By Russ and Tiña De Maris
Good Sam has a new spin – and a way to make its club members happier: The outfit says it will soon give members the ability to check up on RV storage facilities. Trained teams of inspectors will fan out across the country and investigate conditions at storage facilities, then give a rating and explanation, presumably much like the current Good Sam campground evaluation.
Sam is already reaching out to RV storage companies, offering them the opportunity to become part of “a nationwide network of RV storage facilities.” What will they need to do to be part of it? “Provide additional value-add services to our members,” and/or price breaks for card-carrying Good Sammers.
How soon will members be able to access this broad network? The company says this fall listings of participating storage outfits will be added to the Good Sam Guide Series, and on the Good Sam website.
Interestingly, as part of Sam’s pitch, the company points to its base of over two million members. But in the next breath, a company press release quotes Tamara Ward, COO of Camping World Holdings Inc.: “We will use our 10 million-plus database to connect RV’ers [sic] with storage facilities that meet our standard of safety, security, and value for our customers.”
Now, hang on, maybe there’s something wrong with our math. Two million members, but a database of 10 million plus? You may not have been a member of Good Sam in years – or maybe never – but somehow you keep getting hit with “good spam.” Now you know how that happens. Like it or not, you may contribute to Good Sam’s marketing success.
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You know, I might welcome it. Our current storage facility is ever gouging us to death. It’s the only covered facility in town right now. I’d like to see some competition. There are 2 or 3 other places that are outdoor facilities- maybe G.S. could take over one of those and really make it nice!
Guess they needed something to replace the “now gone” trip planner that would download to your Rand McNally GPS!
Just like the campgrounds the rating will depend on how big an ad you buy in their magazine
Interesting idea, the places designed to be RV storage tend to be nice, the storage facilities that have parking spaces are not so nice. Measurements on space available is often wrong.
I would be suspicious their tally of 10 million + in reality is the decades old total that were once members that are no more. In the fun hay day of Good Sam in the ’70;s and early 80’s I was the Asst. St. Director for CT Good Sams for several years. We had great times at rallies and meeting so many people. Fast forward to years later after we bailed out then got back into camping we were able to request and get our old member number. We bailed out forever after the first year. So, there’s where the numbers are coming from. Probably some that have gone on to the great RV park in the sky, too!
At one time, in the beginning, AAA was an unbiased source for travel ratings for things like motels, campgrounds, the forerunners of RV parks, restaurants and auto repair. I suspect the Good Sam ratings for RV storage would likely be based on advertising revenue and/or commissions earned from storage fees from each facility. They’re not going to do this unless they can generate revenue. I’d very likely pass on a Good Sam rated facility if I were in need of RV storage and negotiate my own deal. I have no faith in anything Good Sam or Camping World endorses.
This looks like an other way for GS to extract money from business’ and get them to advertise with them.I bet they start off with a small fee to the storage place and just jack it up every year just to get a GS rating .
If the ratings are like their campground reviews, beware. I’ve noticed great reviews on campgrounds from Good Sam, yet those same campgrounds can get poor reviews from Allstays users.
I have to say, I’m more surprised they did not do this sooner. Storage units are filled with RV’s that never move. I have watched several RV’s rot away at the storage units near us. I don’t understand why they keep paying rent for something they never use.
This is also very true of boaters. I would guess that every marina of any size, has numerous boats that don’t move. I always wonder why people dump more down the boat hole for nothing. BOAT – Break out another thousand.
Gee, sounds to me like the next move for Camping World would be to sign you up for a storage spot at the same time you are buying your new RV. You might not even have to take it home!
Good Sam Logo on RV parks means for the most part the park is in reasonably good shape and the facilities are good to excellent. Note that is qualified as, staying in parks with ratings 7 or better. We found many GS parks we enjoyed and they were very nice, between the 30-55 dollar range. Sounds high, hmmm, property tax, facilities upkeep/remodeling/repair, road maintenance, and the numerous other things that go into keeping an RV park up to date. So nope, I never quibble on the price, and if I don’t like a place, we make notes on the park map and keep all the maps in our drawer so we can review them then.