Passport America - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Dave Buck · RV-Dreams Family Member

Passport America

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

You will get a member number to use until you get your card.

Dave Buck · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks, I need to get it ordered.

mikebreeze · RV-Dreams Community Member

Passport America's discounts are very good. The only shoetcomings that I have discovered since I joined are that many campgrounds will only honor the discount at certain times and that some states have hardly any campgrounds that participate in this program. Other than these two issues, I fully intend to get back what I paid in savings this year.

folivier · RV-Dreams Family Member

Here's an example of the savings: Wilderness RV Resort in Silver Springs, FL. We're here now for 10 days at 1/2 price. That's $22.00/day in a gated class A only park. That definately got us our money back!
Last year we stayed 2 weeks in Moab for 1/2 price!

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Passport america membership will pay you back in the first couple nites of use!!!!...........love it!!

bigdaddy1 · RV-Dreams Community Member

I agree...Passport America is a good deal.

Workinrvers · RV-Dreams Family Member

before starting fulltime I called Passport to sign up. I asked about a lifetime membership versus paying dues every year. I found out they do have a "gold" membership that is a lifetime membership. I think we paid just under $400 for it so it took us a little longer to "get our moneys worth". We have long ago passed the break even point and are realizing what a great benefit this membership is. In the 5 years we have had it we have more then doubled the $$ spent for the membership in savings and we never have to pay annual dues that could (and probably will) increase.

If you are planning on fulltiming for several years you might want to check out if they still offer the gold lifetime membership. You have to call them and ask about it, they do not advertise it on their website.

Phil

DBEANZ · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm finding it was a waste of money as we are trying to find places during the winter months and every place we look at Passport America does not cover those months... Will not renew... disbelief

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I read all the messages on this thread and nowhere was Passport America being recommended for long term stays, winter or not. Most of us use it for short term stays and overnights while traveling, not as our only choice for campgrounds. It only takes a few nights saved to pay for the membership, the membership is cheap. Even saying that, there are a couple campgrounds in Apache Junction, Arizona that let you use Passport America all winter.

Workinrvers · RV-Dreams Family Member

DBEANZ wrote:
I'm finding it was a waste of money as we are trying to find places during the winter months and every place we look at Passport America does not cover those months... Will not renew...

not sure if you are looking for long term stays during the winter or for just overnight stops and in what area you are looking but, PA is aimed at providing a discounted site for a very short stay and there are, at times, restrictions on these. We have found on occasion that we have gotten the discount at campgrounds even during their restricted times or for a longer period then advertised.

Last year we called for a weeks reservation at a PA park near New Orleans where the discount was "blacked out" as it was Mardi Gras week. The owner/manager honored the PA price for the entire week and we sure appreciated it.

We have also used our PA discount for a weeks stay in the Texas Hill Country during the winter of 2011/2012. We use PA almost exclusively while traveling (even in the Southern states during winter) and with a little research and flexibility have been pretty successful taking advantage of the membership. We have ran into some areas where it was difficult and sometimes impossible to find a PA park available nearby but the savings we enjoy during the rest of our travels more then outweigh these few nights.

Phil

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Great post on a subject I have been thinking a lot about as we are workamping in a park that accepts almost every discount including PA. I can understand newbies not knowing about PA but I have been completely surprised at the number of regular RVers and full-timers who don't know about it who stay in our park. It's a 50 % discount here as long as you want to stay but does not apply to our limited pull-thru sites. I bet I've sold 20 memberships in a couple of months. We have a lifetime membership and have only been full-timing for 3 months but used it for pat-time stays before and it's paid for. I try to tell all our guests about it so I'm glad you brought it up here.

It's a tremendous value.

Sherry

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

OK, Sherry.

Now I have a question. As we aren't traveling yet, I've not looked into membership in any of the discount programs. When I did look at Passport American, all I could find was 1, 2, or 3 year rates. How does one get a lifetime membership and how much is it?

Terry

DBEANZ · RV-Dreams Family Member

You're right, we are looking for longer stays than just a day or two and that's where we're finding they only give 2 or 3 days discount. There are quite a few black out days as well but will ask about it and see if we get it anyway. smile We're full timers now but haven't started traveling as we are staying in NH until October as we had 2 new grandchildren born in the past month! We're looking for places in Arizona so any recommendations are appreciated. We'll head there at the end of October for two months.

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Additionally, many parks will only give you a discount for a day or two but that's still a savings over regular fees.

Sherry

edit: you'd think I could spell my own name.

-- Edited by WestWardHo on Thursday 29th of August 2013 09:21:37 PM

Workinrvers · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:
OK, Sherry.
Now I have a question. As we aren't traveling yet, I've not looked into membership in any of the discount programs. When I did look at Passport American, all I could find was 1, 2, or 3 year rates. How does one get a lifetime membership and how much is it?
Terry

Terry,

We got our lifetime membership by calling them and asking them specifically if they offered one. This was 5 years ago and, if I remember correctly, was in the neighborhood of $300. We saved enough our first couple of years to more then recoup the cost of the ilfetime membership and have continued to enjoy the savings without having to re-up every year.

One of the benefits of the annual membership is if you refer someone you get $10 off your renewal. With the lifetime membership if you refer someone who joins they send you a check for $10 which is a nice surprise when you open the envelope!

Phil

ps: PM me when you are ready to sign up and I'll give you my member # for the referral. LOL

-- Edited by Workinrvers on Thursday 29th of August 2013 11:14:40 PM

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry, this is the only way I know how to Quote, sorry! Jesse had the lifetime paid before we met. He said they sent him a notice and he took them up on it. Says it "was clean living and pure thoughts"! Sorry I can't be more help But when you do start traveling its one you want!

PsherryPsherry

RV-Dreams Family Member

Status: Offline

Posts: 2981

Date: 11:20 AM Aug 29, 2013

	Reply Quote
OK, Sherry. Now I have a question. As we aren't traveling yet, I've not looked into membership in any of the discount programs. When I did look at Passport American, all I could find was 1, 2, or 3 year rates. How does one get a lifetime membership and how much is it? Terry

laurly · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry:

I don't see it on their website either, but sometime in our first year of membership, we received an email offering lifetime membership.

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

You might want to check out Recreation USA too. They don't have near as many CGs in their program as PA, but the ones they do have are cheaper with less restrictions. For instance, I used their membership once while evacuating from a hurricane. The CG was filling up fast due to the storm, but they still honored the discount. We stayed at the Country Sunshine RV park in Castleberry, AL. It only cost $10/night (no tax) unlimited stay FHU (extra for 50 amp) had free laundry and super friendly staff. Unfortunately inflation has taken it's toll over the years and this CG now charges $10.50/night for members. Not the best CG I ever stayed at, but far from the worse, an an outstanding value with the club membership. I stayed at another of their CG's in Cherokee, NC for a couple weeks in October one year (during the peak of color season.) No one else in the Smokies honors club discounts during color season, but this nice full featured CG did - only $10/night! They have since raised their price to $19/night, but still honor the discount with unlimited lengths of stay, understandably blocking out only holiday weekends. Some of their CGs have a few restrictions, but far less than PA. A few states (like NH) don't have any CGs whatsoever so be sure to look them over well before spending your $44 to join. BTW I have no financial interest in this club whatsoever.

Chip

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

WestWardHo wrote:
Terry, this is the only way I know how to Quote, sorry! Jesse had the lifetime paid before we met. He said they sent him a notice and he took them up on it. Says it "was clean living and pure thoughts"! Sorry I can't be more help But when you do start traveling its one you want!
PsherryPsherry

RV-Dreams Family Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 2981
Date: 11:20 AM Aug 29, 2013

Reply Quote

OK, Sherry.
Now I have a question. As we aren't traveling yet, I've not looked into membership in any of the discount programs. When I did look at Passport American, all I could find was 1, 2, or 3 year rates. How does one get a lifetime membership and how much is it?
Terry

Sherry, if you look up in the upper right hand corner of each comment, you will see "buttons" for "Reply", "Quote", and "More." Reply will simply let you post a comment that will appear at the bottom of the forum thread. If you choose the "Quote" button in the comment you want to quote, it will "Quote" that for you and provide you with a "reply" box. You will either need to type in your reply above the "quoted" part, of you can go to the bottom of the comment (after the quoted text) and put your comment under the quoted part. Most put their comments under the "quote" so that everyone can see what the comment is related to.

If I am going to specifically address only a portion of the quoted section, I can either go into the "quote" and delete the unneeded part, or I can highlight the text I'm referring to and bold it and underline it so that folks can see exactly what I am referring to. (See in your comment above where I have bolded and underlined your comment about not knowing how to "quote."

The "More" button in a comment "area" is specific to that one comment and an individual can go into their own comments and "Edit" their comment. I've been a moderator for long enough to have forgotten what that options are under "More," so there may be other options there for the normal user. As a moderator, I have four options under "More."

Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Friday 30th of August 2013 02:44:27 PM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks to those of you that answered my question about the lifetime membership. It sounds like I might would want to join for just one year instead of three. That way, my total outlay of funds to PA (combining the regular membership plus the lifetime) would be less.

When we get closer to the prospect of traveling, I'll definitely be joining up.

Terry

DBEANZ · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for all the replies. Bill, if you remember the name of the campgrounds in Apache Junction that allow you the discount all year, please let us know what their names are. Have you stayed there before?

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yeah Bill, we would like to hear the answer to the above question as well. And would you describe or name either park?

Needed to call PA from the office today to get a question answered. Learned their are two PA offices, one in MO for primarily campgrounds and one in Florida primarily for memberships. Their databases do not interface in all aspects. According to the person in the zmissouri office I spoke with, lifetime memberships are always available but rate depends upon consumer activity. In other words, they would quote pricing and I am then assuming (yeah, I know) they use dynamic pricing which I suspect can be negotiated for lifetime memberships. Just a guess.

Sherry

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have stayed at Carefree Manor, http://www.passport-america.com/Campgrounds/CampgroundDetails.aspx?CampgroundId=909, on Passport America in Apache Junction for longer term on Passport America. A bit tight and dusty, but it was OK. Some friends spent a couple months at Happy Days on Passport America, http://www.passport-america.com/Campgrounds/CampgroundDetails.aspx?CampgroundId=2138 . It was OK and had more activities. Others on Passport America in Apache Junction might allow longer stays, but we did not check them out. Stays of a month or more have less taxes added since shorter stays have lodging/hotel taxes added.

dream reachers · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have used PA as we have traveled over the last 6 years and it has always paid for itself and more. I don't use the book as it takes up room and weight. I go to their online campground guide that has the same imformation as the book. I choose a campground and then cross reference it with RV Reviews online which gives you reviews from other rvers which will weed out unsavory places most of the time. Keep in mind that other people have different priorities than we do. It is just my wife and I and an indoor cat that travel in our rv so we are not impressed by family activities, entertainment, playgrounds etc, that just run the price up. We have our own bathroom and washer/dryer so could care less about what the bathroom conditions, laundry facilities are like. We are generally looking for a fairly level site with FHU or W/E at a good rate. We rarely use picnic tables or concrete pads are not essential and we don't use our satelite for tv. In other words if someone gives a bad review because of things that don't apply to us I discount them. Please use the RV Reviews to comment on your stay so others may benefit.

carolinakids · RV-Dreams Family Member

We received an email from PassPort America and they are offering a lifetime membership for a short time. $399

Dutch · RV-Dreams Family Member

carolinakids wrote:
We received an email from PassPort America and they are offering a lifetime membership for a short time. $399

And usually if you have an existing membership, they will credit the prorated fee towards your lifetime membership.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

This is a 5 year old thread. Keep that in mind if considering information in earlier posts and research to make sure that the information is still current and valid.

Terry