RV Park Reviews.... Red River Valley Fairgrounds

[Kirk W]

I checked out the Red River Valley Fairgrounds camping on RV Park Reviews to find that most reports were quite good and so I thought that I would call and reserve a site for tomorrow night. Luckily I happened to go to the fair website and there it is posted that they charge $15 for each dog per stay in the park. I called and they did verify that. It is $15 each stay, whether 1 night or 3 months. I sent a message to the RV Park Reviews site as this could really come as a shock if someone went in and didn't know and they do not allow a review if you didn't actually stay there. Not one word about that fee is in the park review about this and it should be noted.

[Ranger Smith]

For $15.00 a night per dog they should feed it, walk it and pick up after it. Just another way to gouge the consumer.

[pjstough]

50 minutes ago, Ranger Smith said:

For $15.00 a night per dog they should feed it, walk it and pick up after it. Just another way to gouge the consumer.

Supply and demand at work.

[remoandiris]

2 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

 Not one word about that fee is in the park review about this and it should be noted.

Is it really RV Park Reviews responsibility to post additional park fee info that is listed on the park's website?  If reviewers aren't dog owners, they wouldn't mention the fee, dog runs, or anything else dog related.

[NDBirdman]

Welcome to ND.

[Dutch_12078]

1 hour ago, Ranger Smith said:

For $15.00 a night per dog they should feed it, walk it and pick up after it. Just another way to gouge the consumer.

It's $15 per stay, so not "per night" unless you only stay one night.

[Mr. Camper]

Isn't it great that we have the right to say "NO" and move on down the road!  I do agree with remoandiris and that it's not up to RV Park Review to get involved at this point.

[SWharton]

We had the same issue with RV Park Reviews and a cg in Vermont. They would not accept any animals, birds, hamsters, cats etc. RVPR would not post since we didn't stay there.

[Kirk W]

9 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

It's $15 per stay, so not "per night" unless you only stay one night.

That is correct so the cost is reasonable if you happen to be a monthly visitor. When I called the Fair and asked about it the "lady" on the phone was rather snippy in her response. I called because it seems rather strange as the fee ranges from outrageous if you stay one night, to next to nothing if you stay for months. I didn't ask if it was charged each month to the monthly visitors, but if strictly as stated, it would still be 1 time. 

My point for RV park reviews is not that it is their responsibility but rather that they do try to be the most accurate review on the internet and they do ask if the park has a pet area but do not ask if the park is pet-friendly. As a part of their effort to be the best, something to caution users of such issues would be a good thing. There are even a few RV parks that have a no pet policy that users might appreciate knowing about prior to arrival. They do a really good job but something of this nature would improve the information.

[FL-JOE]

55 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

That is correct so the cost is reasonable if you happen to be a monthly visitor. When I called the Fair and asked about it the "lady" on the phone was rather snippy in her response. I called because it seems rather strange as the fee ranges from outrageous if you stay one night, to next to nothing if you stay for months. I didn't ask if it was charged each month to the monthly visitors, but if strictly as stated, it would still be 1 time. 

My point for RV park reviews is not that it is their responsibility but rather that they do try to be the most accurate review on the internet and they do ask if the park has a pet area but do not ask if the park is pet-friendly. As a part of their effort to be the best, something to caution users of such issues would be a good thing. There are even a few RV parks that have a no pet policy that users might appreciate knowing about prior to arrival. They do a really good job but something of this nature would improve the information.

Really Kirk, there is no issue here.  RV Park Review, RV Parky, or any similar site collects tons of general information about thousands of private parks, commercial parks, and other spots to overnight.  For them to include a bunch of details that could easily change each season would be a nightmare.

You did what everyone should always do, use the on-line information to narrow down your search for a spot but then call and get COMPLETE information from the actual park, which you did.  

We have a whole set of questions when we call a park.  Most of them involve issues with our size.  However, a couple additional questions we ask the park are "do you have a storm shelter", plus we sometimes get their monthly rates for possible future references.   If we traveled with a pet we would have a set of additional questions for them, but again I would not expect each and every detail to be posted or known about every park prior to actually calling them.

[docj]

14 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

Not one word about that fee is in the park review about this and it should be noted.

Kirk:

As you are well aware RVParkReviews doesn't have "park reviews" other than those contributed by users.  The summary page for most parks is a compilation of amenity information contributed by multiple reviewers.  There is no intent that the RVPR summary page should contain all the information about a park that is included on its own webpage.  

For example, for those parks that charge extra for additional people in your party, that information isn't shown on the RVPR summary page.  Nor are early arrival or late departure fees.  Therefore, why would you expect a pet fee to be shown there?

Joel

[mptjelgin]

3 hours ago, SWharton said:

We had the same issue with RV Park Reviews and a cg in Vermont. They would not accept any animals, birds, hamsters, cats etc. RVPR would not post since we didn't stay there.

At the very top of each park's page is a list of "Park Features". The second listing is "Pets Allowed" which can have a green check (yes) or a red X (no). 

For the park you are referring to was this "no animals" policy correctly reflected in this area?

[docj]

3 hours ago, SWharton said:

We had the same issue with RV Park Reviews and a cg in Vermont. They would not accept any animals, birds, hamsters, cats etc. RVPR would not post since we didn't stay there.

No, RVPR won't allow you to post a review if you haven't stayed at a park, but if there's a particular piece of information that you think should be corrected with respect to the "amenities list" you are always welcome to contact the admins using the Contact RVPR links found on every page.  In your case, if the "pet allowed" box had been incorrectly checked for the park in question the admins would have researched your suggestion for a change in that status on the basis of information you submitted.  OTOH, if the pets allowed box wasn't checked, I'm not sure what else you would have expected RVPR to do with respect to your complaint?

Joel

[DKRITTER]

16 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

I checked out the Red River Valley Fairgrounds camping on RV Park Reviews to find that most reports were quite good and so I thought that I would call and reserve a site for tomorrow night. Luckily I happened to go to the fair website and there it is posted that they charge $15 for each dog per stay in the park. I called and they did verify that. It is $15 each stay, whether 1 night or 3 months. I sent a message to the RV Park Reviews site as this could really come as a shock if someone went in and didn't know and they do not allow a review if you didn't actually stay there. Not one word about that fee is in the park review about this and it should be noted.

Walking a mile in someone else's "moccasins".

When I first saw the title with us being from Texas since you didn't put the state in your post, I made a natural assumption you meant Red River, NM. 

[orca]

A website doing reviews on rv parks should have some way of reporting odd charges, such as a pet fee or a per child fee or even charge for showers.  The reason for using such a website is so we are not suprised by such outragous charges when we arrive at the park.  Calling all the parks in an area to ask a list of questions is just not practical when all the info you need should be on the review website!

[remoandiris]

19 minutes ago, orca said:

A website doing reviews on rv parks should have some way of reporting odd charges, such as a pet fee or a per child fee or even charge for showers.  The reason for using such a website is so we are not suprised by such outragous charges when we arrive at the park.  Calling all the parks in an area to ask a list of questions is just not practical when all the info you need should be on the review website!

RV Park Reviews does NOT review parks.  Park users review the parks.  RV Park Reviews is a repository for said reviews. 

And there is a way for odd charges to be shown on the site.  Just need a reviewer to put it in their review, then it is documented.   This specific park is rated a 6.1 out of 10 and the last review was 7+ months ago.  Not exactly a highly rated park.

It is up to individuals to do their due diligence and check the specific park.   It is just not practical for the VOLUNTEERS at RV Park Reviews to keep every park's info updated and current when there are thousands of parks on their review site.  That is what the users are for.  

[docj]

57 minutes ago, orca said:

A website doing reviews on rv parks should have some way of reporting odd charges, such as a pet fee or a per child fee or even charge for showers. 

No offense intended, but what cadre of staff do you think RVPR has to administer its site?  At present there are ~15,000 parks in our database and, as has already been stated, we rely on reviewers to include such information in their reviews if they think it is significant.  The site admins are ~10-12 at any given moment and are volunteers.   

For every park that has a website or a Facebook page RVPR attempts to provide a link so readers can seek out more detailed information and/or make reservations.  We do offer park owners "cloud space" where they can post photos and/or other information but that is a relatively new effort and not that many owners have taken advantage of the offer as yet.  It doesn't seem worthwhile for RVPR to attempt to incorporate in its summary listings all the possible information that a park may have posted on its own website.   

IMHO if you have a special request and you don't see information about it on a park's website, that's when a phone call is totally appropriate.

[Kirk W]

8 hours ago, docj said:

Therefore, why would you expect a pet fee to be shown there?

Nowhere did I say that I expect them to list such fees, but I did think that they (and you) are interested in as complete information as possible. So if I read your response correctly, this is not true, but they only want the general information? I suspect that the information would be in a review if someone were to stay there, but since most dog owners do not stay, no such information in the review. 

9 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

My point for RV park reviews is not that it is their responsibility but rather that they do try to be the most accurate review on the internet and they do ask if the park has a pet area but do not ask if the park is pet-friendly.

Do you want to improve things, or just take a defensive position? I foolishly thought that you and the staff might be open to suggestions. I have put in reviews with photographs of every park we have stayed in for a long time in an effort to help and have long been a supporter of RV Park Reviews. 

[mptjelgin]

I don't see Joel taking a defensive position, just being reasonable. There is only so much a site like RV Park Reviews can reasonably be expected to cover, and I think the site does an admirable job.

The one-time pet fee you mention is incredibly unusual. I've never run across it before and I would guess that this is the first time for you as well? If so how would you expect the site to include this one-off bit of information?

As far as not asking if a park is "pet friendly" or not, just what does that mean??  They already tell you if pets are allowed  and if there is a pet area  What else are you looking for? I regularly read reviews where pet owners complain about long walks to pet areas, dirty looks from other guests, or being scolded for not picking up their pet's waste immediately. Would that make the park not "pet friendly"? Who gets to make that call?

I think that you found a truly unusual situation and are now expecting RV Park Reviews to somehow incorporate it into their site. Why not go ahead and stay there and then mention the fee in your review. Problem solved.

[orca]

How hard would it be to put a dollar sign instead of a check mark or x beside the park features so that one could research why the $ mark is beside the amenity in question be it "pet friendly"  "pay shower" or even "pay wifi"?  If i saw a $sign beside any amenity that i think should be included in the park fee i could then move on to another park without that charge or at least not be suprised at late check in when it would be too late to search for another with an opening. The reason for using any of the rv park review sites is to reduce suprises or disappointments as much as possible. By the way the $ sign is not my idea but one i found on one of the smaller park review sites, the name of which escapes me,sorry!

[Dejae]

Joel what if in the listing that says 55+, 50 amp, 30 amp, sewer etc. If there was a click on for Fee for Pet Required. Then it is up to the searcher to go find out how much that fee is.

[docj]

20 minutes ago, Dejae said:

Joel what if in the listing that says 55+, 50 amp, 30 amp, sewer etc. If there was a click on for Fee for Pet Required. Then it is up to the searcher to go find out how much that fee is.

We can always add more things reviewers can click on, but where does it end?  Should we add boxes for "fee for extra person"?  Fee for 3 or more air conditioners? Fee for electric water heaters?  There are virtually an infinite number of questions that could be addressed and the question is which would be of interest to the largest percentage of users.

One additional consideration is that more and more of our reviewers are writing reviews on mobile devices and those don't lend themselves nearly as well to "deeply layered inputs".Mobile device users, for the most part, prefer simple input screens.  Things that are easy to do on a laptop are often harder to accomplish on a mobile device.

 

[Dejae]

Well honestly, yes, because in these changing times...it seems to be more the rule than the exception. I don't have a problem with the selections on my tablet but if ones CHOICE is to use a cell phone then so be it.

[Barbaraok]

2 hours ago, orca said:

How hard would it be to put a dollar sign instead of a check mark or x beside the park features so that one could research why the $ mark is beside the amenity in question be it "pet friendly"  "pay shower" or even "pay wifi"?  If i saw a $sign beside any amenity that i think should be included in the park fee i could then move on to another park without that charge or at least not be suprised at late check in when it would be too late to search for another with an opening. The reason for using any of the rv park review sites is to reduce suprises or disappointments as much as possible. By the way the $ sign is not my idea but one i found on one of the smaller park review sites, the name of which escapes me,sorry!

You are assuming that people doing the review will understand what it means.  The phone number and web site link are almost always there - it is up to individuals to use the info given to make sure they want to reserve a site.  

 

I  do agree it would be nice to be able to include a review as to the reason one couldn’t stay there, such as excessive fees, etc.  

[orca]

The idea of an rv park review site is to put as much information in front of a user as possible. If i have to wade through a dozen written reviews to find out if pets are allowed i will move to another easier to use site. That is why there is a standard list of amenities on the review site in question. Do most people understand the check mark, the"x" mark or the gray box? I am not rocket surgeon but i do understand check mark good, x mark not good! Dollar $ sign must mean i pay extra!