My Observation About RV Parks

[cmillsap]

Things are changing in the RV world. More and more people are making an RV their permanent home. As we travel the Northwest this summer, I am finding that RV parks are starting to look more like trailer parks. Every RV park or so-called resort we have visited so-far this summer is at least 50% full of permanent residents. They are mostly living in 5th wheels and travel trailers although there are some motorhomes being used as permanent residents. Many have propane tanks sitting outside their unit along with sheds and lots of outside patio items to help offset the reduced inside living space. It just appears to me that the average RV park is catering more to permanent residents to fill their spaces and using the empty or left-over spaces to serve as overnight or short-term parking spaces for the traveling units. Many RV parks are being bought up or built new by corporate entities. These owners tend to run their parks in a more businesslike manner and are bottom line oriented. This promotes the trend toward renting to permanent residents.

Due to the overcrowding by permanent residents, space availability for the traveler is becoming less and less. Reservations are needed to assure a space for the night and on weekends and holidays, reservations are a must have or you will end up dry docking in some parking lot.

Some RV parks try to separate the permanent units from the visiting units and some parks have them located in spaces intertwined with the temporary visitors. A Prevost looks “out of place” and an “oddity” in this environment and other park residents tend to avoid any interaction with its owners. Also, from what I’ve seen, the RV of choice is becoming the 5th wheel trailer. This is probably due to them being relatively cheap to own, especially if you happen to have a truck capable of towing one.

There are still some RV Resorts that don’t allow permanent residency but they are becoming far and few between in a day’s average travel. There are several RV Resorts across the country that only accept motorhomes but they are more like destination resorts than a place to park for a day or two as you travel along.