RV sales have slowed and fewer people are buying RVs than had been the recent trend. Has that changed campground crowding? Is it easier to find a campsite now, particularly in state and national parks? Campgrounds are changing and evolving, some for the better and some for the worse. RV Travel readers discuss their experiences and offer a few tips to help other campers find that perfect spot.
Here are a few observations from our readers.
Pay more to be close to the attractions
David N. is finding sites in RV parks and mostly sees price gouging near attractions. He tells us, “We have not had any problems finding sites to camp at in RV parks or state campgrounds. We do avoid peak season. We are full-timers in a 32-ft. 5th wheel. Most campgrounds are fine. Some are outdated and are difficult to maneuver for larger RVs. Most older RV parks, or parks that are closer to the city, have full-timers. Price gouging is usually close to national parks or city centers. Like everything, you pay more to be close to the attractions. This is why we look for boondocking and state camping whenever possible.”
Joke’s on the “resorts”!
Sharon S. deletes resort RV parks from her list. She writes, “We have seen a few places that have “resort” in the name but are questionable. There may be many we haven’t seen. If campgrounds change their name to “resort” simply to be able to charge more, the joke is on them, as far as we are concerned. When I search for campgrounds to reserve, the first thing I do is delete any “resorts” from the list. I do not bother to look further at them.”
Complaints about overcrowding just an excuse to not use their RV
Rick S. notices the rising prices and the RV resorts that are adding improvements and amenities. He says, “#1. Not having any problems with ‘crowded’ parks. Just plan ahead and heaven forbid… make a reservation. #2. Parks we stay at have shown significant improvements to cater to their targeted client set. Folks that want to sleep in a tent will probably not stay where we do but that’s okay. #3. Seasonal reservations are always an option at parks where we stay. Have they increased? Yes, because more and more couples live the lifestyle. #4. Rising costs are not a problem as we have planned to enjoy life now…not tomorrow. #5. Your question assumes parks are overcrowded but we haven’t experienced overcrowding… we believe it’s just people complaining and an excuse to not use their RV. #6. Plan ahead and make reservations!!”
Peaceful, quiet and never full
Jeffery B. tells us about the campground they own. He writes, “I own JB’s RV Park. We have 22 sites with few amenities. Mostly peace, quiet and country. I can’t relate to this post because we desire the people that are tired of the hustle and bustle of what you are describing. Currently, we are seldom to never full and are always quiet and relaxed.”
$245 a night at a KOA
Steve C. is finding sites on the coast are outrageously expensive. He reports, “We like COEs and state parks as the nicer parks, especially on the coast, have become outrageously expensive. North and South Carolina all start at $100 per night, Outer Banks KOA is $245 per night, and western NC is still fairly reasonable but you have to take your time to look around. We are finding sites available on the coast and mountains pretty much any time of the year.”
Camped next to run-down RVs and it was good experience
Edna E. mentions a number of things in her email to us: prices, full-timers, recreation and a way of life. She says, “Yes, campgrounds are asking for sky-high prices, pricing out retirees, veterans and the less fortunate and tent camping. I’ve camped among those with run-down RVs and have had good experiences.
“Resorts/campgrounds are becoming greedier than hell. National Parks, State, and County Parks have jumped in and raised their prices too. It’s not Disneyland. Camping is a recreation and a way of life for working people who have to travel like medical professionals, like myself.
“Crowding may have become a bit heavier, but booking in advance does help. Boondocking is not for everyone. So do it if you can. It’s a great adventure for tents too. Summertime and many holidays, campgrounds have always been crowded, nothing new here.
“I honestly don’t see how full-timers are crowding the system when booking is the same for everyone. Campgrounds could invest more and add spaces, which I know some are. Remember, we are in the age of millenniums, the biggest population. The costs need to come down. Gouging RVers is unacceptable for just outdoor recreational fun.”
More RVers traveling for work
DLee C. sees more traveling workers as they RV. They write, “We have found more workers who travel for their jobs lately. We always travel the backroads and normally never make overnight reservations ahead more than on our arrival day, and we have a 70’ combo big rig. Michigan UP has been our travel route lately from Ohio to Montana. Wonderful scenery and plenty of camping. More crowding along major highways, so we avoid those places.”
Woke up and chose van life for flexibility and freedom
Rob B. didn’t like what he heard about RV parks, build quality, and service. He chose a different path: “I was heading full steam for a 5th wheel life, then realized I didn’t like a single thing that I was reading online with regard to build-quality and requirements for staying in those gawd-awful RV parks. I wanted a life with flexibility and freedom, not one of rules, expense, and deadlines.
“I had tons of $$ to spend. Thank God I woke up and chose van life. I can stay in literally any little space on Earth. Because I’m solar to the max and carry no black tank, I have EVERYTHING open to me. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider top-quality travel vans instead of poorly built, and pain-in-the-arse pull-behind trailers. I have NO regrets and could not be happier with my choice.”
Now, some questions for you:
- Are you finding campgrounds booked up? Or is finding a place to stay not a problem?
- Are campgrounds changing for the better or for the worse?
- Are you seeing more permanent and seasonal RV parks?
- Are rising costs affecting your camping style?
- If campgrounds continue to be crowded and RVing continues to become more popular, will it affect how or when you RV?
- Do you have any tips or secrets you’d like to share about finding campgrounds that aren’t as crowded?
Please use the form below to answer one or more of these questions, or tell us what you’ve experienced with campground crowding in general.
Read last week’s Crowded Campgrounds column: ‘We thought RVing would be a good way to travel and see things, but prices hard on our wallets’
##RVT1108b
It will end when consumers say, “I’m not going to stay there and pay that price.” As long as people are willing to pay these outrageous prices, it’s only going to get worse.
Inflation is impacting every sector of the economy… why would we expect campgrounds to be immune…. Utilities, property tax, labor costs are all up from 2019 most more than 20%. We need to stop blaming small businesses and start blaming our countries monetary policy.
What you say is very true but that doesn’t mean that I have to stay where those prices are being charged.
Today, that means tons of locations are not available to you.
I’m afraid the younger generations are guiding the RV parks. I don’t know where all the money is coming from with the generation’s I’m speaking of but they seem to have a never ending supply of it. Maybe people my age was doing the same 40-50 years ago, if so I didn’t know anything about it, and sure don’t remember it. Yes I know there’s a big gap between what we get in retirement compared to my parents, and all that is dependent upon earnings in your lifetime, that was before flipping hamburgers earned $15/hr. When I was discharged from the Marines in 1969 I found a good job working in a GM locomotive plant at $4/hr, $160 a week was good money. My how the world has changed!
You are a bit older than me, but yes…I remember my first (w-2’d) job in 1975 was minimum wage…a whopping $2.10 and hour!
Depending on your location there is lots of money to be earned. Here in Eastern Pennsylvania my company starts high school grads at $29+ an hour. another company down the road is offering a starting wage of $38 an hour. I make more in two hours in my fifties than I made in a whole week when I was 18. That $200 site is less than one day of work for a lot of people.
Toughest part of the employment equation is getting off the couch. Showing up has become an actual qualification.
As a RV Manager for the past 10 years I can confirm that occupancy plays a large part of RV site charge. Hence, the fuller the campground the higher the cost to stay. Supply and demand. Followed a close second by operating expences.
I vote with my wallet. Hell no!
I agree with Sharon S about campgrounds with name resort in them. Expensive and not really all they are cracked up to be. I also avoid them when searching.
It appears to me that the younger crowd is driving up the RV park prices. I recently had to pay $285 per night in Newport Beach and all around me were the 30-50 yr old folks that according to the news last night have an average credit card balance of $7800. They don’t seem to care about money as long as they can charge their way to heaven. Many RV parks have just become greedy with add-on fees and lock fees and cancellation fees. I hope the tide will turn soon.
Mark, if you are not in the “younger crowd” and paid the $285/night, you also just supported it same as you say they do.
It is natural for any business to charge what the market will bear. If no one would pay and those ridiculously priced campgrounds sat empty, prices would come down in a hurry.
Spike. I hope you’re right. I was going to make a reservation with koa in Winthrop WA but they wanted over a hundred bucks per night. We are staying at Pine Near rv park. Closer to town and half their price. Here’s the kicker. We were driving past koa yesterday evening and there were a whole lot of empty spaces. Again Spike I hope you’re right. Empty spaces equal lower prices.
Well said.
You “had to pay”?
Chose to stay, chose to pay. 😳 👍
As a RV Manager my biggest fustration is someone making a reservation knowing the price and complaining the entire stay about the price.
If you do not want to pay the asking price then do not place the reservation. Problem solved.
Newport Beach, CA has one RV Park. On Newport Harbor, gets great marks. But the sites are incredibly tight and dirt. I should say clay. When it rains it is sticky, crappy mud. The owners won’t even pay to place gravel. They own the market, are waterfront, have beaches. Pool, ETC. They put zero back into the Rv Park. Want to be in coastal Orange Co, CA – YES you have to pay. Or drive 30 miles inland
Sounds like a great place to avoid.
Newport Beach – high price – about says it all. And you paid it, so you bees’ part of the problem!
Coporate greed from the same folks which received the largest tax giveaway ever in 2016
I’m becoming a bit tired of hearing the term “corporate greed” used to describe everything that goes along with profit.
Well said Tommy! There’s a few other terms I am also getting tired of reading; but that’s for another time!
I know . . .
Same here.
Agree!
Corporate greed you say?…. Personal greed from the prison population that received billions of dollars in unemployment money in 2021 irritates me more than the corporations that employ people in every year, including 2016.
FYI Ron. Corporations don’t pay taxes, never have and never never will. They charge you more/widget, to cover the taxes they remit on your behalf. In fact, they mark them up. Example, if make a 50% profit at my company, and I pay 30% corporate tax, I charge you that 30% x 2 in additional price so i make a profit on that cost. I mark up taxes because it is a cost. I don’t run a single dollar through my business without marking it up, including taxes. If corporate taxes were zero, I would not have a cost to mark up. Good luck in grad school.
@Cancelproof, businesses is in business to make money and pay their shareholders. The world does not operate as a liberal – give away society. All taxes are a pass-thru. No sales/income, no taxes. So. What’s your point!?
That is my point. That was my point also. It was a reply to Ron’s post about 2016 corporate tax giveaways and corporate greed. I was a bit inarticulate in my point though. Your point tho, is my point also. Businesses don’t pay taxes, they collect taxes and then pass on the money to the Gov’t. Corporations are the Middleman. In fact, most businesses don’t pass on the money dollar for dollar, they mark them up first.
Cheers
Wow! Now that’s a huge stretch. Biggest tax cut? 50% of America pays a big fat “0”. How about the top 5% pay 40%. Any cut would by structure be big. Truth for RV parks, investment firms buy and target those who want amenities.
I just look for cheap places, don’t want hookups. It isn’t smart to boondock just anywhere alone around here. I don’t care what the RV next door looks like if the people are quiet and stay out of my space–that seems to be a lot to ask. I do like bushes and space for privacy, so an RV park or resort or parking lot is usually not acceptable for numerous reasons.
I agree with Rick S – “#5. Your question assumes parks are overcrowded but we haven’t experienced overcrowding… we believe it’s just people complaining and an excuse to not use their RV. #6. Plan ahead and make reservations!!”
$245 a night for KOA!!! Are you kidding me?? I’ve seen KOA and they ain’t all that. I spent $200 total split fee for a week in a condo on Kuai.
Funny, I just booked at $108.00 a night!
I live on a resort and we have camping here for 6 months of the year as water and hydro gets shut down in winter just for the trailers.
In summer full service hookups for $3,600 a year and most winter proof and leave the trailer on resort.
For myself and others that stay here year around are in cabins or manufactured home’s.
We lease the land but own our manufactured home that can be moved anywhere by professional truck hollers.
The land lease here is $550.00 a month all hookups included.
I spent $200 to dry camp for 10 days with a 270 degree ocean view in Olympic National Park with free water available and unlimited solar to run my fridge/freezer/lights and charge all my devices. Perhaps you’re choosing the wrong places to camp.
We live in extreme Southeastern Georgia, right north of the Florida border along the ocean. We purchased our first travel trailer last winter, and have not been able to use it very often because we don’t have the luxury of planning far ahead due to the nature of my husband’s work schedule. We are also limited to weekends.
Our experience is that it is very difficult to reserve a campsite within a few hours’ drive, even a month out. When we are fortunate to find something, it’s a less than ideal spot. Then we get to the campground and the majority of the sites stay empty the entire weekend!
In our experience, it’s not a matter of overcrowding as much as it is overbooking and neglecting to cancel, unneeded/unwanted reservations.