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Has Passport America changed?


Kirk W

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We have this year traveled from east TX to Dallas, to Sedalia, Mo, and then to Fargo, ND, to Washburn, ND and then to Bismarck, then to Sioux City NE and KC, MO. In all of that, we have only found 2 PA parks that were close to our route and one of those was so bad I would never think of going back. I'm wondering if others are finding similar experiences, or did I just happen to hit a bad route?

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

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

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Howdy!

We still carry our PA i hopes we’ll find some place we can use it. The problems we’ve found along with the ones you mentioned are you can only use them for one night Maybe three, can not use them Sunday thru Thursday. Can not use during during holidays, can not use the May thru September, cash only, and recently call ahead for reservations or availability etc...

We’re about ready to give up on PA.

” Happy Trails “

Chiefneon 

"Class of 2007 Fulltimer's"

Gary & karen

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There are fewer and fewer parks that belong and most have restrictions.  Usually Sun-Thurs available for 1 or 2 nights only.  Or only during off season like winter in the north and summer in the south.  We're on the west coast and it is getting harder and harder to find ones as we are traveling.

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We have had no problems with PA cgs. In fact, the one we are in now accepts PA for 4 nights in the middle of the season It is older, run down cg but we have 50A, water, sewer and a nice spot. There are no facilities to speak of except restrooms. At $20/night vs everyone else in the area at $60+ per night, I am not complaining.

We have been PA members for 20 years and initially, cash/check was all that was accepted. I can understand that as there is a fee for using the cc to the cg. I find that I use more checks on the road than when at home.

Regarding the Sun-Thu avail. we find that calling the cg many times gets that waived.

PA cgs are filling empty spots. Of course, they would prefer if you paid full price but are willing to accept half price to fill the spot.

We look at PA cgs as just an overnight when we are traveling. Yes, some charge extra for 50A. If we feel it is excessive we just stick with 30A and manage our electricity usage.

 

 

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We used PA in Branson this year for 8 nights, actually 7 nights as the campground said that if you stay 7 nights the 8th is free, can not beat that. Also used it in another park but they only gave you half off for one night but did give us the Good Sam discount for the other 2 nights. 

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9 hours ago, chiefneon said:

We’re about ready to give up on PA.

One thing that definitely makes a difference for us is that we are no longer fulltime and so we have less opportunity to make use of it and we tend to be more defined in our route of travel so do not alter to go as far off the path to get the discount rate. One of the PA parks that we did stay in was also an Escapee 50% park. 

There is no doubt that there are times that can make it pay in one stop, as we experienced in Niagra Falls with a 5-night stay for $20 rather than $40 per night, but that was several years ago and lately, we are not saving any money. Traveling as we do, we tend to sit in some volunteer position for a month or longer so the opportunities are in route to and from. The PA park that we stayed in the night before Escapade was on that I'll not go back to even if it were free. 

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

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

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1 hour ago, dblr said:

We used PA in Branson this year for 8 nights, actually 7 nights as the campground said that if you stay 7 nights the 8th is free, can not beat that.

That would make it worthwhile, but we usually stay in Turkey Creek Village, just across the river with the Escapees.

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

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

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Before Escapade we stayed at a COE an hour away. COE are #1(after free) on our list, then PA.

We became PA lifetime members 17 years ago, we hemmed and hawed over the expense since we weren't fulltime then, became one of our better decisions.  I kind of remember in that time frame "lifetime" memberships were the rage and over a several years period became lifetime Good Sam and Escapees. All well worth it.

We don't search PA out, if one is close to our route we will go to it.

I figure cg fees are the one thing I can somewhat control and work at it a bit.

 

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All but one of the PA parks we've used pretty regularly have dropped out of the program. There seem to be very few member parks left in the areas we normally travel, so we'll likely not renew when it expires. 

Dutch
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I think like all other associations the various campground owners decide what works best for them whether it be PA, Good Sam, KOA, etc. Aside from giving a discount for whatever time the campground decides, PA is mostly an advertising medium.

We stayed at one campground on our winter trip that was PA and that 3 night stay and that discount paid for the card for the year. We also stayed at one that actually was no longer affiliated with PA but because the phone app still showed them as one the owner graciously gave us the discount anyhow.

We also thought about staying in another PA campground but I was left scratching my head. he owner said she only offered the PA discount when the park was nearly full in order to finish filling it up. (????) Anyhow, when we drove past it, it was nearly empty. I could not help but wonder if offering the discount anytime might have driven more business in.

We have found  that it does not take much to recoup the cost of the membership.  

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The PPA website currently states:

Quote

Over 1800 campgrounds across the US, Canada, and Mexico are currently participating in the Passport America Program 

I believe that is considerably fewer than at some times in the past. I don't think they ever approached the current 4000+ number of Walmarts. Parks drop in and out of the program all the time.

My experience In the past 14 years has been that finding a PPA park (Happy Camper or Escapees 50% park) that was along a specific route of travel and located in the general area where we wanted to stop (i.e. distance from the last stop or near a place that we wanted to visit) was hit and miss. It takes very few nights to pay for the membership so for now we continue to be members. Without the 50% discount many PPA parks are what I would consider to be over priced.

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9 minutes ago, Chalkie said:

We have found  that it does not take much to recoup the cost of the membership.  

1

You are correct, but it doesn't appear to be the case for us this year. Thus far we saved $18 one night and $14 one night and after studying our route back to TX I find that there is not 1 PA park that is within 50 miles of our planned route. Before I make a final decision I plan to study our route to Tucson, then southern CA and north to the bay area then back to the east again, just to see what is likely to be available. Since we are just annual members it would be easy to skip a year from time to time.

5 minutes ago, trailertraveler said:

Without the 50% discount many PPA parks are what I would consider to be over priced.

That is very true of the PA park that is in Sedalia, MO! 

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

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

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We have been fulltime for 12 years and have used Passport America most of those years. We usually volunteer as parks hosts 4 to 6 months of the year and travel the rest of the year. Yes, parks that participate change all the time, we just adjust. There are other ways to save $$ on camping, we use casinos, Cabela's, www.overnightrvparking.com, Don Wright's Free Campground books and Corps of Engineers parks. We have found some great city/county parks that don't offer all the amenities but are good experiences. Yes, some of the PA parks aren't in the greatest shape but from what I see on rv park reviews 4 star resorts get negative feedback. We are traveling this summer from April to December and will continue to use PA when we can. We just left Southern Hills RV park in Hermosa (south of Rapid City) that was a great park, centrally located to visit all the attractions and $18.50 a night.   

Jan & Thomas

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We had PA and found that we used it enough to justify belonging. Then, all of a sudden, we realized that we either weren't finding any PA parks where we traveled, or they weren't what we wanted. So, we didn't renew this past January. However, we found a CG in Hiawassee GA this summer that we loved. I didn't realize they are PA until check-in. They allowed me to quickly reinstate our membership and let us use it for a week. We are going back there this fall and will use PA again. So, I guess it just depends. Most of the campers I talked to in Hiawassee said they found the CG by using the PA website, so for them, that was the key factor.  I guess at $44.00/yr. we'll continue to renew "just in case".

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It wouldnt surprise me if there are a lot less Passport America parks these days as we are hearing so much about growth in the sales of RVs and so many people having more trouble in making reservations.  PA is primarily designed to increase occupancy rates of parks at half price that wouldnt normally be occupied, so if parks are having less trouble with occupancy rates, it would only stand to reason fewer of them would need PA to keep up occupancy rates.

We do not automatically renew with PA every year.  If our membership expires, we let it go until we want to stay in a PA park again, then we renew.

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48 minutes ago, remoandiris said:

Meh.  Used PA several times on this trip.  Been very happy with it.  Better to get a 3 night discount in a 7 night stay than get no discount at all.

There ya go : something is better than nothing . ;)

And , in case no one knows , everything changes , always .

Goes around , comes around .

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We might stay in a few PA C.G every year If they are handy to our route of travel. We have no problems with PA and if you ask the CG may let you stay longer based on their reservations.We found they will gladly take 50 % of site price than  zero.

 

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We, like Kirk, have found few PA parks along our route. During winter months forget about S. FL, virtually all suspend the offer during peak season.

Their join for 5 get 2 more free offer expired July 31, but I may be sure more such offers are in the future.

 

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The availability of a PA park is so dependent on your route. We don't go out of our way to find a PA park. We will be heading to Livingston from VA and we will be staying at Elks(1 night) and 4 PA parks, we didn't tweak the mapping program to go this way and we were pleased to find all the PA parks. We have been to all of them before(on our way to VA last year). Our favorite is a great park, right on the Mississippi River. 

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