Thousand Trails Members - Have Questions

[kimrb266]

DH and I are looking to possibly purchase a Thousand Trails membership.  We attended a free 2 night stay in San Diego and disliked the campground so we didn't even listen to the sales pitch.  Now, we regret not listening to what they had to say and know what everything means.  We wouldn't have purchased a full priced membership but a resale membership would be great.  We've been looking online for memberships for sale and find many phrases that mean nothing to us.  
 
Some questions:
 
1.  Where did you purchase your membership
 
2.  Did you purchase resale
 
3.  Where can we purchase a resale membership
 
4.  What would be a good price
 
Overall, what ever you have to say would be GREAT
 
Thanks
 
Kim

[griffsmom]

Hi Kim! :W You may want to e-mail Cottonwooder (Patricia) or post a message to her over in the Nick-Neff-Cough or SCCampers forums.  She and her dh Mike bought a new trailer last year and joined TT.  She is very happy with their membership and speaks highly of the TT cg near their home.  They live up in Ventura.

[B-flat]

There's a TT in my area and the folks who have stayed there really like it. It depends on your camping style. For me, I would not get my money's worth because I camp mostly at Bluegrass Festivals and with the Carolina Popup Campers. The staff there (many that I personally know) have been really nice to me because I send them referrals all the time. They are always inviting me to come for a weekend on them and trying to get me to join, but again it's just not for me. They have a very clean facility and ongoing events. One way to find out if memberships are for resale is to ask the staff if they know of anyone. Usually they do know someone who is getting older and not camping as much:eek: (ought to be the other way around. ;>) Of course their sales people want to sell new memberhips, though.  If you do a lot of camping, then this membership is for you.  A good price would be around $3000-$4500.  Another way to find resales is in the classifieds of the newspaper.  I've seen one advertised in there last year at the beginning of the spring camping season.

[calstate360]

DH and I are looking to possibly purchase a Thousand Trails membership. We attended a free 2 night stay in San Diego and disliked the campground so we didn't even listen to the sales pitch. Now, we regret not listening to what they had to say and know what everything means. We wouldn't have purchased a full priced membership but a resale membership would be great. We've been looking online for memberships for sale and find many phrases that mean nothing to us.
 
Some questions:
 
1. Where did you purchase your membership
 
2. Did you purchase resale
 
3. Where can we purchase a resale membership
 
4. What would be a good price
 
Overall, what ever you have to say would be GREAT
 
Thanks
 
Kim

Hi Kim;
1. Originally it was purchased at a local NACO resort. They were bought out by Thousand Trails.
 
2. Ours was a gift from my FIL after he sold his motor home.
3. Local paper, Internet search for campground membership resales, Thousand Trails resales, and camping magazines.
4. That would depend on the type of membership, ie: what it includes. I would never pay much more than the transfer fee.
As most people just want to get out from the yearly dues since they no longer camp. The amount of the dues can vary
according to the package and how old the membership is. Older = Cheaper.
 
There are several types of memberships. NACO will only get you in NACO campgrounds. The basic Thousand Trails will get you into both.
Some memberships restrict how long you can stay, and how close you may camp near your home resort.
The only restrictions on ours is a max of 2 weeks in the system and 1 week out. That said we upgraded the NACO membership to a full Thousand Trails membership. We also have a membership card for my son and another one for my Fil for $10 each.
When we decide we will no longer use the membership as much, we can transfer it to my son with no transfer fees, and get a card from him. This was part of our upgrade package. Also through Thousand Trails you can purchase a Resorts of Distinction membership which gives you more campgrounds you have access to. For additional cost you can get a membership to Resort Parks International which have condominiums in various resorts.
Never buy a membership on a free weekend, they will start out around 5K and drop down to 3k for the same package.
Also your fellow camper who is giving you a free weekend will get a $100 referral fee if you buy it then.
Pay the least you can for the most that you can get. I once saw a full membership for $300 transfer fees.
As far as the campgrounds, we have only found one that we don't really care for. Wouldn't you know it,
it's the closest one to home.
One of our favorite parks is at Yosemite, and we can host nonmembers who want to get together for a rally.
See here.   http://www.arveeclub.com/showthread.php?t=50605
Hope this answered more questions than it brought up. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any more questions.
 
Sal

[SactoCampers]

DH and I are looking to possibly purchase a Thousand Trails membership. We attended a free 2 night stay in San Diego and disliked the campground so we didn't even listen to the sales pitch. Now, we regret not listening to what they had to say and know what everything means. We wouldn't have purchased a full priced membership but a resale membership would be great. We've been looking online for memberships for sale and find many phrases that mean nothing to us.
 
Some questions:
 
1. Where did you purchase your membership
 
2. Did you purchase resale
 
3. Where can we purchase a resale membership
 
4. What would be a good price
 
Overall, what ever you have to say would be GREAT
 
Thanks
 
Kim

Hi Kim,
 
Calstate and others have answered your direct question, however, I wanted to offer a little advice if/when you actually purchase. If at all possible, try to get one with fixed annual maintenance dues at your base campground in the contract language. It prevents the campground from arbitrarily raising your rate to whatever they want. Otherwise you might be stuck with a membership you no longer want because the annual fee is too expensive.
 
Other than that, there are benefits and disadvantages to the system. Some like them because they are nice parks, you never have to worry about reservations, etc. We considered it, but felt it didn't fit our camping style. I felt like we would be obligated to go to the membership parks to get our money's worth. After crunching the numbers (cost vs. number of nights we camp a year), it wasn't for us. However, it's nice having someone like Sal (Calstate360) so generously wagonmaster rallies for us Nick-Neff-Coughers at one of the parks so we can get a taste of it every now and then!

[Calstate361]

What SactoCampers said is basically true, but as a NACO/Thousand Trails Member I have to clarify his points. I called the Headquarters Office just to make sure what I'm posting here is correct.
 
First, the campgrouds do not have anything to do with determining what you pay. All the paperwork goes to HQ, they research the existing contract (the one you are going to purchase/transfer) and determine what you will be paying in dues. The bottom line is it all depends on what is written in the original contract. They have so many different contracts that you can't just say what applies to one family applies to the next. So, look at the contract that the person you are going to purchase/transfer it from has. If they don't have a copy for you to look at you can call the HQ (Customer Service or Transfer Unit) and they can look it up using that person's membership number. Not all contracts "freeze" the dues. Some do, some don't, it depends on the current contract language and even then it may not apply with the purchase/transfer.
 
In our case, my Dad purchased just the NACO membership which limited the resorts/preserves we could go to. Some contracts freeze the dues at 55 or older. In our case, when my Dad purchased the NACO membership back in the late 70's/early 80's his contract froze his membership dues at age 55. When we transfered it to us, our contract did not include a "freeze" clause (I just found this out!). However, when we upgraded to the Premium level (we have the whole package now) our contract included the membership dues freeze at age 59 (just found this out also). Like I said, the old contract is researched by the HQ staff which gives them a starting point for your new contract, then they add and take out clauses.
 
So, you see, it all depends on what the original contract states, and then you still really don't know what you will end up with. I don't know if they negotiate on the different clauses in the contracts or not, but it probably wouldn't hurt to find out. As is the case with all contracts, it is not effective until both parties sign it.
 
We really love our membership because the campgrounds are, for the most part, very nice. They always have clean showers/restrooms and the people are all friendly and helpful.
 
Another thing to consider, if you ever plan to go "full-time" (which means live in your trailer all the time) they have programs where you can stay and work at a campground. The resorts have a few full-time employees and they are usually the rangers. The rest of the people working there are volunteers or are working there for minimal pay and camping for the summer months. I have some friends that live in the CA San Francisco Bay Area who have purchased one of those humungus motor homes that they live in full-time (they have a house in Oakland CA that their son lives in while going to school and they use it as home base). There is a monthly magazine that is put out by NACO/Thousands Trails that tells you what is going on in the different resorts/preserves. There is a section where the resorts advertise for help. Well, my friends answered one of those ads last year and they went to work at a resort back East (he did some maintenance work and she did maid services for the rental trailers). They earned a small salary (I think mimimum wage) and got to camp at the resort for the whole summer and all they had to pay was for their electricity and phone service. The difference with this is that they could stay there the whole summer when most of the memberships have a time limit on how long you can stay in the system. Like ours, we can stay for 2 weeks then have to be out of the system for a week. There are a lot of full-timers that go from one resort to the next and they have their little circut that they make.
 
Geezzz I'm long winded...anyway, if you have any more questions, please e-mail me or Sal (or post here) and we will try to answer your questions. Hope you decide to join, it really is a nice resort espeically with the increase in the fees for the Federal (and State, here in CA) campgrounds.
 
Happy Camping
 
Joan

[B-flat]

Maybe you would like to consider a Travel Resorts membership.  One of their camping resorts is even closer to me than the Thousand Trails.  I have sent folks to TR, also and everyone seemed to like it better than TT.  TR has more campgrounds in their membership program.  Check out their website at:  www.travelresorts.com  for information and locations. There's a membership advertised in the local newpaper @ $1150 asking price.  I understand that the membership runs between $7,000 and $10,000 at regular price.