet others to share tips and tricks. Since you are a member of a state level group you would otherwise be parked with other members from your state. Great fun and a chance to learn what the manufacturer is up to now plus get your questions answered.

 

Linda Sand

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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Escapees, Goodsam, FMCA, Elk's, Passport, AAA, are the norm as far as club discounts for us.

 

We like the Old Fart Pass from the National Parks too:)! Good at other locations besides NP's.

 

Depending on our planned travels, we will sometimes renew our KOA. We like some of their parks, but usually find them to be price too high based upon what you get, even with the discount. So I'd say we're more selective when it comes to KOA's.

 

Those with military or government qualifying related jobs, also have Military related campground that can be an outstanding value.

 

I keep thinking about 1000's trails. We have a good friend that inherited her Mother's membership, which has the best options available for a 1000's trail membership. They're not yet retired, and usually use if in the Northern California, and Yosemite areas for now. They commented that the three to four parks they frequent are old, infrastructure in need of attention, and in their opinion 'over sold' as far as just too many people trying to use the same number of RV spaces... They have to plan way in advance to snag a space... But, I know from talking to other owners, that the value for those who travel frequently remains. So the purchased of a used membership, vs full price, and one with grandfathered in good benefits, may still be something we add to our arsenal in the future.

 

And also just as important as say a club discount, look for weekly and monthly cost breaks with many parks.

 

Best of luck to you,

Smitty

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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  • 5 months later...

Thought I would provide an update on our decision.  We opted for a three year Passport America and Good Sam memberships.  They offered good discounts for the multi year and Good Sam added a $25 voucher for Camping World.  Interestingly, its been Passport America who has sent advertise/promotional e-mails as opposed to Good Sam which has very few.  With all the negative feedback GS had been getting about overloading members with unwanted e-mail, it appears they have changed their ways.  If memory serves, there was an "opt out" box when creating the account.  I hope I haven't just jinxed myself! :lol:

We chose these for now because we're not FT and Escapee's seems more suited to that group.  Also, between these two, we can almost always get some discount - to include fuel discount at Flying J with Good Sam.

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We have Good Sam, KOA and we are Elks.  I joined FMCA , because a friend recommended it but we are selling our MH and buying  a 5th wheel trailer/diesel truck and if FMCA does not revise their rules to allow 5th wheel/travel trailer owners I will not renew. 

When we start the new travel season in 2018 I will add PA.

When we lived in California I did belong to Escapees, but number of campgrounds on the west coast are very few (two in California, one in the south and one in the central valley area) and one in Wash State I  did not feel I could travel enough (still worked) to make it worthwhile. 

Phil & Alberta Saran

2019 Keystone Cougar 30RLS

2012 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 diesel

Colorado

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22 hours ago, freestoneangler said:

We chose these for now because we're not FT and Escapee's seems more suited to that group.

Based on our experience, I'd guess that somewhere around half of the Escapee members are full-time. There are many snowbirds and others like ourselves who were once fulltime but have returned to part-time and still others who have never been fulltime and probably never will be. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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