MEMBERSHIP CAMPING

First, let me say that we are members of the Thousand Trails (TT) system.  Membership agreements in the TT system are as varied as the stripes on a Tiger, and there are literally hundreds of different membership contracts.  Our particular agreement is known as an Alliance membership, entitling us to stay at all Thousand Trails, NACO, and Leisure Time Resorts.  Our dues are approx. $600 per year, and that allows us to stay up to 50 days per year at no charge.  Each day over the 50 free days, and we pay $5 per day.  We are limited to a maximum stay of 14 days at any of the preserves, and we can go directly from one preserve to the next.  Any membership, or product, is only of value, if used.  Last year, we stayed in the TT system once, so the value simply wasn't there.  Three years ago, we stayed at TT parks over 100 days, and our per day cost, including dues, was approx. $8.  For those that utilize the system, like full timers, the value can be exceptional.  Access to the parks, hasn't been a particular problem, although, during the summer, or busy season, finding a suitable site at the more popular parks has sometimes been a challenge.

When we joined the TT system, the parks were private, and open to members only.  Over the years, we've seen many changes.  In 2008, the entire TT system, including land, was purchased by Leisure Time Properties.

The first change that impacted the number of sites available to members, was the purchase/lease your site program.  This program allowed members to pick an available site in one of the parks, pay an annual fee, and have that site for their exclusive use.  Supposedly, there were a limited number of sites at each park, that were eligible for this program.

The second big change that occurred a few years ago, was the opening of the parks to the general public.  Prior to this, access to the parks was members and guests only.  The explanation by TT was that this was a replacement program for the method that was previously used to recruit new members.  In that old program, nonmembers were given several days of free camping, in exchange for a sales pitch.  A certain number of sites at each park were reserved for this program.  Supposedly, the amount of sites now available to the public, were the same as previously used under the old recruitment program.  I could never get TT to say how many spaces that was, but the number that was thrown out there several times, was 10% of a particular parks available sites.

Recently, I've noticed that most all of the TT parks (TT, NACO, Leisure Time), are now listed as open to Passport America members.  If you're not familiar with Passport America, it's a membership system that costs approx. $44 a year, entitling members access to around 1,800 parks at half price.  We are members of this system, and once again, if you use Passport America even a few times, it can save you a few bucks.  Generally speaking, RV parks that sign up for Passport America, are ones that need to market themselves to a larger group, due to lower vacancy rates.

I think you can probably see where I'm going with this.  There are a limited number of parking/camping sites in the TT system.  When we signed up, we joined a membership only camping system.  There were 8 pages of "member rules" when we joined, and TT's definition of their preserves is as follows - "Preserve or preserves mean the recreational campground resort(s) operated by us for the benefit of our respective members".  No where in those 8 pages, or on our contract, is there any mention of the public.   We only had to compete for parking spaces with other TT members.  Now, due to corporate policy changes, we are competing for those limited spaces, with a much larger group of RVers.   From a purely business perspective, these changes are understandable.  Opening the parks to the public has increased cash flow, and that's what most businesses should be focused on.

However, in my humble opinion, the value of our membership has been diminished considerably.  We signed up for membership in a private system, and have seen that once exclusive system change to a hybrid public system.  Yes, there's a certain amount of selfishness in my comments, but the facts are indisputable.  Thousand Trails is no longer a membership only system, and that's what we signed up for!

Happy Mom's day to all the mothers!