General Admission Charge, say what??

[rmboies]

I have a question for those of you more traveled than Bob and me. Have you ever stayed in an RV park/campground/resort where they charge a general admission fee for anyone who visits you while you are there? I was shocked when a particular park in Ohio told me there was a $5.00 charge per adult. If they don't stay for longer then 30 minutes the money will be refunded. No wonder we moved away from that state Talk about user friendly, NOT!

[truk4u]

Deb,

The Corps of Engineer Parks in GA always charge visitors a fee..

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Deb, To pass judgment one must know the cost of admission for the bus and how many individuals are included in the price. For example if a very high rate is charged and there is not an extra charge for visitors and none came you might complain that your rate was too high. On the other hand if the park charges only a nominal fee that covers two and charges extra for visitors then you are getting more accurately what you pay for.

Last Christmas we had a similar experience at Marco Island,Fl. The Hilton had the balls to charge a daily parking fee.

Life only sucks when you can't pay

[rmboies]

OK, I feel better now knowing that my fellow bus travelers have had similar experiences. The parks we have stayed in have never charged the people who came to visit us for the day. I don't believe Kerrville had a visitors charge either? I can understand paying extra for overnight guests, but not for someone to visit for a couple of hours. Life on the road, always a learning experience! Thanks for the replies

[Jerry Winchester]

Deb,

I think it depends on the park and many are worse. We were staying near Canyon Lake last summer and the park would not let some friends in to pick us up for dinner. We would either have to pay to have them admitted or we would have to walk out to the road to meet them.

I won't stay there again and I slayed them on the RV Park Review site. If parking is an issue, then I can see them saying you can't have multiple cars there but some parks take it way over the line.

I have had rates almost double because I had the girls with me (7 & 14), but I can tell you that I think some parks have to police this because of the white trash piling into a single slot, dumping 15 kids into the park swimming pool and just making a mess of the place. In fact, I think this is why Loc is very limited as to the parks he can visit.

[ken&ellen]

Deb & Bob, Visitor fees are very common on the East coast. Hatteras, Lake George, Williamsburg, and many other high profile tourist areas....and just for the reason Jerry stated.....abuse by the visiting folks. One campsite with 10 cars parked so they overflow on adjoining sites, kids, pets, grandma, grandpa, cousins, uncles, and in-laws....walking through your site and filling up the pool. Additionally, the people lie to get in......." just for a moment ( 8 hours ) " " picking up a relative ( no relation ) ". Most campgrounds charge based on two adults....not by the car load. We usually have to pay a fee for our dogs.....again because people have ignored the rules and the animals have caused problems. Do not blame the camp ground owners....the fees are imposed because of the past history of the camping public.
Ken & Ellen

[bill&jody]

hey deb,
most campgrounds and state parks where we have stayed have it in their rules and on signs that there is a daily visitor fee, but we have yet to have it collected either from us or neighbors.
we have, however seen it used to oust abusing families. always a few to ruin the fun for the rest of us.
as for the child-surcharge, jdub - even when our kids have visited/stayed with us, no one has enforced that one either. they are older (19 & 22) so maybe they consider them adults?
hmmmmm, maybe it has something to do with the appearance of being able to pay it.
jody

[garyde]

I owned a RV Park (small) outside of Mojave, California. I never heard of charging visitors. Of Course we would count heads in the RV when they arrived and charge accordingly. Our biggest pain in the back side were the Clubs like the 'Coast to Coasters ' who wanted a substantial break on the overnight. My manager explained we were a private Park, not Walmart!
If Visitors were to stay over night , they would be charged.

[Jim_Scoggins]

I stayed at the old KOA at New Symrna Beach, FL during bike week. They charged an $8.00/per fee but refunded it upon departure.

Didn't like it but I did understand their dilemma in a big event like that.

[rmboies]

Thanks again everyone for your input. It sounds like it varies from park to park. We had never experienced a park charging for someone to come and visit you for a couple of hours. Of course, with 188 campsites and several activities within the park, they may be trying to keep the locals out who think they can drive in and use the pool, fish in the lake, etc. She did inform me that there is a sign in sheet and if we don't want our guests to have to pay directly, then the park would keep track of who came to see us and we could pay.

here is the link showing all the amenities at this park in little ole Seville, Ohio--who would have thought???

http://www.maplelakes.com/sitemap.html