we will be on a tight budget so discounts will count for a lot. we got the senior pass. I was wondering if we need to get the passport America and good sam, or would that be over kill.
thanks for any advise.
TheNewhalls said
12:57 AM Nov 5, 2013
Passport America is a good choice, it has saved us a bunch of money.
Gino
Lucky Mike said
01:27 AM Nov 5, 2013
passport America pays for itself in 3 overnites........well worth getting half off just about everytime!!!!!
Technomadia said
07:49 AM Nov 5, 2013
We have found Passport-America to be very worthwhile, and is the only membership discount club we renew annually. Being able to stay 1/2 off for a night or two when we're in motion and in need of dumping tanks, refilling and re-charging.
In the past month alone we have saved 71.50 in campground fees.
- Cherie
soos said
08:30 AM Nov 5, 2013
we have both. Love PPA. Its only about $44 a year so with 50% savings, doesn't take more than a few days to break even.
Good Sams is only 10% discount, but it only costs $25 a year AND they give you a rebate coupon that gives you a free night of camping, up to $25, so its essentially free. you have to mail it in to them but for $25? no big deal.
Sue
igotjam said
06:29 PM Nov 5, 2013
Interested in the $25 Good Sam coupon. Is it something new? I renew yearly at Camping World and have never seen such a coupon? Everytime I make a purchase at CW they ask me to renew for $25. If I didn't know my expiry date and renewed everytime I'd be paid up til 2050.
Hdrider said
11:30 PM Nov 5, 2013
Like other shave said Passport America is a no brainer. And Good Sam is also a good choice. But a lot of the time weekly rates wil trump the passport America deal.
soos said
09:16 AM Nov 6, 2013
igotjam wrote:
Interested in the $25 Good Sam coupon. Is it something new? I renew yearly at Camping World and have never seen such a coupon? Everytime I make a purchase at CW they ask me to renew for $25. If I didn't know my expiry date and renewed everytime I'd be paid up til 2050.
I don't think it's new. We got it 2 years ago, the coupon was in the envelope with the card, when they mailed it to us. When we renewed a month or so ago they sent a new card and again there was a coupon in with it.
Sue
RVRon said
08:54 PM Nov 6, 2013
We keep pretty tight track of our expenses and what discounts we use where. We work or volunteer about 6 months of the year so we paid nothing (but our time) for the campsite those nights. The rest of the nights where we paid to stay we averaged $23.77 per night for our camping fees. This year with Passport America and various senior discounts we saved $575.00 over what we would have paid with no discount at all. Our biggest single savings was with Passport America ($219.67), which does not include the cost of membership. Our senior status saves us 50% in Florida parks since that is our home state. We only used the federal Senior Pass 5 nights but that saved us $54.50. We found some other senior discounts at state parks as well - Maryland has a lifetime senior discount card that costs $10.00 and gives you 50% off campsite fees from Sunday to Thursday nights and Georgia allows a 20% discount anytime for seniors. These discounts are available to non-residents. I'm sure there are other states that offer this that we haven't found out about yet.
One of our biggest savings this year was also to join the Elks. Many of the B.P.O.E. lodges have RV sites with hookups for their visiting members and the site fees are considered a donation to the club, ranging from $10-20.00 a night. We had at least electric at all sites and full hookups at some. It would be difficult to calculate the savings vs. staying at a local campground so I don't have an exact number on that. A ballpark for the 24 nights we stayed at Elks lodges would probably be at least $20 a night savings so that was in the neighborhood of $480.00 for the year.
We have some discount plans that we didn't use much if at all and we'll have to decide whether to continue them. These are Good Sam, FMCA and Escapees. Of the 3 we used Escapees only for a couple of nights, maybe not enough to justify the membership fee. The other 2 weren't used at all because we found better discounts available.
Hope this helps anyone trying to save a little money in campsite fees.
TheNewhalls said
10:44 PM Nov 6, 2013
Good information, thanks.
igotjam said
05:27 AM Nov 8, 2013
soos wrote:
igotjam wrote:
Interested in the $25 Good Sam coupon. Is it something new? I renew yearly at Camping World and have never seen such a coupon? Everytime I make a purchase at CW they ask me to renew for $25. If I didn't know my expiry date and renewed everytime I'd be paid up til 2050.
I don't think it's new. We got it 2 years ago, the coupon was in the envelope with the card, when they mailed it to us. When we renewed a month or so ago they sent a new card and again there was a coupon in with it.
Sue
Interesting.........Guess I'll be sending Marcus (the Good Sam guy) an e-mail. Been a Good Sam member for 7 years and no coupon yet. Maybe you don't get a coupon renewing at Camping World?
igotjam said
05:49 PM Nov 8, 2013
soos wrote:
igotjam wrote:
Interested in the $25 Good Sam coupon. Is it something new? I renew yearly at Camping World and have never seen such a coupon? Everytime I make a purchase at CW they ask me to renew for $25. If I didn't know my expiry date and renewed everytime I'd be paid up til 2050.
I don't think it's new. We got it 2 years ago, the coupon was in the envelope with the card, when they mailed it to us. When we renewed a month or so ago they sent a new card and again there was a coupon in with it.
Sue
Sent Good Sam an e-mail....no reply yet but I did talk to 3 neighbors in the park I am in. No one has ever heard of this deal...all 3 were Good Sam members.
bjoyce said
06:02 PM Nov 8, 2013
It is a Camping World deal. They got rid of Camping World President's Club and you now get the 10% off via Good Sam.
RVRon said
06:48 PM Nov 8, 2013
bjoyce wrote:
It is a Camping World deal. They got rid of Camping World President's Club and you now get the 10% off via Good Sam.
That was the deal we were promised at Camping World. The cashier used a coupon for us to join GS and in addition we would get a coupon for a free night of camping at a GS campground, so basically the membership was free. That being said though it's been nearly a month and we haven't received anything from them. Honestly, if it wasn't for the discount at CW I probably wouldn't bother with it.
bjoyce said
08:06 PM Nov 8, 2013
It can take up to 2 months to get the $25 check from Good Sam. We have redeemed two of them so far.
igotjam said
02:59 AM Nov 11, 2013
Got 3 confusing responses from Good Sam. It appears that GS is supposed to send out a coupon everytime they send out a card. (new or renewal) If you are a Lifetime member I guess you don't get one every year? (I joined in 2006 and renewed yearly after that but to my knowledge, have never received a coupon) It looks like nothing can be done about past years at this point, but I'll be inquiring at my next renewal if I don't get one. Thanks for the heads up on a benefit I have missed.
we will be on a tight budget so discounts will count for a lot. we got the senior pass. I was wondering if we need to get the passport America and good sam, or would that be over kill.
thanks for any advise.
Gino
In the past month alone we have saved 71.50 in campground fees.
- Cherie
Good Sams is only 10% discount, but it only costs $25 a year AND they give you a rebate coupon that gives you a free night of camping, up to $25, so its essentially free. you have to mail it in to them but for $25? no big deal.
Sue
I don't think it's new. We got it 2 years ago, the coupon was in the envelope with the card, when they mailed it to us. When we renewed a month or so ago they sent a new card and again there was a coupon in with it.
Sue
We keep pretty tight track of our expenses and what discounts we use where. We work or volunteer about 6 months of the year so we paid nothing (but our time) for the campsite those nights. The rest of the nights where we paid to stay we averaged $23.77 per night for our camping fees. This year with Passport America and various senior discounts we saved $575.00 over what we would have paid with no discount at all. Our biggest single savings was with Passport America ($219.67), which does not include the cost of membership. Our senior status saves us 50% in Florida parks since that is our home state. We only used the federal Senior Pass 5 nights but that saved us $54.50. We found some other senior discounts at state parks as well - Maryland has a lifetime senior discount card that costs $10.00 and gives you 50% off campsite fees from Sunday to Thursday nights and Georgia allows a 20% discount anytime for seniors. These discounts are available to non-residents. I'm sure there are other states that offer this that we haven't found out about yet.
One of our biggest savings this year was also to join the Elks. Many of the B.P.O.E. lodges have RV sites with hookups for their visiting members and the site fees are considered a donation to the club, ranging from $10-20.00 a night. We had at least electric at all sites and full hookups at some. It would be difficult to calculate the savings vs. staying at a local campground so I don't have an exact number on that. A ballpark for the 24 nights we stayed at Elks lodges would probably be at least $20 a night savings so that was in the neighborhood of $480.00 for the year.
We have some discount plans that we didn't use much if at all and we'll have to decide whether to continue them. These are Good Sam, FMCA and Escapees. Of the 3 we used Escapees only for a couple of nights, maybe not enough to justify the membership fee. The other 2 weren't used at all because we found better discounts available.
Hope this helps anyone trying to save a little money in campsite fees.
Interesting.........Guess I'll be sending Marcus (the Good Sam guy) an e-mail. Been a Good Sam member for 7 years and no coupon yet. Maybe you don't get a coupon renewing at Camping World?
Sent Good Sam an e-mail....no reply yet but I did talk to 3 neighbors in the park I am in. No one has ever heard of this deal...all 3 were Good Sam members.
That was the deal we were promised at Camping World. The cashier used a coupon for us to join GS and in addition we would get a coupon for a free night of camping at a GS campground, so basically the membership was free. That being said though it's been nearly a month and we haven't received anything from them. Honestly, if it wasn't for the discount at CW I probably wouldn't bother with it.