Posting reviews on RV Park Reviews - rant. - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

Posting reviews on RV Park Reviews - rant.

Jo And Craig · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have not been happy with them for quite some time. Not only do I not use them any more, I simply will not waste one more minute of my time on their site. Seems like everything I pulled up was years old. One, two, three strikes you're out!!

Hdrider · RV-Dreams Family Member

I've seen more than one complaint about RV Parks reviews on other sites lately. Even saw a person from RV Parks Reviews replying on one of the sites trying to explain there side of things.
I may not be as excited about them as I once was but until there is REALLY something out there better I guess I will give them a look as we travel AND keep posting reviews I guess. BUT I do hear ya, I have had a couple kicked back lately as well. I just reworked them and turned them back in and they were accepted.

pkhalin · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barb,

You always seem so laid back. I think it takes a bit to ruffle your feathers.

I hope this isn't considered side tracking the conversation but it sort of seems the nature of it.

Hdrider indicated there isn't anything better out there. Do folks have other 'go-to' sites that they use? All Stays or anything of the like? I know a number have been mentioned on occasion.

Thanks.

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

What really irritated me was to reject and not say why except we were not commenting enough. As everyone knows I comment when there is something to comment on. Otherwise, if
I say it is a good overnight site, then it is a good overnight site. Heavens, one of the places we stopped it was raining, lightening, hail, high winds, and I was suppose to check out the pool?

Barb

-- Edited by Barbaraok on Sunday 3rd of May 2015 08:59:22 PM

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barbara,

For selfish reasons, I would welcome your continued posting on RVParkReviews.com. It is one of the sites that I/we value for park reviews. Based upon your prior postings on RV-Dreams, I can only assume that what you post on RVParkReviews.com is value adding!

Lynn

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lynn,

It is kind of hard to keep posting when they keep rejecting because I don't talk about amenities, etc. because those aren't things that I make note of - - one would think they would be happy with any information, but they seem to want you to detail all of the amenities, describe things to do in the area, etc. Now if these were destination parks where we stayed for a while, then I could do that - but since most aren't I'm at a lost of what to do.

Barb

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barb, I no longer post there for the same reasons as you. There are other things to do....I don't deal with places/things that make my life difficult.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barbaraok wrote:
... Heavens, one of the places we stopped it was raining, lightening, hail, high winds, and I was suppose to check out the pool?

Barb

-- Edited by Barbaraok on Sunday 3rd of May 2015 08:59:22 PM

Yes Barb, you must really check out the pool, tennis courts, beaches during hail, lightning and downpours and then give full report of the quality of those experiences so the rest of us can go there to get bruises on our collective noggins, refreshing jolts from dancing in the puddles to remind us we are still breathing (assuming the jolts don't kill us first)... come on, live life on the edge. biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin

Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Monday 4th of May 2015 08:08:22 AM

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Alternatives are http://www.rvparking.com/, http://www.rvparky.com/ and http://www.tripadvisor.com/.

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

While RVParkReviews has the most reviews.. I too don't default to it for leaving my reviews. I've never cared for their UI, even with the newly revamped website.

Some fellow full time RVers launched www.Campendium.com earlier this year - which I really like. In addition to all of the standard RV Park listings, they are also listing free campsite locations, like boondocking locations. Great for our style of camping - which is a variety of places. So, since the beginning of the year, that's where we've been leaving our reviews.

Before that, we utilized RVParking.com - I liked their user interface and mobile app the best, but they just never seemed to pick up steam in user engagement. But I really liked that they created a nice user profile with a graphical map of where we left reviews - great for sending our readers to.

- Cherie

-- Edited by Technomadia on Monday 4th of May 2015 09:12:05 AM

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barb - I've had this same problem with RV Park Reviews, so my solution on the overnight stops was just to comment that "this was just a one night overnight stop, did not check out park amenities." I usually try to mention if we had good Verizon or AT&T coverage since that it very important to us and other than that I just mention if it was easy to get into or not, especially if it's just a one night stopover, if the site was difficult to get into, it's not worth the hassle for one night.

I do not like their revamped website nearly as much as I liked the old one, but as mentioned above, it's one of the best choices out there.

I have started using www.Campendium.com in the last 2 months and I really do like it.

Bill and Jodee · RV-Dreams Family Member

I've also moved to campendium for my first check on a park. The review options include coverage strength for the major cell phone/data carriers.

Because they're new, there aren't a lot of reviews, so if we are going to have a viable option besides the outdated rvparkreviews, all of us need to start adding our reviews to this great new site!

Jodee

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jack Mayer wrote:
Barb, I no longer post there for the same reasons as you. There are other things to do....I don't deal with places/things that make my life difficult.

Jack,

Your comment goes right along with a quote by Winston Churchill that I recently discovered. It also kind of goes along with the name of my "sadly, very inactive" blog.

Churchill's quote:

"You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks."

Terry

Hdrider · RV-Dreams Family Member

I get the dislike for RV Park Reviews, And I'm certainly open minded enough to use other campground review systems but after checking 2 of the mentioned sites I checked campgrounds in 2 towns that we will be in next month and even though both did mention the campgrounds we have chosen to stay at there were no review's available for either.
I'm also all for helping sites grow but until they grow up and put on big boy pants I still need information and as bad as I or others may hate it, RV Park Reviews is still "about" the best. .... I used the "best" to indicate it is subject to change from one reader to another and it is just my opinion. LOL!! See, covering my rear from the get go.

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

Trouble with Campendium is that they also want a lengthy comments. Give me some boxes to check and then let me get on with my day.

Someday · RV-Dreams Family Member

I tend to agree with Dave, one is likely to go to the resource for speed where they are likely to get the highest response to their query regarding reviews or otherwise.

Alas, the more obstacles the resource puts in the way to those kindly taking the time to report for the benefit of others coming behind them, fewer and fewer folks will report, and that resource will rapidly become defunct. At the end of the day, if more and more folks stop contributing feedback due to the throw back of bonfide reviewers reports, then there will be less and just outdated reviews on the site, of little use to anybody. Then folks will turn to another resource that has grown exponentially and providing the information the researcher is looking for.

Instead of a WIN-WIN, it'll all become a LOSE-LOSE sadly. I used to use rvparkreviews all the time, but not in the past couple of years much, albeit we tend to look at freecampsites.net moreso now preferring non-organized sites where possible.

Dog Folks · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jack Mayer wrote:
Barb, I no longer post there for the same reasons as you. There are other things to do....I don't deal with places/things that make my life difficult.

X2. I also will add that any park review seems that I need has very old, and thus useless reviews. Even the parks that I know are busy.

Maybe their strict editing has something to do with that.

-- Edited by Dog Folks on Tuesday 5th of May 2015 07:10:11 AM

aluminarium · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi Barbaraok - "A star rating is all you need to submit a review" on Campendium. Nightly rate, days stayed, site number, would you stay again, cell coverage, and an actual review is all optional!

Example review with just stars: https://www.campendium.com/sea-perch-rv-resort

-- Edited by aluminarium on Tuesday 5th of May 2015 08:39:36 AM

-- Edited by aluminarium on Tuesday 5th of May 2015 08:55:36 AM

-- Edited by aluminarium on Tuesday 5th of May 2015 08:56:00 AM

Bill and Jodee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barb,

I haven't seen the requirement for any comments on compendium. In fact it says right on the review page that you only need to give a star rating for a review to be recorded. Maybe they've made a recent change to just the star ratings?

In any case, it is going to be a great option for us with reviews newer than 2012 like so many in rvparkreviews.

Jodee

Dog Folks · RV-Dreams Family Member

I find very ironic that a website that depends solely upon reviews to be successful, gets so "picky" about the reviews that the number of reviews is reduced.

I too have stopped using RV Park reviews because they just are not worth the work and the time to write a review that may or may not be published.

In general, with all websites, including RV Park reviews if they are too hard to contribute to, I do not and find another site.

This also applies to websites where I am asked to spend money. Make it hard for me to give you money, and I will not. Your loss.

Camper Chronicles · RV-Dreams Family Member

Not to be the only other side person but I recently started posting reviews and found the experience ok. They do have a ton of check boxes for sure and I tend to be wordy so short posts aren't a problem for me 😄. I will also say that we have had good luck having a recent review in the places we have stayed and those reviews have been mostly accurate.

As a side note, Barb I don't usually check out the reviews for overnights. We Passport America, pull in, and if it looks ok we stay. Don't need much for one night since we don't unhook the truck and Passport Americas may not be the nicest but so far they have all been habitable.

Just my thoughts

Trace

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

Trace,

Like you, we use PPA whenever possible and usually don't check on the reviews. I did a bunch of reviews because of a post on another forum asking that we do them every time we visit a park so that the park info would be current. So I decided to do just that - review all of the parks that we had stayed at during a run from Arizona to Dallas back to northern Arizona and the west coast.

Barb

Camper Chronicles · RV-Dreams Family Member

And I really appreciate that Barb...it's a real shame they won't take them due to length. Especially for an overnighter...what the heck are you supposed to say :)

Hdrider · RV-Dreams Family Member

I've taken a closer look at www.Campendium.com and agree that it has potential but as I mentioned before, it does not have nearly enough reviews for me to make my go to site. And as I have also mentioned I have no problem doing my part to help create what might be a better place so I will start posting reviews in both www.Campendium.com and RV Park Reviews. I mean heck, I'm retired and my evenings are not so filled that I can't spend a little extra time doing so LOL!!
I have also started going back to my reviews on RV Park Reviews that we have done over the last 3 years (70 or so reviews) and have started copying them to www.Campendium.com (a few at a time, I may have some extra time but I'm not completely inactive). So far I have transferred about 25 and in doing so I have found 2 review that never were posted on RV Parks Review website and have contacted them about this. (In there defense I'm only human and I could have had a brain fart and not posted them but I AM pretty diligent on posting reviews). They have responded and have asked when I thought I did the reviews and what I might have said in them so they at least seem interested in what might be a problem on there end.
I will probably take the time to respond once I actually go through ALL of what I think I have posted on RV Parks Reviews so it can be looked at all at once instead of blocks here and there. Will it help anything, I don't know. Will it hurt anything, probably not.

TXRVr · RV-Dreams Family Member

I know that the RVPR system doesn't automatically "reject" reviews, but instead sends a few back, with a polite notice, asking for your help with an issue. It is not unlike any quality review system that attempts to maintain some minimal standard that will produce a product that most would consider helpful in deciding that we will get a certain value when we spend our money.

Their guidelines ask that you provide some really useful information about a CG that your fellow RVer could use. Key words here are "fellow RVers." You either care about that, or you do not. Those guidelines for posting a review are common sense and not really restrictive, but I suspect that those who complain the most have not bothered to read them. I would suggest that even an overnighter, which we have all done, needs some basic information to help others decided to use it, or not.

When submitting one, a reviewer can do a minimalist review telling me only that they really liked the CG. That means absolutely nothing and is not helpful. I care about WHY you liked it which includes information like: are the sites bigger than a sardine can, will the utilities work well for my larger rig, are the access roads full of pot holes, do the tree branches scrape RVs as they pass, was there a lot of noise, are the bathrooms clean, did the customer service make me feel that my business was appreciated, etc. etc.

Again, RVPR ask reviewers to submit a review that would be helpful to other RVers. Respectfully, it's not about You. It's about Us. I prefer reviews where that holds true.

gypsymaus · RV-Dreams Family Member

TXRVr wrote:

Again, RVPR ask reviewers to submit a review that would be helpful to other RVers. Respectfully, it's not about You. It's about Us. I prefer reviews where that holds true.

I agree we are the benefactors. I have been posting to RV Park Reviews since 2008. I noticed that it got "stale" for a while but the new look seems to help. We stayed at a park in February that left me no choice but to post a very negative review about the stay. I didn't leave anything out or sugar coat it. It was posted in it's entirety no questions asked. I am careful to participate regularly so that I am doing my part to have updated information on the site.

txbobcat · RV-Dreams Community Member

I have posted on RVPR many times. All they have asked is that I give some information about the park rather than something like "It was great for an over night stay". That would be ok for Walmart. Others like me that go to that site want to know what to expect before we arrive. If you go to a park you can see many things about it without driving over the entire park. Such as is the sight level, wide enough to get into, are there trees in the way, is the electric good, do they have only 30a or 50/30/20 is the water faucet above ground or below in a conduit, were the roads gravel, paved or dirt and etc. RVPR may not be perfect but I use them before I go to every campground and find much of the reviews are good. I personally don't like or pay attention to reviews that say "Pretty flowers so I give them a 10" or the people in the next site were loud and cussing so I gave them a 1. I have found if you comment on about 4 or 5 items like I stated above the review will be approved every time. The Admins on RVPR are all volunteers and give their time to help those of us that travel might have a place to gain knowledge about a park we want to visit. Personally I like accurate information and feel RVPR is giving it the best they can. Read others reviews and see which ones help you even for an overnight stay. Until there is something better I think I will continue using them.

-- Edited by txbobcat on Saturday 16th of May 2015 12:00:11 AM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Good points, txbobcat.

Let me now say welcome to one that has been registered here for a really long time, even though your post yesterday is your first. Obviously, you have been doing a lot more reading here than otherwise.

Glad you came out of the shadows.

Terry

txbobcat · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks Terry.
I have been a member since 2008 and come here and read quite often but not every day. I usually select Recent Posts and saw Barbara was having fun again. Great lady. Met her some time ago in Maine. I guess I just had to put in my 2cents worth because I use RVPR all the time. Have looked at Trip Advisor some but never used RVParking RV Parky. I hope you all didn't mind me jumping in and giving my thoughts about using RVPR or anyother RV Park website.

BTW I didn't think to post this but RVPR does have a set of guidelines they ask everyone to read before reviewing any park.

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/docs/guidelines

In part this is in the guidelines. Reviews should contain detailed information about your stay and specifics about the Park that would be useful for others considering a visit.

I am like a lot of other people.. I did not go to their link and read the guidelines and had a number of reviews returned. They asked me to checkout the guidelines and after I did I don't seem to have any problem at all. They even send me an email thanking me for each review.

Hope to see you all down the road.
I am in Fort Payne AL and heading to Virginia to see a cousin.

Travel safe and may God Bless

-- Edited by txbobcat on Saturday 16th of May 2015 01:59:44 PM

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

So let's see, you have an established website that people have used for a number of years..

You decide to go in a different direction that makes people do more work to use your site
There is no mobile app for mobile users, which means they have to use a brower, which increases the difficulty of making reviews.
You have people who have spent years giving reviews and you change how reviews are done but don't make it obvious. After 9 years of doing reviews, one generally doesn't stop and read the whole list of guidelines with each review. If it is a MAJOR change, do an alert.
You have a field that is a MUST field, but don't have it flag as a MUST field (i.e., the review will not be taken if there isn't content in the field), so a review will be taken and it might be a day or two or more later before the person is notified that it was not excepted.
By that time the person is one or two states away and the particular details are blurred by the park(s) they have stayed in since then.
This is what you want in every review:

describe the park and comment about the condition and quality of the facilities,
the services, and
the amenities provided at the park.
What was its general appearance?
Were the roads easy to navigate?
What did the sites look like?
Were they paved or gravel?
Were they large enough and level?
Did the utilities work well, and were they conveniently placed?
Were there any amenities?

What your asking for is all found on their website. If you want more, make each item above a check box (y/n) If you want the same level of review of each park that GS has, then pay people like GS does to go and do reviews.
Mind you, you have your surrogates out on RV forums asking people to go do reviews because you aren't getting enough newer reviews, but when they do, you chastise them for not doing enough work for you.

I have over 200 reviews on that site. And a large number do have additional comments - ones that I WANTED to add. But I find it so difficult to use - especially on a mobile device, that I use Allstays app, which gives me a quick snap shot of what I need to know, quickly and efficiently on my iPhone/iPad while going down the road. I add reviews as we go and when applicable, I add additional comments - - additional comments that I want to make not that the owners of the web site have decided I MUST make.

Barb

txbobcat · RV-Dreams Community Member

Web site has changed owners. And this owner has basically the guidelines as was before. They have rebuild and activated the new review software which I pretty well like. I even write to the admins suggestion were I am having difficulty.

Not all websites have a mobile app for their website, but they probably will in the future. We, meaning you and I and many others have been using browser for years so what is the difficulty there. I am using it on this and other forums because I don’t want to spend the money and learn how to use an iPad. I am comfortable with MSWindows. I guess you had no problem learning the different versions of windows over the years, you know MSDOS, Windows for work groups, windows 95, windows 98, Windows NT, Windows XP, especially 8.0 & 8.1 then had to learn how to use Apple. Maybe we should all still be using MS DOS...

And you say “You have a field that is a MUST field, but don't have it flag as a MUST field (i.e., the review will not be taken if there isn't content in the field), so a review will be taken and it might be a day or two or more later before the person is notified that it was not excepted.” Yes it is flagged. I was going to insert a screen shot of the page but I don't see how to upload a photo other than a URL or make an attachment. However if you go to RVPR and enter like you are going to make a review. On the left hand side it says "Your Comments about the Park" and right below it you will see "required".

If you would the next time you give a review, if you do, give something like this with the assumption that you only pulled into the park, paid the office, drove to the site, got out maybe leveled the RV, connected water, electric and maybe sewer. Slept the night unhooked everything the next morning and left.

Type in the required box about the following:
Interior road is (dirt, gravel, concrete, asphalt)
Site is (level, unlevel)
Site is (long enough for big rigs, not big enough for big rigs)
Distance between sites (close, good, spacious)
Office personal (good, nice, lousy)
In fact just put any of the 4 in the required comment about the park box.

If they do not post it or they return it to you I will buy both of you a steak dinner where ever you want for under $50 each. Or if they refuse to post it I will send you a check for $50 and post it on this thread that I sent it and that you cashed it. But you must post here what you said in the review but only what I indicated above, no more and no less, and what they say back to you, if they refuse your review, I am so sure they will approve it that I will honor this wager. My money is where my mouth is….

If you go to a park's web site they will tell you that their park is outstanding and the photos will prove it. And if you believe that all of them are honest I will sell you some beach front property in Arizona. I take photos of every campground I stay in and I can make a park look outstanding or absolutely terrible.

Now where did you get that “You, meaning that RVPR, is asking people to go out on forums and asking people to use RVPR so they have something to do.

And I quote :
“Mind you, you have your surrogates out on RV forums asking people to go do reviews because you aren't getting enough newer reviews, but when they do, you chastise them for not doing enough work for you.” Unquote..

That is pure spin. I go out and when I see someone I suggest that they check out RVPR because I like the site. I know of no other site that has as much and as valid information as they do. So if anyone suggests RVPR they are cahoots with them. That’s nonsense.

Ok. Lets say... You own RVPR... You have guidelines (rules like all internet websites have, Escapees, Facebook, whatever) that you ask the Admins that are looking over the reviews to see if they are meeting the standard you are asking for in the guidelines. You want your website to be an asset to RVers. So when a reviewer posts a review that says " Great park, be back again" and your admins pass this on your going to say "OK let them post anything they want." Then another person reviews and says " Lousy place don't stay here". What would you say to your Admin?? Bet a number here can guess. Which one are you going to pay attention to? Will you keep the admin that doesn't hold to your guidelines. Knowing you they would likely be gone in a minute. If you give the customer (RVers) bad information they will not use your website. But if a review posted " Nice campground, sites level, long enough for a big rig, electric 50/30/20 good, water good pressure, cable good, no trees to hit your RV. I want to read about dependable information before I go to that park.

Which review are you going to pay attention to. You want to post on their website what YOU want to. It’s not your website and if it were yours you would insist that they give quality information, not a bunch of BS. Also I find posting on the website is a benefit for all RVers when I post not so much for me. I have already been there. And yes others are posting for me so I can have a great time at a good enough park form my needs. This is for those that are going to maybe go there. In this forum, do you post anything YOU want or are you bound by the rules of the forum (ie guidelines). If you don't want to post a good review why are you wasting your time. No one is going to pay any attention to " I like this park".

As per Allstays, I use it also, but if you check it out it defers you to reviews by other websites as well as RVPR. It does not give reviews. And if you look at the review they send you to I will bet you none of them give as good or as many reviews as RVPR.

Ok so you have over 200 reviews. I have 189 and counting and only been on the website since 05-15-2006. Go to their website and look up TXBobcat. Check out the reviews I have made. You can do that…

You are a great lady and I respect you for standing up for what you believe, and I enjoy a nice debate. I probably will not change your mind and you’re not going to change my mind, so C'est la vie I’m done here.

I hope we meet again and shake hands and have a beer or whatever suit you.
I am TXBobcat. I have had fun.
Travel safe and may God Bless each and everyone of you.

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

First, I've had a Mac since 1984, so Windows came later.

Second, the site will take the review without a comment being made. Then later comes an email and a reject of the review. Yes, they took reviews where I commented, it was where I didn't have anything to say. I had given it a rating, not good enough, ok, then I won't review. BTW, using Safari on the iPhone to write paragraphs that they want is not that easy. Easier on the iPad, but going down the road I use the iPhone.

I didn't mean you, specifically, I was referring to the site owners . I was referring to a reviewer for RVPV who asked me to do reviews even though we had stayed at them before, told me they need fresh reviews. No spin involved. Since we had stayed at these parks before I wouldn't have done a review except that he asked me to. And the site asks you to rate the park. Isn't that what you really want! If the park has all 1 or 2 ratings does anyone even bother to scroll through the reviews? I sure don't.

It is their site, and they can do what they want. If the site had flagged and said we need a comment before it can post, AS I WAS DOING THE REVIEW, I would have put in something, as the place was fresh in my mind. A couple of days later, sorry but a post berating me for not doing their bidding means they have lost me as a contributor.

Yes, this is one of those things we will disagree about. More of the attitude of the new owner of the site towards contributors than anything else.

Good to see you on the site, hope you are going to answer some questions that "newbies" post. And in case people wonder, Texans have a habit of looking for others with TX plates in parks, especially in the wilds of Maine, and walking over to say howdy! biggrin

Barb

charles · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for the alternatives to RV Park Reviews, I quit them years ago for several reasons stated by others.
I now have all of the alternatives grouped in my favorites and will use each of them until I find a cg listed that I need.
By the way, I had posted quite a number of reviews to the site before they refused one and would not tell me why.???

Occasionally over the ensuing years I would e mail them and tell them how many reviews that I have posted on another site.

CCC