There’s been some talk lately about RV parks charging more based on the supply and demand of available campsites in their area. Hotels do it. Gas stations do it. Airlines do it. So why not RV parks?
When demand was low, the park would charge its base price. But when campgrounds in the vicinity started to fill up on a Friday afternoon, the price of a campsite would increase. So perhaps the regular fee for a full-hookup site is $40 a night, but on a super busy summer weekend the park would charge $60, or $80, or even more, and campers who really wanted to stay would pay it.
How do you feel about it? Here’s an example: You’ve put in a long day at the wheel, it’s late in the afternoon, and you’re tired. It doesn’t help that it’s 90 degrees outside with high humidity. Your co-pilot is on the phone trying to find a place to stay an hour or two ahead of you. You really do need a site with a 50-amp hookup, to keep your all-electric residential fridge running, not to mention your two air conditioners.
Yes, you knew that you were asking for trouble when you didn’t make a reservation a month or even week ahead. But, then, you really didn’t want to be a slave to a fixed schedule.
AFTER MAKING A DOZEN CALLS, your co-pilot announces that the area ahead is booked up, but she did find one spot which normally costs $40 a night that she could get for $80 if she reserved and paid for it right there and then.
What would you do? Would you pay it? Or would you pull into a Walmart and sweat it out and hope the food in your fridge didn’t spoil? Or would you keep on driving and hope you’d find a place to stay before you were too tired to go on?
We know this is a loaded question and there are many variables, including your financial position. But, what do you think? We hope you will leave a comment.
The fact is, this type of reservation system, based on supply and demand, will very likely come into play one day soon as demand for campsites increases.
We would. $40 extra for a sure thing that will keep us from being tired and cranky is money well spent. I’m also thinking that if we had to go another hour we might be likely to stop somewhere to eat rather than cook ourselves, that’s another $20-$30 right there. And we would still need to find a suitable site 50 miles down the road.
The “excuse” always used for increasing prices is “supply & demand”. Its been that way for years. Its actually a “ploy” to raise prices by greedy people who see an opportunity to justify them raising prices on everyone regardless the needs of those who are at the mercy of the supplier. It applies to everything we face in life today. Get it while you can anyway you can get it & used whatever excuse you can come up with. JUST GET THE MONEY!!. Would I pay the extra charge?? HELL NO!! The greed for the DOLLAR & the supply & demand excuse is what is driving the prices for anything to the point that somewhere it is going to come to a great big STOP to everything people in this country love to do. When people can’t afford to pay the higher fees then guess what happens? Everyone loses.
So you’d turn down a job that paid over minimum wage because you have skills that are in short supply.
Supply and demand works both ways and increased prices tend to increase supply. Supply and demand isn’t an excuse it’s a law of nature.
Keep on moving. Frankly, being less than 30′, we have much more options than being robbed. 45’er’s look out.
Hell, NO! I seldom pay anything for overnight stays while moving from one destination to another. There are WAY too many other safe options to choose from versus getting fleeced by a greedy RV Park owner. I own a “self-contained” RV so I can sustain myself for days or even weeks on end. Maybe for those RV owners that HAVE to have a full hookup site I would say go for it and spend the money but I won’t.
I wouldn’t like it either, but to classify RV Park owners as “greedy” is silly. Supply and demand is what drives business’s to succeed.
We would if we had been traveling all day and darkness looms. I don’t like arriving at a campground in the dark and having to back in and set up.
Greed is invading all aspects of life. Camp sites that do that should be avoided and see how quickly they lower prices.
econ 101. if the supplier raises prices too high the demand eases off until equilibrium is achieved.
Perhaps if the circumstance was unusual or there was a hiccup to my previously planned trip. I find I get more relaxation and enjoyment out of both the journey and the destination with a little simple planning.
I personally wouldn’t pay the premium price; however, I would not deny nor find fault with the parks that exercise this practice. It’s the law of supply and demand in a free market.
It’s not “the law”, it’s a practice, very different meaning.
“The Law of Supply and Demand” is a term, not a law.
I believe in our capitalist country but there needs to be some guidelines there should be some kind of cap on how much above the base price you can charge. Not just pull a number out of your head and say well tonight we’re pretty full so we’re charging twice the base price for a space.
Maybe like 20% above base price at least then you could know what they will charge you.
disagree. we are a free market economy and econ 101 does and should rule…supply and demand. the choice is mine to pull in and pay the fee or seek a different solution.
there should be a third option in the poll…maybe. it all depends on the situation.
I agree with Rich…depends on the situation…
I looked for that 3rd option also… so I chose “yes”, even though I doubt I ever will.
Late in the day, tired and medical issues yes I’d pay. With that said there is laws on price gouging. So I think at some point it would come around me and bite park owner’s in the arse. Because practice could become hold 15 spots and charge the higher price to those requesting late or later in the day.
Yep we’ve been there and pretty much had no alternative. Doesn’t bode well for the future. One way to avoid such unpleasant surprises is to make reservations. I know, that negates the spontaneity that many of us enjoy, but it sounds like it may become more of a necessity.
Would hate to know that i have a schedule to meet at the end of the day, I lived by a daily schedule when I was driving truck. It was difficult due to traffic conditions. When we are traveling for recreational purposes we generally travel 4-5 hrs per day. I don’t want to get up in the AM an know I have got to drive so fast for so long to get to my reservation scheduled stop, that’s not what RVing is about.
We didn’t travel in 2020, but the previous 7 years since retirement, my bride & I have criss- crossed the Country several times. Those were the good ole days when with proper planning and Membership in several Campground clubs, we paid $22-28 per night. $40 is not a bargain, $60 or more is a pure rip-off! Answer: We are buying a generator! If we cannot find a reasonable Campground, there are alternatives. Heck, If I have to pay 80 bucks, we will find a Motel. And we get a free Breakfast
Knowing ourselves, I could see us passing on the $80 site, and later regretting it.
I understand supply and demand pushes prices up late in the day or over the weekend. However last years mid week prices rose beyond reason for campsites. We intentionally visited campgrounds during the week to avoid the overcrowding and dense campfire smoke. Even when there was only 50% capacity there were charges 20 to 50% higher then the year before. We don’t go back!
If the price was openly posted, I would just drive away. If someone quoted it to me in person, I would laugh and fill the air with profane references to that person’s heritage or what ever comes to mind. Then I would leave and try to find some road coffee to get to that next stop 50 miles away while looking for a safe place to pull over, or a motel. So, not just no, but NO! Besides, I’m driving a big bed, that has a bathroom, and a kitchen. My wife would be posting an alert on Facebook.
No Way – Be open to Adventures on the way —
Travel should be fun and exciting, do you really need to plugged in, while in route!
Now you have the Freedom to go and get in touch with mother earth while on vacation.
Most RV’s are self-contained with house batteries and/or generator for basic operations.
Do you really need to spend that extra cash for a few hours of city life that you left behind?
You can pull over at most: Truck Stops, Rest Areas, Walmart’s or any other legal area to rest.
You still have all that comfort you purchased, behind that driver’s seat….. why not use it on the road.
We are on a 9th year of full time living and have never paid more than $40 for anything to park our coach, period. What will happen is the park owners will price themselves right out of business soon or the RV owner! It will make solar and boondocking more feasible due to costs, etc. Just one more reason we have never done KOA’s or Good Sam parks! Call us cheap or smart, depending on how you see it!
We travel with cost in mind always, we have a budget. If or when sites start exceeding our budget we will stop traveling. It is not a choice we can afford to make, rising fuel cost, groceries and just about any other category you can name has gone up. We are both retired and on limited incomes.
You know…it is almost getting to the point of going to a motel room with a free breakfast for the same money!
Hey Tony,thats what we did,campground was more than the motel,so we stayed at motel,makes sense to me.
Are there a lot of $80 motel rooms around anymore?
Feeling fatigued while operating a motor vehicle demands that you pull over into a safe area and get some rest. You know the old adage, better to be safe than sorry. Pay the 40 bucks if you have no other option and live to enjoy another day. Rving should be an enjoyable jouney and not a trip to oblivion.
We’ve lost a frig full of food because our RV frig was defective…that cost us more than the $40 site increase for one night.
What has that got to do with paying twice the rate for the site.
That’s the question that was asked. You have a residential fridge which needs to be powered. It’s late in the day, you’re tired, it’s hot and humid. In this scenario, boondocking may result in a fridge full of spoiled food.
Yet another good reason NOT to go with a residential fridge.
I think by answering YES we are giving the RV park industry fuel for the fire. Hopefully RV parks that are in close proximity to each other will not start colluding with each other to set prices. By the way colluding is illegal but someone needs to prove it.
I say to RV travel stop asking this and related questions, I’m sure someone in the park industry is watching and looking at the 38% that answered YES!
So it is a conspiracy now? There are lots of higher cost campgrounds that are already available. While, maybe 50% of Rvers won’t go to these parks under any circumstances, they stay full and reservations are needed all the time. One of these days people are going to realize, not everyone has or will stay at the same type of places. Some Rvers have zero desire to boondock, stay in National and State parks and happily leave those places to those that do.
If there were no other options I would pay the price as I know driving when tired out is dangerous and not worth it. I would first try and find a legal dry camping option..Walmart, truck stop, boondocking or city parking before paying that price. My RV can handle several days of dry camping.
Prefer to boondock and not be part of a mini sub division.
No
As we travel in a self-contained unit (albeit an old one) all we really need is a flat place that we can park legally. We would just put off the too long too hot shower for that night.
I wish I could say NO, but with only 2 choices I said yes. My wife just might make me take that $80 campsite, I would try like heck not too.
yeah I would, but you bet I’ll use every watt of electricity I can, take the longest hottest showers I can, Fill up and dump my black TWICE (just to make sure it’s clean), do the same thing with the gray tank, fill up my fresh water tank with every drop I can and get rid of every bit of trash I can find in my rig in their trash cans! Then I’ll write as many bad reviews about that park as I can post that I was gouged!😝
YEP! One night, not safe to drive when tired, too old for that.
I am getting to the point of giving up using campgrounds. There is no longer the freedom of going anywhere and anytime I want, and that is the reason I started this many years ago.
No, not gonna pay! We’re self contained for a reason.
Maybe I will call AAA and see if there are any Motels in the area.
I hate to admit this, but we have been to the point of being extremely haggard in West Texas where we were outrunning a storm. More driving would have put us in a dangerous, exhausted place. Our safety was all I was thinking about at that point. It was a huge lesson–Never underestimate the power of a high desert spring northern.
The question involved a high-end RV with a high demand for power. This assumes a reasonably affluent owner. As a modest owner of a Class B well set up for dry camping, a night in a Walmart poses no problem.
No, unless my waste tanks are full and my fresh tank is empty. I have a generator for AC’s and 110v needs, and there are plenty of rest areas, decommissioned Stuckeys/Motels/Gas Stations at a remote off ramp. Not a fan of paying the $40- for a night unless I need all the services (and in that case I’d look for a State Park or KOA), but $80- is akin to ‘highway robbery’.
It’s 2008 and we entered a RV park and told “I only have a deluxe site left.” It was 5:30, other parks in the area, but I didn’t want to go “looking.” I took it. Next morning the Park was only 1/2 full. My conversation came back – “we are a 1/2 way to someplace Park. Not many folks make reservations and we try to balance out the park as folks come in.”
OK, so what was with the “we only have a Deluxe site left?”
This question implies that the normal rate is $40 and they’re saying it is $80. How would you know unless they have a sign with the prices on it? It’s not like anyone is gonna tell you it is a $40 site.
Yep, seems to me this is an $80 site. That’s the question to answer, is $80 a valid price for you? The $40 is no longer relevant..
Not just no but hell NO! Sorry for the strong language but I have become very tired of people trying to rip off the public by taking advantage of them. Our unit is fully self contained so we do not have to contend with those that take advantage of their fellow man just because they can. I would be tempted to go a step further and take an image of the place and post it on the web as part of the shame of the month club.
I didn’t answer the poll because I’m really not sure. We can boondock for a night or two. I might ask the navigator if there are options like a Walmart, box store or city park. If the navigator is adamant, then yes I’d pay the price. It would be a lot cheaper to pay a little (or a lot) more than get the “treatment” for the next day or two. That being said. dynamic pricing might be in our future. We saw one RV park in Moab that will be doing this in 2022. If the price is going to be dynamic there might be room for negotiation.
NO! Doing so would only encorage RV park to jack up their rates.
I wouldn’t pay it because it would just encourage the RV park owners to stick it to people. I think we are all going to have to say goodbye to the free-wheeling, go where I want, when I want days of the past. We are going to need to plan our trips and make reservations. Life is always changing, nothing ever stays the same, we will have to adapt.
No offense, but I hope you are wrong. If that is the case that I need to plan to that extent, the RV will be for sale.
I think this will be the “shake out” of RV owners. The mass buying in 2020 as a result of the ***** *** was a knee-jerk reaction. When the reality of RV ownership responsibilities hits, many of those “panic buyers” will become sellers.
I gave a reluctant yes. My answer is based on the assumption that there is no Walmart/Cabelas BKLM etc. available within that same 50 miles.
I would, but then I would bad mouth the place far and wide til my dying day.
I wouldn’t pay it. It only encourages the parks to do it more often and why not at a higher price as well. I wouldn’t recommend the park to anyone either.
Exactly. It is supply & demand. If we don’t pay stupid prices they will keep the prices down.
If anything parks should be lowering prices as they are already profiting with full parks!
Further raising prices past normal ‘season’ prices is just greed.
I generally don’t pay $40 for a $40 campsite. Too many free and “under $25” options out there.
You hit the nail on the head, Jim.
Yep! $30 plus ‘tax’ is about my limit!
Re-read the poll
Back when I was young and stupider, I fell asleep at the wheel. A trucker noticed it and hit his horns and I woke up. If as stated, “end of the day and tired”, yep, I would pay to stay alive.
I said yes, but in general I am booking our stays weeks in advance. I don’t understand the comments related to “this would give RV Park owners permission to charge more”. Isn’t that what supply and demand is all about? I would be annoyed to find I was rented a ‘deluxe’ slot when in the AM there were cheaper slots that hadn’t been used. I would put that information in my review of the park. We are the consumers and how we choose to consume the limited (eventually VERY limited) resource by making choices such as making reservations, choosing to park on the black top at some commercial establishment, or on BLM land will ultimately impact the prices charged for the opportunity to stay in a park with amenities that we might want. Think about the park owners that may have been struggling thru the lean years. Now they see people with big expensive coaches that grouse about paying more when they wait till the last minute to find a place to park for the night. Think about both sides.
I’d pay. I wouldn’t be happy, but then I have paid more to be where I chose to be when I chose to be there. For example Liberty Harbor Marina and RV Park in Jersey City on the Hudson River with relatively cheap and easy connections into Manhattan. $90/night Just parking a car in Manhattan for a day costs as much and hotel rooms that one might stay in are more than $200 a night. RV park owners are business people and they have a perishable product to sell. An unoccupied site is revenue lost that cannot be recovered, a single site open with more than one caller has greater value to someone who must have it than the nominal price. By 6 PM the value of that site may start to approach zero.
There are always Wal-marts, empty parking lots, rest areas, or even dead end streets to overnight at.
And then I’d obsess about it and complain for years.
Kiki, too funny!
I said “yes,” but I still might not do it. We have an on-board generator that will run everything except the clothes dryer when we are unplugged. Would not overnight at Walmart, but might at Cracker Barrel. Would pay if had to do laundry.
Before we had our current motor home, we traveled across country by car. We headed into Mt Rushmore at the edge of dark and found everything full due to the motorcycle convention. One room left would be $350 and were told that there wasn’t another room for 300 miles. My husband said he only wanted to sleep in it, not buy it. We slept in the car that night at the next rest area!
Only if there was no place to safely park or boondock.
I so rarely pay for a campsite because of abundant and beautiful boondocking areas in the western parts of the US. When I travel east where it’s more of a challenge, I plan ahead and have backup plans too. This is where memberships like Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts pay for themselves.
Based on the scenario as described, I’d pay. But it would be the last time I didn’t make a reservation ahead of time.
As for demand pricing, it’s the law of supply and demand…capitalism at its best. Leave the market alone and it will work itself out.
Prices for RV parks in much of the west coast are already at or above that price. Given the scenario I would pay the price. If you have ever flown or stayed in a hotel or AirBnB without planning ahead then you’ve already been subject to demand pricing. I suspect we will just need to get used to it. As computer reservations systems become more common we will see more of this, especially as the big corporations continue to manage more of the parks.
Grant – maybe the EAST coast has prices of $80 and more a night. My wife and I have been travelling, on this trip, for about 3 years, mainly in the area between the Pacific Coast and the Mississippi River, between the Mexican border and the Canadian border. We have yet to encounter an RV park over $60 a night, and that was only one – a beach front site in the Los Angeles area almost three years ago. That price MAY have risen since then. And, upon reflection, the news says that more and more are travelling by RV because of covid. So I expect that the law of supply and demand probably does exert pressure to raise prices.
Under the conditions you mentioned, yes I would, but one reason I always try to make reservations is to avoid situations like that.
What is $80 a night? That’s pretty much the going rate in the northeast.
Based on poor planning yes I would pay it. More and more people like to be that free spirit in their RV and hate the thought of making a reservation but we always have a reservation in place 250-300 miles out…..
I answered yes assuming that we were traveling with our 5th wheel. If we were in our new Class B, the answer would all most certainly be no. That flexibility is one of the reasons for getting a Class B.
Not no, but heck no!!! Will not be ripped off!
As mentioned in previous comments: given the scenario presented, I would pay. That $80.00 price is cheap compared to falling asleep at the wheel or other situation due to lack of attention from being too tired, and the possible damage incurred as a result.
I am driving portable sleeping quarters. The next rest area looks good. Not a chance. Bribery is not in my DNA.
I will not drive tired. I also will not be swayed to pay a lot more or any more than normal rate for a day or two spot. If I was in this situation, I would head to the nearest rest area, take a nap then move on. That is what Rest areas are for.. to take a break if needed.
“if it’s the only site available within 50 miles.” But when we have planned the trip (and that we don’t always do) we would make reservations as much as a month in advance. But the question is somewhat unreal. How does it happen that a campground is called a “$40 campground if it charges $80? The owner/operator values the campground at a certain price, taking into account what it costs to maintain AND what surrounding campgrounds are near and the demand for camping sites, etc. I evaluate what I will pay depending upon my time on the road, the amenities the campground offers, what the competing campgrounds charge and such. If my evaluation is equal to or more than the campground charges I will be willing to stay. If not, I won’t.
I realize campgrounds have costs like anyone else. The idea of taking advantage of people who are on a budget is sad. Campgrounds advertising a family experience should keep it equal to all.
No way! $65 on a very special situation is my absolute luxury top end
We boondocks quite a bit & we like to use campgrounds to refresh and laundry
our preferred camping is in cool temps so that gets us in campgrounds during their off season or shoulder seasons. if its over 75degrees the bugs are out and we do our best to stay out of buggy areas