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Park Reviews

RICK-ards_Red
Explorer
Explorer
Not sure if this is the right forum for this but... how often are campgrounds reviewed by Good Sam? One place I was looking at was rated 10/10/10 and most reviews were good but I like to look at the bad ones too to get a feel for the place and the bad ones all mentioned the manager was mean, rude etc. Yes everyone has a bad day and some guests can bring out the worst in people but the dates spanned a couple of months, most recent was Feb 2021.

Just thinking - should I consider this park still or move on?
2017 Coachman Catalina 25RKS
2015 GMC Sierra 1500 - Kodiak edition
19 REPLIES 19

Bears_Den
Explorer
Explorer
I for one, am more interested in the campground and what it has to offer and how it is maintained. I donโ€™t let people that have poor people skills ruin my day. I also donโ€™t care about poor WiFi or cell phone signal as Iโ€™m camping to get away from that stuff. I do understand many people work remotely these days and need that stuff and thatโ€™s important to them. For me thatโ€™s not a deal breaker. I use RVParkReviews. If the campground offers what you want than by all means go and enjoy yourself.
2014 Kodiak 279 rbsl
2017 Ford F-150 King Ranch V8
Equalizer hitch
Ford integrated brake controller
2004 Travel Lite 23S Hybrid Travel Trailer ( previous trailer )
1998 Viking Popup ( previous trailer )




No substitute for experience

2g_s
Explorer
Explorer
We've been burned a few times by the Good Sam 'ratings'. The parks were not at all like they were rated. I took photos and sent them in and watched the ratings for those parks for 3 years and nothing was changed. That's when we quit using Good Sam parks. We then went with 'reviews'.

Thom02099
Explorer II
Explorer II
SDcampowneroperator wrote:
Good Sam account representatives visit every Good Sam park every year. They do not 'review', they ' rate' based upon the 10/10/10 point system which is divided into 3 sections, that evaluate camp amenity, facility and sites.
Usually when they arrive in camp its unannounced, except for an email up to a week before that they will come soon. They drive and walk the camp and rate based upon their observations. When this is done they sit down with management, present their rating, proceed to listing and advertising.
In our 19 years, there was no discussion allowed on their rating. It cant be bought or altered.
One year after we had done extensive upgrades to all 3 categories our rating jumped 6 aggregate points. Within a week Ed and Jan Thierfelder, Good Sams Quality Assurance team checked in unannounced rated the camp, to verify our 9.5/10/9.5 .
Reviews about the camp on the GS link are from guests.

Ratings amd Reviews are apples and oranges apart. Opinions about rudeness or some other slight may be construed differently. Some want to be led by the hand, some are offended if help is extended. The customer is not always right, its why businesses have the right to refuse service.
Consider the region. being a extensively well traveled westerner, I would not call the New Yorker rude for being what is percieved for NYC. A New Yorker might be put off by the graciousness in the south, thinking it, intrusive.



^^^^^ This. There is a very big difference between a RATING and a REVIEW.

Ratings takes a more objective view. There is a check list. Does the property have this? Does the property have that? Does the property have something else? A list of items to be checked off; the more checks, the higher the RATING. In a nutshell.

A Review is much more subjective and in many cases more detailed. It is an opinion based on an experience and a first (or more) impression. When I do a REVIEW of a location at campgroundreviews.com I try to be factual about the amenities as well as giving an opinion about how those facts translate into an enjoyable camping experience. Having water/electric/sewer are factual; they either have them or they don't. How nice the site is, is more opinion based on expectations. I have a different opinion and expectation of a USFS or National Park campground versus a commercial campground/RV resort. Both can be highly favourable based on EXPECTATIONS and does the property deliver on that expectation.
2007 GMC Sierra SLE 3500HD Dually
2016 Coachmen Catalina Legacy Edition 243RBS
2007 Keystone Outback 25RSS - R.I.P.

SDcampowneroper
Explorer
Explorer
campgroundreviews,com, formerly RVparkreviews.com was purchased about 8 years ago by Andy Robinowitz, web master of socialknowledge.com Andy changed the format and installed algorythyms to make older reviews less weighty on review # , to make RVparkreviews.com the leader, until about 3 years ago when he changed the name to campgroundreviews.com. Appropriately.
This led to a battle with Mark Koep, webmaster of campgroundviews.com,
I know both personally, and mediated the battle with the reasoning that they are not competitors and any confusion would lead each to the other. A verbal review with a photo view is the best combination . They compliment each other.
Max

mdcamping
Explorer
Explorer
RICK-ards Red wrote:
Not sure if this is the right forum for this but... how often are campgrounds reviewed by Good Sam? One place I was looking at was rated 10/10/10 and most reviews were good but I like to look at the bad ones too to get a feel for the place and the bad ones all mentioned the manager was mean, rude etc. Yes everyone has a bad day and some guests can bring out the worst in people but the dates spanned a couple of months, most recent was Feb 2021.

Just thinking - should I consider this park still or move on?


I have no experience with GS, but maybe compair the campground to campground reviews.com or others. Check the profiles:
how many reviews online, how much info is on the profiles, are the reviews consistent? This all paints a picture of the reviewer. Paints even a better picture if the campground has multiple reviews. Just my 2 cents.

Mike
2022 F-150 3.5 EcoBoost 4X4 Supercrew GCWR 19,500 157WB
Payload 2476 Maxtow 13,800 3.73 Equalizer 4 Pt Sway Hitch
2017 Jayco Jay Flight 24RBS
Old TV, 07 Toyota Tacoma, Double Cab, Factory Tow Pkg, retired towing at 229K. (Son now owns truck)

dedmiston
Moderator
Moderator
I'm a top reviewer at Amazon (top 1000 out of ~60 million reviewers) and it's shocking to me to see how corrupt most reviewing systems are. Vendors offer me free stuff and cash all the time for positive reviews. (I never take it.)

The GS reviewing system doesn't seem as corrupt to me, but there's still a fundamental flaw when the CG owners pay to join GS. Are the GS reviewers really going to come out and write objective reviews that are critical of their own clients?

I also view the critical bashers through a skeptical lens, just like tossing out the scores from the Romanian judges in figure skating. Don't just look at the scores or number of stars, but read the negative reviews to see if they had an axe to grind. Most people's writing tells you a lot about themselves, so read their reviews to see if you agree with their POV or not (same goes for Amazon). Odds are that those negative reviews are from people you wouldn't want to camp with anyway: "Their parking was horrible and they had rules against me bringing my ten kids and cousins for a family reunion in our spot."

2014 RAM 3500 Diesel 4x4 Dually long bed. B&W RVK3600 hitch โ€ข 2015 Crossroads Elevation Homestead Toy Hauler ("The Taj Mahauler") โ€ข <\br >Toys:

  • 18 Can Am Maverick x3
  • 05 Yamaha WR450
  • 07 Honda CRF250X
  • 05 Honda CRF230
  • 06 Honda CRF230

Thunder_Mountai
Explorer II
Explorer II
I have found Good Sam reviews sometimes reliable but all too often not. We've stay in some GS parks rated a 10 that I would have not given a 5 to at best. I have found this forum and rvparkreviews.com more reliable than Good Sam when planning trips.
2016 Winnebago Journey 40R
2018 Rubicon
1982 FJ40 Toyota Land Cruiser
2020 Keystone Outback 327CG
2020 Dodge Ram 2500
Polaris RZR XP 1000
4 Cats
3 Dogs
1 Bottle of Jack Daniels
Two old hippies still trying to find ourselves!

Jim_n_Steph
Explorer
Explorer
I also look at the reviewer , some of them have seen have all negative reviews . Just saw one the other day they posted 3 reviews in last months all 1 star or less.
2003 Silverado 1500HD Vortec 6.0 4.10 2012 Flagstaff 831FKBSS

2g_s
Explorer
Explorer
bukhrn wrote:
2g's wrote:
We like http://www.campgroundreviews.com/ much better. The public rates them; not an organization. You do have to sort them out though. What one person may not like may not bother you, such as weak wifi. Most people carry their own wifi nowadays and don't use the park's. Someone may dislike the weather, bugs, lack of pavement, etc.
X-2 100%, i'd rather take the opinions of my fellow campers, but as pointed out, you need to take some with a grain of salt, like the one that gave a low rating because of all the leafs... in a fully forested CG. :R


We volunteered in Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park and were at the exit booth to the campground. We asked a party how their stay was. The answer? "We would never come back here. It's such a dirty park". I asked what they meant. He said "dirt is falling from the trees and got all over everything". I explained that at that time of year the trees are dropping pollen. It's not dirt. The reply was "Well, I'm rating this place as low as I can"!

wapiticountry
Explorer
Explorer
SDcampowneroperator wrote:
Good Sam account representatives visit every Good Sam park every year. They do not 'review', they ' rate' based upon the 10/10/10 point system which is divided into 3 sections, that evaluate camp amenity, facility and sites.
Usually when they arrive in camp its unannounced, except for an email up to a week before that they will come soon. They drive and walk the camp and rate based upon their observations. When this is done they sit down with management, present their rating, proceed to listing and advertising.
In our 19 years, there was no discussion allowed on their rating. It cant be bought or altered.
One year after we had done extensive upgrades to all 3 categories our rating jumped 6 aggregate points. Within a week Ed and Jan Thierfelder, Good Sams Quality Assurance team checked in unannounced rated the camp, to verify our 9.5/10/9.5 .
Reviews about the camp on the GS link are from guests.

Ratings amd Reviews are apples and oranges apart. Opinions about rudeness or some other slight may be construed differently. Some want to be led by the hand, some are offended if help is extended. The customer is not always right, its why businesses have the right to refuse service.
Consider the region. being a extensively well traveled westerner, I would not call the New Yorker rude for being what is percieved for NYC. A New Yorker might be put off by the graciousness in the south, thinking it, intrusive.
This is exactly how the Good Sam ratings are calculated. The actual scoring scorecard is printed inside the Good Sam Campground Guidebook.
One thing to note, the scores are not necessarily indicative of actual quality. For example, there is a point given for having a pool. Doesn't matter if it is a wading pool or a multi-million dollar waterpark. There are other points assigned for things like lighted entry signage, uniformity of landscaping (I fought this one for years because some of our sites are treed, some are not and the reviewer that was assigned to our park decided that should cost us a point in the ratings) and many other things relating to amenities included, not actual quality.
Those ratings, even though they are supposed to not include opinions from the reviewers, sometimes do. Example: perimeter fencing is another item that scores points in the ratings. A park we owned was completely fenced, except for a section that was a hedge. One year a rater dropped us a half point for not being completely fenced, all the other years it has been fine.
Another example was one year a rater who must either be a jerk, or was just having a bad day, docked us a half point for noise. Now the park is 50 miles from an active airport, an interstate highway, or a train track and there are no commercial operations, entertainment venues or anything else anywhere close. When I threw my expected fit, the rater said the noise in question was the sound of the diesel motorhomes entering and exiting the park while checking in and checking out. The guy was kind enough to give me written notes to that effect, which I promptly sent to Good Sam. In the book my rating had that 1/2 point returned and I never saw that reviewer again.
Sorry for the rant (not really, it feels good!) But my point is ALL ratings, no matter what the source or criteria, are somewhat subjective and you shouldn't rely on them as your only means of making a decision.

bukhrn
Explorer III
Explorer III
2g's wrote:
We like http://www.campgroundreviews.com/ much better. The public rates them; not an organization. You do have to sort them out though. What one person may not like may not bother you, such as weak wifi. Most people carry their own wifi nowadays and don't use the park's. Someone may dislike the weather, bugs, lack of pavement, etc.
X-2 100%, i'd rather take the opinions of my fellow campers, but as pointed out, you need to take some with a grain of salt, like the one that gave a low rating because of all the leafs... in a fully forested CG. :R
2007 Forester 2941DS
2014 Ford Focus
Zamboni, Long Haired Mini Dachshund

Bob806
Explorer III
Explorer III
I agree with most of what everybody has commented on here. When I'm planning my trip I use a few sites to help me out...campendium.com, thedyrt.com, & I will peek at Good Sam ratings only if I'm looking at a private park. We tend to go to state parks/ COE parks.

Funny thing to me is how many folks mention wifi, and the good/bad of it. Lots of folks must be working remotely in their RV nowadays.

2g_s
Explorer
Explorer
We like http://www.campgroundreviews.com/ much better. The public rates them; not an organization. You do have to sort them out though. What one person may not like may not bother you, such as weak wifi. Most people carry their own wifi nowadays and don't use the park's. Someone may dislike the weather, bugs, lack of pavement, etc.

BB_TX
Nomad
Nomad
I have barely paid attention to the park personnel I have encountered, good, bad, or indifferent. I typically interface with that person for only a few minutes checking in. Or maybe if I have some question. Not going to let a person with attitude problems ruin my day. Or my stay. It is the park itself that determines whether I would return if not. Not the person behind the desk.