Question Thousand Trails

[Joe Hogan]

I have been looking at a TT Camping Pass and the Trails Collection for now four years. Still have not pulled the trigger so to speak. Apparently there are a number of us Floridians sitting on the fence, an email shows up a couple of days ago offering a $300 discount if you signup by June 10th. This caught my attention, and spent some time reading the small print...

Over the last 4 years I have heard all the complaints but it appears if you make an attempt to "learn" the TT system, the Camping Pass can be useful. Reservations are an issue for Pass holders (no priority) and takes time to figure out the System from what I can gather.

The big BUT, my camping style my not be compatible as we move every few days when traveling, typically. Our destination is rarely a campground. Usually an event or mooch docking.

So does anyone have a Camping Pass? Willing to share your method for making it work?

 

[redbaron]

Subscribing for input. I looked into these various memberships, but never could figure out if my lack of interest in using them as a destination meant that I should avoid membership parks.

I do know you can find deals online thru resale, and many offer perks of buying another membership. Good Sam operates a very large network, but you have to be a member of another resort to get access.

 

[RKins]

We first bought what was called a Thousand Trails "Zone pass" many years ago. It covered CGs in the south and south east. That worked for us as we were not looking for a destination rather just wanted to get out and enjoy the travel. What didn't work for us was the limitations that came with the Zone pass - so many days in the system and then you had to be out of the system for a week, you could only book a stay so far in advance. I was at a TT CG and the people next to me were Elite members - full timers. We got to talking and I told them I would probably buy an Elite membership in the near future. Come to find out her half sister inherited an Elite membership and was wanting to sell it. I lucked out, got it for a great price and it solved most of the limitations of the Zone pass.
As for TT in general, a lot of the parks are old, some are expanding (i.e. Orlando) but for the most part, TT has taken the posture of aggressively selling annual sites. Orlando just added 160+ sites in a new section and for the most part they are trying to "sell" the majority of the sites as annuals ($500/mo + membership). Some people may like having a site all the time to come to but it really limits the traveling members.
When I book a place now I ask what % of the CG are annual sites - one CG told me "a lot" and when I inquired deeper I was told they have 132 sites and 103 are annual. So that means that there are 29 sites available to the traveling members, of which none of the 29 are worthy of being an annual site. So 1) good luck getting a reservation there and 2) the site you get will not be a nice one, or will be way in the back, or unlevel, or poor power, etc. I remember on a trip I booked a site at one of the TT CGs and when I arrived there was only one site available and luckily it worked for our coach and towed. The majority of the sites in that CG were annuals.
My Sister and BIL are also Elite members, are full timers and use TT as a strategy in their retirement plan. Their membership has access to parks ours doesn't offer. So it seems most of the memberships, especially old ones, are different from each other. For us to get into the parks they can we would have to purchase a "Trails" pkg for an additional cost per year.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

After 20+ years as TT members with a legacy premium membership, we just walked away a couple of years ago. As has been said, ALL of the decent sites at the ”preserves” we visited were leased out on an annual basis. Even with our top-of-the-line membership, only the dregs were left for our use. Additionally, we found that facility maintenance had fallen off badly. It just wasn’t worth the annual fees to continue our membership.

Sadly, TT is owned by a venture capital outfit that is interested only in sucking the last bit of profit from the company.

TJ

 

[Joe Hogan]

After 20+ years as TT members with a legacy premium membership, we just walked away a couple of years ago. As has been said, ALL of the decent sites at the ”preserves” we visited were leased out on an annual basis. Even with our top-of-the-line membership, only the dregs were left for our use. Additionally, we found that facility maintenance had fallen off badly. It just wasn’t worth the annual fees to continue our membership.

Sadly, TT is owned by a venture capital outfit that is interested only in sucking the last bit of profit from the company.

TJ

Thank you, this was what I was looking for regarding current state of TT campgrounds.
TT Ownership is Equity Lifestyle Properties, a Real Estate Investment Trust, and is publicly traded.

It appears that they find the MH Park model more attractive than the RV Traveler model of parks.
As a publicly traded company, focus tends to be $$$ not particularly customer satisfaction. An annual rent of a space is a more reliable and predicable income stream, which is beneficial to the bean counters predicting quarterly forecasts..

An aside, steep discounts always peak my interest. Businesses typically try to maximize value, so why the Discount? Answer appears to be lack of interest or declining value of Camping Pass.

 

[MapNerd]

Have a membership that we.m bought secondhand. Most campgrounds in FL are in pretty bad shape, Orlando being one of them. Outside of FL however, there are decent parks. Hidden Cove, AL was nice and so was Verde Valley, AZ.

TT is just one of many options we use. Mostly, we seem to use KOA, Sun Resorts, private CGs, State CGs and the occasional harvest host. Ultimately for us, it’s about being close to a destination, family or friends. We don’t use the CG amenities much so if they are run down, it’s not really if any consequence to me other than an eye sore.

 

[Joe Hogan]

My question has been answered. We wondered if a TT subscription would be useful to us. Unfortunately for our style of travel it is not.
Location, scheduling, pace of travel, quality of available accommodation just did not work out for us.
We found that using TT required significant research into availability and quality of accommodation. Using what TT campground was available would take us well out of range of our desired track and destination on most if not all trips. Trying to juggle all the variables just was not worth the outcome.
I am sure this works for some, just not for us.

 

[Buster]

Good to know. Was considering a membership a few years down the road but if the quality of the campground is suspect, it's not worth it no matter how cheap it is. I'm on my third COE campground this month and the ones I have stayed at are more than comfortable with large spaces.