By Gail Marsh
Recently I had a good visit with our current campground owner. I asked her about online campground reviews. She said that online reviews were a mixed blessing.
“The good reviews can bring in more campers. The bad reviews sometimes make me angry. I wonder why campers didn’t tell me about a problem before they decided to tell the world.”
The discussion made me wonder how many of you leave online campground reviews after your stay. Are you more inclined to post a campground review if the experience was positive? Or if the experience was negative? Or does it not matter either way?
If you had a negative experience, would you likely tell the campground owner/host/employee first? Or would you just skip to the negative review, as my campground owner mentions above?
Please leave a comment after you vote and explain your answer. I’m curious to hear. If you’ve ever left a negative review, have you been asked to remove it? (We’ve heard of that happening before.)
And if you want to learn more about campground reviews, especially 1-star (bad) reviews, watch this short video. It’s informative and very interesting. Sometimes you have to take those bad, 1-star reviews with a grain of salt. Sometimes…
Oh, and make sure you read Nanci’s recent article about decoding the truth in campground reviews. It’s helpful.
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I typically do not bother leaving reviews of campgrounds but if it is a particularly good experience, I will. On the other hand if it is an extremely bad experience I will on the hope that someone else doesn’t have an equally disgusting time.
The multiple choices need a “Very rarely.”
Or, Sometimes.
I mostly only leave reviews of bad experiences. If i do good reviews I may never get another reservation.
Current country has the “nos” winning. I hope that number goes down! As a campground manager/host I know the value of reviews good/bad. Reviews make or break the smaller/privately owned campgrounds. Be kind! Write a nice review.
Don’t you mean write an honest review? It will be more useful to you as a campground owner and to your customers. I always review my campgrounds and I list good things and things that could be better.
Exactly my approach as well, Russ. I also try to put in real numbers, like voltages and water pressure. Lastly, I post pictures…numerous pictures. Some campers seem to think 8 feet to their neighbor is “spacious.” That wouldn’t be my rating. By posting pics, those reading my reviews can see and also make their own judgement.
As RVers, if you like to utilize the reviews of others, consider contributing by also doing reviews!
I like RVLife campground reviews. Free to use with registration. Usually lots of pictures and enough reviews of most campgrounds to make decisions.
You must mean, “Be kind, and leave an HONEST review.”
I leave reviews after exceptionally good experience and exceptionally bad experience, it seems as time goes on the bad experiences though infrequent do outnumber the good.
Same here. The only really, really bad experiences we have had were in NJ and FL.
Both were owned by Sun Resorts.
Only for Campgrounds I will not be returning to due to distance from home. I don’t want the ones I use all the time becoming too popular that I can’t get a site when I want one.
That’s what happened to me after leaving good reviews at cg’s near us!
I do not leave reviews. I find that there are many different expectations and opinions out there that differ from mine. So I do not find reviews particularly helpful.
I rarely leave reviews, when I do, they are for very good or very bad experiences and also for the seldom visited/reviewed campgrounds.
I wish I could answer Yes, always, but sometimes I get busy and forget when I get back to my stick and bricks. I like to wait until we are totally done with the campground before posting.
I read reviews to help me determine where to stay. If one person mentions noise, I don’t worry about it but if several people mention they woke up because of train noise at night, I avoid that campground.
I should probably leave more reviews. I do regularly do word of mouth reviews for travellers heading places we’ve been.
I always leave reviews in Google Maps and wish others would as well. I find most of them useful and some of them entertaining.
I describe the water pressure, sewer connection type, power outlets, electrical stability, site spacing and grade, park cleanliness, amenities, traffic and noise. I submit that information to help other RV’ers visualize the location.
I typically avoid calling a park “bad” as I let the reader draw their own conclusions from the pictures and information I submit. We’ve stayed at some 1 star places “because they burros braying” and loved it. We’ve stayed at a 5 star place that had the awnings almost touching and we’re happy to leave. It’s all perspective.
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We tend to leave comments every time we stay at a campground. We use TripWizard and when looking for places to stay, we definitely read the reviews which we find most helpful. We also accept that most reviews are subjective, so we do our best to read between the lines and note the “reasons” carefully.
We usually use state parks and if we have a problem I always check with a camp host before a review. We will be using harvest host soon and will definitely be reviewing.
I occasionally leave a review. Often I don’t have enough cell reception, so by the time I get home there are too many campgrounds and not enough pieces of detail in my mind.
I read reviews for most anything we do or places we go. I like to read reviews so the more people that write them, the better chance of getting the real picture of the campground, restaurant, museum etc.
I’ve had some really bad experiences, I review them. I’ve had some amazing experiences, I review them. I also review them if I know I’ll be going back or passing through. For instance there’s one place in Redwoods I’d never return to and there’s a campground on Eagle Lake that we love and return to often.
Well, people need to know the good, the bad and the ugly. I’ve left more camp ground reviews than I thought I ever would, mostly about the people working there. I appreciate the honest reviews posted.
I used to leave good reviews on the cg’s we like that are within a few hours from home. Now, I can’t get into them because they are usually full with reservations or FCFS.
I usually leave a review on AllStays, especially if we ran into a safety concern of some kind. We appreciate a heads up about potential issues. I generally don’t leave a review complaining about “service” or attitude unless it caused a real problem. People can be having a bad day. It’s helpful to let people know the size of the rig. What was a problem for us might not be for them, etc.
My choice wasn’t there. I only leave a review if I have a really good or a really bad experience. I tend to think anything else isn’t worth the effort. A good experience is one where the staff are friendly, helpful, and just polite. A bad experience is where the staff is rude, unwilling to do anything to help, and the place is poorly maintained. I also leave a negative review if it’s loud and have kids/adults cutting through my campsite, especially after dark.
I use the comments, so it is important that I also leave comments. Pay it forward folks!
It’s pointless when nearly all our camping is boondocking.
Because I read other’s, I feel it’s important for me to be honest and leave some as well – and pictures too!
Thank you for the question, RV Travel! I said only if it is a positive review. Actually, I usually forget to leave a review. Have a great day and safe travels!
I sometimes leave a RV park review & realize that I should always do one but I don’t feel that I should repeat previous reviews. Today’s options led me to not answer the survey as none of the choices were suitable. Regarding the survey answers offered to us here, there should be other options to choose from…such as “Sometimes” or “Occasionally”.