Arizona raises campground rates, boy howdy!

Azjeff

Azjeff

Well-known member
On 2/25 Arizona raised the rates for all state park campgrounds. A water & electric site that was $30/night is now $50/night!! A bit of a shock, state parks are our preferred campgrounds when we're doing short trips in state.
 
Most of GA's are around $40/night plus a few fees. I don't really find it objectionable, since most of our parks are nicely kept, although you do run across a crap power connection now and then.

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'POS Fee" is the Parking fee. Still have to pay to park even though you're paying to camp. You can get an annual pass at $50, but that's 10 stays, and we don't go to the state parks that much (10 times a year to break even. We're close but not quite there).

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Nothing like raising a fee 60%. I expect the private campgrounds to raise their rates to keep their place above the state parks.
 
to be honest, I use 50 bucks a day as a general estimate figure for any RV park when predicting costs..
maybe it backfires on the state, maybe it doesn't..

reality is its cheaper for the average RVer to not own a RV but instead take short trips and stay in a 5 star hotel with room service.. :)
 
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MSCH said:
reality is its cheaper for the average RVer to not own a RV but instead take short trips and stay in a 5 star hotel with room service.. :)
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Reality might be the average RVer probably isn't interested in staying in 5 star hotels or eating every meal in a restaraunt or sleeping in a bed that 10,000 other people slept and ?? in. We're not.

Visually some RV interiors could be mistaken for fancy hotels. Not ours it's a travel trailer.
 
Azjeff said:
Reality might be the average RVer probably isn't interested in staying in 5 star hotels or eating every meal in a restaraunt or sleeping in a bed that 10,000 other people slept and ?? in. We're not.

Visually some RV interiors could be mistaken for fancy hotels. Not ours it's a travel trailer.
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Jeff, do you know how long it has been since the State of Arizona raised the fees?


like me, I accept the money routine as being part of the lifestyle... I accept that the RV is a cash eating cow.. and it costs me about 6 grand a year just to make the payments and keep insurance and a license plate on it... that doesn't include moving it around at 35 to 40 cents per mile or that 50 dollar a day surcharge for electricity and a bit of water.. and if you want to go to the popular areas it probably will cost more per day than obscure out of the way places..
 
GON said:
At what point does staying in a five star hotel become a better value than a RV?
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Never as the possibility of bedbugs. I was an exterminator for many years and you would be surprised at how rampant they are. 5 stars or mom and pops, they all have them and usually it was the nicer the hotel the more they have.
 
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wlk said:
Never as the possibility of bedbugs. I was an exterminator for many years and you would be surprised at how rampant they are. 5 stars or mom and pops, they all have them and usually it was the nicer the hotel the more they have.
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Great insight for bringing that up, and something I will mention to my bride as I am trying to get her support in purchasing a fifth wheel RV.

I am currently staying in a five star hotel. I have seen German cockroachs in the bathroom. Last week I saw and killed a German cockroach on the nightstand. Please note I have zero food in the room, and don't bring food to the room.

Additionally, I was on a work conference all at 1am last Saturday morning (Friday in CONUS). I heard the shower going on in the room next door. This was usual as my room is at the end and boarders a staricase, so I never heard a shower or a person before (not typical for a hotel).

I suspected my computer speaker was making noise, and another guest at the hotel turned on the shower to mitigate the computer speaker. After 40 minutes, I suspected something else was wrong.

I opened the hotel room door, and saw water rushing out of another hotel room into the hallway. I called the lobby and they sent a crew of engineers quickly (see picture).

What was disappointing is the hotel is using fans to dry the wet carpet. The hotel is in a tropical/ humid environment. What needed to happen was removal of the carpet (and furniture from flooded room).

Now, the carpet is still moist four days later. The hallway smells bad, and I am sure mold will have a long presence. I am now stuffy at night.

Just another reason to live you RV!
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No idea when the rates were last raised. All rates associated with State Parks were raised a similar percentage. It's not so much the 20 dollar bill, it's the across the board ridiculous %. There had been 2 annual state park passes, a $75 and a premium all access for $200. They dropped the $75 pass now they're all $200. Bet a lot of people don't care or need a pass that accesses all SPs. Day fees up to $30. So someone in az.gov wasn't watching income/expense and decided to catch up all at once. A 60% raise in any expense isn't something I ignore. The nice thing about .gov campgrounds is they don't have to maximize profit so campsites aren't up against each other and they tend to be where we want to be so we'll keep using them.
 
GON said:
At what point does staying in a five star hotel become a better value than a RV?
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That's a saying that's been around RVs for a long time. Looking at yearly expenses of an RV no doubt you could have some nice fancy vacations if that was your thing. Fancy hotels and restaurants have never been our lifestyle and TBO I don't think I've ever been in a 5 star anything. We're just retired working people who like sleeping in our own bed, using our own bathroom and making and eating what we like.

Many people really have no business owning an RV, if you're not mechanically inclined it's not going to be a happy experience. You'd have no problem keeping one running with your car rescue hobby. You also really don't need the monster size trailers you keep looking at to be perfectly happy unless you're going to be out for months or actually living in one.
 
GON said:
At what point does staying in a five star hotel become a better value than a RV?
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its more of a comment on what it costs to own and keep sitting around than a value thing..
for the average person who goes on one trip or vacation a year, its probably a wash.
you spend 5k going on a trip or you spend 5k taking the RV thousands of miles away..
if you value going out of the way places while you wander and sleeping in your own space, RVing is the better choice..

realistically you might as well consider owning a RV as a total money loss
as there is a negative return of capital investment with a RV, at best if you keep it long term it is just an unrealized capital loss..

so you do it because you enjoy it.. because it isn't very cheap.
use me as an example, I have a $50k truck and a $50k trailer...
neither of which is worth what I paid for them. :)
 
Azjeff said:
Many people really have no business owning an RV, if you're not mechanically inclined it's not going to be a happy experience. You'd have no problem keeping one running with your car rescue hobby. You also really don't need the monster size trailers you keep looking at to be perfectly happy unless you're going to be out for months or actually living in one.
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exactly Jeff, if a person can't deal with mechanical maladies they are not going to have alot of fun owning a RV.

I'd prefer a smaller RV, but since my wife seems to be in charge when it comes to that, I'm as big as I am going to go, which is a 35 foot Fiver with 3 slides and heavy..

I've had 5 RV's now, probably my favorite was a slide in pickup camper... but my wife isn't going to put up with that. LOL.

only thing left for me, if I get another is a Class A... I'd prefer one in the 28 to 32 foot range with a gas engine but if I do that its far down the road as I figure I'll just buy a second house somewhere and spend the summer...
 
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My boss requires a proper bathroom which this smallish trailer (that she picked) has. The only way for us in the future is smaller.
 
we had this one about some years back.. I liked it enough because it was handy as can be..
perfect for short trips.. not so good if you spend months in it a long way from home..

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wlk said:
Never as the possibility of bedbugs. I was an exterminator for many years and you would be surprised at how rampant they are. 5 stars or mom and pops, they all have them and usually it was the nicer the hotel the more they have.
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This is the reason I stay in hotels as little as possible and always try to stay in hotels that don't have carpet. I always pull up the corners of the mattress and pull the sheet out to see if I can find any of those evil little bugs. When the rooms don't have carpet, it's very easy to see if they how clean the rooms are. Carpet hides many sins. Why I love Motel 6.

I found a filthy room at a Motel 6 a couple years ago in Arkansas and walked back to the office and said I wanted a refund. The manager first said no, but I persisted somewhat louder than a soft business voice. There were several people in line behind me waiting to check in. He gave me my money back probably to get me out of there. That's the only time I've left a Motel 6 because it was dirty.
 
I think my wife has come around to part of my way of thinking on the RV. It's all our 'stuff'. Yea, you have to take care of it when you get home, but when you're traveling you know exactly where you'll be sleeping/crapping/showering. There's no surprises lurking for you behind a hotel room door, and no disgusting bathrooms for her.

Plus, we really do enjoy traveling with doggo. Never thought I would, but she's fun to watch in new environments.
 
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