Campground Costs on the Rise???
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- Are campground costs on the rise? What can you do about it? And what other trends are we seeing at campgrounds across the country this year? Find out!
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I agree that campgrounds costs are going up and they are crowded! We were on the road for three weeks and stayed for 18 nights in campgrounds in KY, PA and VA. Our cost was averaging $50 a night that is including Goodsam or AAA discounts. It would have been higher if 4 of those nights weren't at a state park. The cost increase is expected with the economy, but the crowds I think are because RVing is not just for the retirement crowd. CZcams, TV programs and the Tiny House movement have opened people eyes to the benefit of RVing.
The biggest thing we are seeing in the RV parks is that a lot of the smaller ones are catering to long term people, where they pay a monthly fee and electric, who are working close by. Seems like most are 70% fixed and 30% for the travelers.
These are likely for-profit only parks. With owners that don't attempt to expand or improve their campgrounds, with no interest in park ownership or RVing other than the dollar value.
Great info!! We saw the writing on the RV park wall a few years ago so we set up our RV for boondocking. The cost to add solar, composting toilet, extend-a-stay for extra propane was recouped within the first 6 months using an average RV Park charge of $40 per night. Believe it or not Florida helped a lot!! This past winter we stayed 47 miles South of Orlando at 3 Lakes WMA, totally off grid for 60 days, total cost was a $27 WMA camping permit purchased at Walmart. We stayed for 60 days, the permit is good September thru April & Florida has lots of WMAs.
Good information. And yes campgrounds are getting more visitors than usual. It seems more Millennials are going the RV life style. This and more people, when glamping, are using the campground WiFi to stream, which reduces its effectiveness for all. So, what we have done is, purchased a Cell and WiFi booster as well as a Verizon Jetpack. In combination these work well for our needs. In addition, when on the road we can use the Jetpack for WiFi via Cell signal on the Verizon network. Just my take on the current disposition.
I'm looking forward to your new calendar book.
I'd have to agree with you on thinking about your travel time. We try to travel in early spring, or fall to avoid when kids are out of school, and families are traveling.
I've found that they raise campground prices whenever they successfully lobby their local government to ban boondocking. Every place where Walmart and other places have banned free parking . I'm on the Oregon Coast right now where all Walmarts have banned parking. The local County Parks are charging 40 a night just to pitch a tent and park. The rv campgrounds range from 55 to 75 a night now.
My husband and I just came back from going cross country for two months. Yes, campgrounds are going up and so is diesel prices. Your average price for the month is correct, we averaged $33.00 a night and we also stayed at some free sites and some campgrounds were $55.00 a night. One of the reasons why WiFi is almost non existent because so many people have more than 1 device that uses WiFi, such as phones, tablets etc. and some people stream on their tv.
We have Passport America. We save half off on their campgrounds. Some are extremely nice like Loretta Lynn's campground in TN. Others are small and may not have a lot of amenities. But if you're in the move and just looking for a place for a night, there are some decent little campgrounds out there. We paid as little as $11.25 for a spot in Oklahoma with Passport America. Also, look into a National Parks pass and State park passes. Most campgrounds we have stayed in were between $20 - $30 a night. Camping at the beach was the most expensive at $60 a night.
Yes but Passport America parks are blacked out during most of the summer in many areas. Great the rest of the year.
Crowded!! It is amazing how full campgrounds are any time. Internet has always been bad for what I have seem, I had to get a mobile hotspot which was expensive but served the need.
We've noticed that weekends are booked pretty full at state parks. We prefer COE & river authority parks. They usually have first come, first serve available that aren't listed on their reservation sites.
What are COE & River authority parks?
Lots of crowds during the summer. This year, we are waiting until fall before heading out. But that meant I needed to find a place to store the RV. Hauling it back and forth to AK is expensive and it didn't survive last winter very well. I.e. lots of plastic stuff cracked just from the extreme cold. We rarely reserved spaces except for holidays but last year even three months in advance wasn't enough. Others suggest Passport America, which we do have, but we were rarely able to take advantage of the discount during the summer. This year, I'm trying out Thousand Trails for some longer stays as I've discovered that I'd rather stay put more and drive less. Thank you for the video. Great topic, as usual.
Thanks for the feedback. We were the same with Passport America, every time we looked in to it, we couldn't use it. I hear better things about Thousand Trails, especially on West Coast. Thanks for sharing!
Oh no! Left me hanging on the internet product. Haha. Guess I’ll have to wait for that one. 😀
Yes we have noticed these trends as well, we have been full time on the road for the last 8 years. Great video thanks!
Nice update. I'm looking forward to the new calendar.
Awesome info. We are in a site in Brookline NH, a mostly seasonal campground that opened one of their non seasonal sites to us though the season while we build our new home base. Their rates are comparable to a seasonal site and the quietness and location in southern NJ is so convenient for us. It is 99% full, and we had to wait until 7/8 to check in as they were booked solid. WiFi is extremely limited so we purchased a jet pack, ( we got ours thru Verizon) with which you can purchase a set amount of high speed data, and set it up for a slightly slower speed at a reduced rate should you exceed your initial set amount. It can handle multiple logins, is very secure and has been a great addition to our RV. It's the size of a deck of cards so we can take it with us without worrying about using a lot of space.
Of course, you may be testing one out already!
Make that southern NH!
So glad you were able to find a spot there! Hope all is going well! Thanks for sharing!
Keeping your options open on the weekend via boondocking, National Forest, BLM Land or Harvest Hosts might make it easier to find a weekend spot or knock those costs down. Where we go we are still doing ok in finding campsites (CA & OR), but we do struggle when our states are on fire...
hi, now in Lancaster County, PA. for me the yearly price is the same as the past 2 years, i'm with Thousand Trails. the internet is the same or just a bit better. and yes libraries are a great place for internet and to see some local history. and on the weekends it is busier and noisier.
Thanks for the info, great video. What I been noticing in several and maybe spreading pretty fast is the site lock in Fee.(20 to 25) dollars depending on the campground, which I think it not fair. Can you please look into this and make a video. Thanks
I know around 250 plus full timers. Full timers though they consider themselves "homeless". They boondock everywhere and only stay 1 or 2 nights at a campground. Why one might ask, to fill up with water, dump waste, maybe charge batteries, and oh ya take a "hotter"shower. Yes grounds are getting full up, a lot has to do with economics. A $1000 "camper" or what's left one, 300 for a few nights a month, or $1500 plus for rent(or mortgage)and the utilities, you're out 2grand a month or more vs. 5 or 6. Economics
RV Parks/campgrounds are definitely more crowded and those rates are definitely going up! We stayed at an RV Park in West Yellowstone Montana for 8 nights just two weeks ago. $765.00. Way less than a motel would be for even 4 nights in the area but still expensive. I think an "average" would be between $40 to $50 a night nowadays.
Our least expensive campground on this trip was in Montana at the Lewis and Clark Caves state park campground. Just under $40.00 there but only electric at our site and most sites don't have any hookups at all but there is a dump station and potable water available there.
We have to travel in the summer because our grandkids go with us and we have to work around their school schedule. Since we do travel in peak season we always make reservations now on these trips after too many "No Vacancies" experiences and it is often too hot camp at a Wal Mart for a night with no A/C.
Our experience with Campground internet is just counting on it being of little or no use at all so we still fire up the WiFi hotspot every year for the month and even then use that minimally because so many places even have slow cell phone speeds due to the concentration of RVs at many locations overwhelming the area cell tower.
We were thinking of spending a couple of nights at the West Glacier KOA in Montana before the season ends in a little over a month (it is only about 3 hours away from where we live) but the only vacancy available on the KOA website was going to be $187.00 for two nights! A bit more than we want to spend but two years ago we got one night there on the way back from our vacation then and it was $112.00 for that one night.
That was our, so far, all-time highest one night ever and we've been RVing since the 1990s!
I'm glad to see you guys are back at it and I see I have some videos to catch up on!
for internet you need mobile hotspot, check into tmobile, its what we use
we belong to thousand trails and passport america, we love them both. we have been on the road for 4 months and including their annual fees have spent less than $1,000 , $250/month
We've been camping now for about 10 years. Yes the price has gone up and depending upon the season/location some places need to be booked in advance. Use to be whether a campsite has internet or not, now the question is will it really work. Full campgrounds, the chances go down. A lot of campsites have not kept up with the internet service. Streaming didn't exist when we started. Campsites that have kept up are more expensive. Stayed at one site where they stated we could stream NetFlix and it did work! It was one of our most expensive sites (no full timers there :-) . Also if your campground doesn't recommend streaming, then don't be part of the problem and do it anyway. If local internet service is important then check reviews on the site.
Wow, all three of your topics are right on.
Great video Jen!!!
Thank you Jenny & Chris!!
RV/living small is becoming more popular, baby boomers are retiring = hopefully more people will buy land to convert to more RV parks. I hope
Shhh! Library internet is my secret. :)
Their costs go up, so they need to charge more! Plus supply and demand!