6 Best Campground Memberships
Campground memberships allow you to save a good chunk of money in the long run. If you travel and stay in RV campgrounds frequently, then it’s a good idea to buy a campground subscription.
There are plenty of names out there though, so how do you choose the right subscription for you?
Well, below, we want to introduce you to the 6 best RV campground memberships out there. We’ll provide you with a detailed insight into their benefits, which should allow you to make a choice more easily.
6 Best Campground Memberships
Good Sam Club
First comes Good Sam Club, which is perhaps the most renowned RV campground membership provider out there. It’s a particularly good option if you are traveling often.
Campground benefits
When it comes to campground benefits, Good Sam Club provides you with a 10% discount at over 2,400 Good Sam Parks and campgrounds around the United States. 10% isn’t the most you can find with RV campground membership providers, but it still is a decent amount, especially if you are staying at campgrounds very frequently.
Aside from the discount, Good Sam Club provides members with a huge catalog of campgrounds. This catalog is pretty nice – among other things, it provides users with data and locations of campgrounds offering boating activities, campgrounds that are best for families, and campgrounds with or by casinos.
Besides, Good Sam Club offers online reservations, park reviews from other Good Sam Club members, and a trip planner.
One thing to keep in mind with the Good Sam Club reviews is that they tend to be more positive than reviews on other platforms. To stay safe, you should double-check the desired park on another platform or review site.
Other benefits
It’s also important to consider the plethora of other benefits coming with a Good Sam Club membership.
Most notably, a regular Good Sam Club membership will provide you with access to fuel discounts at select Pilot Flying J locations:
- 5/1 cents per gallon of gas (US/Canada).
- 8/1 cents per gallon of diesel (US/Canada).
- 5 cents per gallon of propane.
Aside from that, you are getting a $2.50 discount at dump stations. And when paired with a Pilot Flying J RV Plus Charge card, you are getting additional 5 cents off per gallon of propane and $2.50 off at dump stations.
If you acquire the Good Sam Club Life membership along with an RV Plus Charge card, then your benefits and discounts will be as follows:
- 6/2 cents per gallon of gas (US/Canada).
- 8/2 cents per gallon of diesel (US/Canada).
- 10 cents per gallon of propane.
- $5 at dump stations.
Finally, we have the Elite membership. Good Sam provides this membership for 3 years to those who purchase an RV from a Camping World RV dealership.
The discounts provided by this plan when combined with the RV Plus Charge card are as follows:
- 7/2 cents per gallon of gas (US/Canada).
- 9/2 cents per gallon of diesel (US/Canada).
- 10 cents per gallon of propane.
- $5 at dump stations.
Aside from these discounts, you are getting:
- Up to 10% every day at Gander Outdoors & Camping World retail locations.
- Free shipping for over $49 orders at Overton’s, Gander Outdoors, and Camping World.
- Free RV & boat dump services and 15% propane discounts at select Camping World SuperCenters.
- Over 65% discounts on the Good Sam Guide Series.
Good Sam Club membership pricing
The pricing for the Good Sam Club membership is as follows:
- $29 if bought for 1 year.
- $50 if bought for 2 years. You are getting a $25 merchandise certificate with this plan. This certificate allows for a $25 discount at Camping World.
- $75 if bought for 30 years. This plan gives you two $25 merchandise certificates.
As of early November 2019, the Life membership’s discounted price was $399, while the regular price seems to be $499. This membership is for life, and you do not need to renew it.
Bottom line
The key benefit of the Good Sam membership is the variety of goodies you are getting. It seems like a particularly good choice if you are mostly on the road rather than staying at some campground.
While the campground discount is just 10%, you can save plenty of money on fuel and dumping. Besides, if you happen to be a frequent visitor to Camping World, then the discounts here will be great as well.
Passport America
Passport America claims to be the world’s original and largest 50% discount camping club. A Passport America subscription is a fairly good option if you are looking to save money at campgrounds and nothing more.
Campground benefits
We’ve already mentioned the main benefit provided by a Passport America subscription – a 50% discount. This discount applies to nearly 1,800 campgrounds across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Passport America’s campground coverage isn’t as good as Good Sam’s, but you should be able to find a good number of excellent campgrounds from the available 1,800 sites.
Passport America also provides you with a catalog of their campgrounds. You can fairly easily look through them and find the right campground thanks to the available search filters. For example, the filters allow you to find campgrounds that are pet-friendly, have a swimming pool, offer hot showers, or whatnot.
Besides, Passport America offers a trip routing tool that appears to work decently.
Unlike Good Sam, Passport America doesn’t provide campground reviews. You’ll have to research campgrounds on your own through third-party tools and websites.
Other benefits
Passport America offers fewer side benefits than the Good Sam program.
You are gaining access to a free online subscription to the RV America Magazine ($12 value). Aside from that, you will occasionally be provided with access to numerous Passport America programs. You are also getting a Passport America decal for your RV.
One benefit that may particularly interest you is the referral program. For each person that you refer and who becomes a Passport America member, you will receive a $10 certificate on your next Passport America Discount Camping Card renewal. In other words, you’ll get a $10 discount for each person you refer.
Passport America membership pricing
Passport America is priced as follows:
- $44 if purchased for 1 year.
- $79 if purchased for 2 years ($9 savings).
- $109 if purchased for 3 years ($23 savings).
- $179 if purchased for 5 years ($41 savings).
- $399 if purchased for life.
The yearly memberships are a little pricier than with Good Sam. However, given the 50% campground discount, the membership can pay for itself after just a few stays.
Bottom line
Passport America is oriented at campground discounts. If you don’t need any of Good Sam’s side benefits and just want to save money on campground fees, Passport America is a great choice, especially if you camp frequently.
Is Buying A Campground Membership Worth It?
So is buying a campground membership even worth it? While these memberships are mostly not too expensive – under $100 annually – why spend the money if you don’t need all those benefits?
Here’s the thing. You will need to decide yourself whether it’s worth to buy an annual membership at any club.
A Thousand Trails subscription costs $585 annually, for example. When would it be a reasonable buy?
Well, if your savings throughout the year are at least $585, then you can say that the purchase is worth it. If you would have spent more than $585 without the membership, then it was a worthy buy. But if you only save say $400, then you will have wasted $185.
What this means is that if you spend those $585 on a Thousand Trails membership, then your stays should amount to at least $585 through the year.
If you are mostly on the road than at campgrounds, then you may want to look at something like the Good Sam subscription. This subscription gives you just a 10% discount at campgrounds, but it also offers fuel discounts.
These numbers imply that a Good Sam subscription would be a good buy if you are traveling a lot.
On the other hand, if you stay at campgrounds most of the time during your RV trips, then you would want to get a subscription that would provide you with higher campground discounts, e.g. Passport America. Since you won’t be on the road too much, there will be less use for the fuel discounts provided by the Good Sam Club membership.
Hopefully, our little analysis above gave you an idea of how you should read the numbers provided by subscription providers. The good thing about the overviewed plans is that they are quite different from each other, which means that choosing one shouldn’t be too difficult for most people.
If you are struggling to choose between 2-3 membership providers, then you may need to do some calculations to approximate how much money you would be saving with each.
Remember – you spend money now to save more money in the long run. No matter which plan you choose, you should make sure that it allows you to save money. If you plan ahead and know your costs, then this should be easy for you.
