If a campground sports a Good Sam logo and advertises it’s a Good Sam Park, does that matter to you? Are you more inclined to stay there?
We’re talking about staying at a Good Sam affiliated RV park vs. another independent park without such an affiliation. We understand that KOA, Thousand Trails, Jellystone, Encore properties, etc., have their own reputations, so we’re not suggesting you include those when answering this poll.
Good Sam Parks are most often independent parks that pay Good Sam a fee to be part of its system. Bottom line, it’s an advertising expense for the park.
So what’s your thinking on this? If two independent parks are a mile apart and their prices about the same, will you tend to favor the Good Sam park over the other?
Neither, not looking for an Amusement Park.
Prefer State Parks, and quiet parks.
Places where they sit around the camp fire, and hear stories from the past and singing at the fireside.
There is no reason to be in a rush, and standing in line for something.
Time to relax and enjoy your surroundings.
Not all parks that take Good Sam (and take multiple other orgs for discounts, ie; AAA, military, FMCA,etc) are amusement parks. The majority are small family own parks sometimes in the most beautiful of settings that can be just as quiet as state parks.
The 10% discount pays the taxes, that’s the only reason since Marcus Lemonis bought out everything, I wouldn’t be surprised if he added 15% to the price.
The RV parks in question are individually owned….not by ML. Personally, the CW 10% discount is not sufficient enough for me to even consider as it is not a exclusive discount as many others provide the exact same discount. AARP, FMCA, AAA, etc.
The discount is no longer exclusive to GS members in most parks. They also give an discount for AAA, AARP, Military Retires (sometimes Veterans) and Seniors. In some parks there appears to be some disconnect between what you see and the ratings.
I look for a least a 4 star rated park when I need one. If there’s a discount great if not, oh well. I’d rather stay in a clean well taken care of property with no discount versus a discount in a shabby park. However, I look for boondocking/dry camping foremost. My go to app is AllStays and my choices are;
Discontinued our membership. That should say it all.
A Good Sam discount is just one of many other factors that we consider when selecting a campground.
We preferred Good Sam parks until an RV park owner told me about his latest Good Sam “inspection” and his annual cost to be listed as a Good Sam park. Shortly after that experience and the demise of the Good Sam online Travel Planner and both “Trailer Life” and “Motorhome Magazine”, we dropped our Good Sam membership. And, during the pandemic, we have discovered that anything we formerly bought at our nearby Camping World store can be bought through Amazon as cheaply, plus we don’t even need to make a trip to the store. The “samaritan” concept behind Good Sam no longer exists, so why pay the annual fee?
Now that Marcus Lemonis has bought out everything good about Good Sam I wish I could get my money back on my lifetime membership. All the 10% discount did was pay the sales tax.
My first choice is location and my second is quality of the reviews. Then assuming pricing is the same I’ll likely go with a name brand over another, but only after the first two conditions above are met.
The appearance of the Good Sam icon at any business is a red flag (pun intended) to AVOID! A Good Sam endorsement is code for poor customer service, shoddy quality and high cost. We mostly choose RV parks based on location and reviews from fellow RVers. Almost all RV parks will offer a discount for some kind of affiliation…… even when we pay cash.
Seems to be some confusion. Good Sam doesn’t own the parks. It’s just a service that for a fee to the park, lists the park in a directory that anyone can buy (there is a discount for the directory if you are a Good Sam member). Think the directory lists over 10,000 RV parks in US, Canada & Mexico (Baja?). Most all of those parks also have the FMCA, AAA, Military discounts. So are those organizations also known for poor customer service?
The only bad experence I’ve had at a GS park was in south TX along the Rio G. When I contacted GS about it , turns out the park had not been a GS park for several years but had left the signs up to lure people in .
There are some really poor Good Sam affiliated parks out there. Our latest was one in Flagstaff, AZ that is crumbling before our very eyes. And we have stayed at others that are very poor in quality. Good Sam really should do more than just accept money for the designation. We have no confidence in the brand any longer. We actually go out of way to avoid staying in Good Sam parks in an unknown situation.
They actually do offer more. You can check the ratings of the campgrounds they list on the web and/or in their travel guide. They rate cleanliness, washroom condition, interior roads, overall appeal, etc.
A well rated Good Sam park has is my likely choice IF, and that is a big if, the location is right, the price is not exorbitant for the area, and the reviews are decent. Mostly I will overnight at truck stops while en route to a destination, then look for a state or local government park or national forest campground. National Park CG’s are to hard to get into these days, they are more likely to be the destination and planned for well in advance. Generally, I am not looking for the extra amenities that too many GS, KOA, etc. CG’s are offering. (Unless I am meeting my grandchildren there.)
If all else is equal, including price, I favor Good Sam.
It doesn’t really matter to us but we much prefer state or county parks and the like to commercial parks.
The “Good Sam” name / brand is NO LONGER what it used to be. In my opinion, Marcus “Lemon” has sucked the life and value out of “Good Sam”. If there REALLY was “truth in advertising” I expect it would now be called the “Good SCAM Club”.
I agree with Mr. Koenig
As do I.
We do our best to avoid commercial RV parks. When we end up having to use one a Good Sam listing means nothing to us. When we do end up needing a “port in the storm” we usually head for a KOA. Not only is their reservation system slick and easy but they’re a lot like McDonalds; you always know what you’re going to get.
Good Sam is no guarantee to quality or being nice. I have worked in RV parks where when they know the inspectors is coming to spruce it up. Then afterwards go back to their normal ways. The park I am in does it – always know when the Good Sam inspectors is coming cause weeds get pulled, flower beds spruced up, gravel is kept cleaned off the sites, etc.
If the price is right, the park is clean and staff is friendly – that is what I care about.
I look at the pictures and the rating of the park ,I have had good results in relying on Good Sam website and guide.
Most times I am staying longer than a week so good sam discounts don’t apply.
All things equal, it comes down to the reviews.
I agree B. Williams – reviews are worthwhile. Now, how many of you take the time to write reviews to help others. I will admit to not doing so for every park. I try to write something on RVillage most frequently and sometimes on CampgroundReviews.
I don’t plan my trips and camping stays based on a Good Sam park. That’s nuts
As long as they have what I want at an affordable price I am so there. Otherwise I use my husbands veteran discount. You get better results.
I am trying to move away from expecting a GS discount. Most places will give me the same price for AAA or AARP and sometimes Escapees or FMCA. I will look at the GS symbol on RV Trip Wizard when I am planning my trips, but I ALWAYS check the reviews too. A recent trip of 39 nights we stayed in 11 parks and only one was logoed as GS. Current trip, 69 nights, 20 parks, 5 with GS logo.
I always check the reviews. If the parks have the same amenities, the RV park with the best reviews win no matter what the price is.
I want a good site – enough distance between sites, shade, hookups, safe place to “potty” the dogs – for a decent price. I don’t really care about affiliations. Currently, we haven’t been traveling enough to warrant the cost of memberships vs recouping that cost via discounts.
If we can’t stay in Military famcamps or State/National Parks, then we look for a Good Sams location. So, while we do look for it, it’s definitely NOT the first thing we look for. (And since I just joined Harvest Host, maybe a GS park will drop to fourth on the list).
I don’t support Camping World or its subsidiaries.
Like many others, I refuse to put one penny in Marcus Lemonis’ pocket!
will avoid good sam when ever possible
Marcus Lemonis does not own these campgrounds. All “Good Sam” does is rate over 10,000 campgrounds and publish a directory. The vast majority, if not near all, are privately owned, many by families. Even some of the “evil” KOA’s are owned by families. We like supporting local families in the areas we travel.
Traveling cross country we used GS, Passport and Big Rigs Books to check on ratings. Our preference was Big Rigs.
These Campground are not owned By Marcus why take out your feelings on the poor campground owner! I have found the majority of campgrounds are or were the condition as represented in the GS. But our stays were usually one nighters and we wanted a safe, clean, place to spend the night.
And another thing (LOL) I have read that trailer Life and Motorhome were losing money. I subscribed to MH for years but became so tired of reading reviews that most of the time gave rave reviews about what they reviewing. I enjoyed the articles about specific places to travel to.
Give the camp ground owners a break. There are good ones and bad one just like most everything else.
I don’t like the things that Marcus has said or done either. But there are an awful lot of companies that are saying, doing and giving money to some organizations that I don’t agree with either.
I prefer not to stay at GS.