The rumors are true. RV clubs can save you a ton of money.
But not all RV clubs are right for all RVers.
And not all RV clubs actually save you money.
So how do you know which ones are good and which ones aren’t? By talking to experienced RVers who have tried them all!
And you’re in luck today – I’ve used each of these RV club memberships for several years. I’ve also used a handful of other RV membership clubs that didn’t make the cut for this list…
Here are 5 of the best camping and RV club memberships for saving money.
What Are Camping and RV Club Memberships?
Camping and RV club memberships are varied. But they all have one thing in common: they offer RV campers numerous savings on camping and RV related products and services.
From simple discount memberships that just offer you a plastic discount card to be flashed at campgrounds to clubs with an entire suite of benefits, there are several to choose from.
New RV clubs pop up every year, but there are a select few that have been around for decades and offer the most savings and best experience for RVers and campers.
This article only covers the well-loved and tried and true RV memberships to help you save money.
Benefits of Joining RV Club Memberships
The obvious benefit of joining an RV club or membership is the money saving opportunities. Other invaluable benefits include education, community, RV rallies and events, and more.
Some RV clubs even offer RV roadside assistance and access to special insurance marketplaces. Let’s dive into the 5 best RV clubs for saving money.
Download this FREE ebook learn 60+ ways to earn an income from anywhere!
5 Best Camping and RV Clubs for Saving Money
I am a member of every one of these RV clubs and memberships and I have been for several years. These are not only my favorite, though, ask any RVer!
I belong to each one because each RV membership listed here offers something a little different… and they have all saved me a ton of money combined.
Escapees RV Club
Escapees RV Club is my favorite RV club on the planet. This RV club is one of the oldest and largest RV membership organizations in the world, and it’s not hard to see why.
Escapees offers a myriad of benefits for it’s members and the price is only $49 per year. That’s less than .14 cents per day… which is pretty astounding considering everything that comes with a membership. From a mail forwarding service to RV roadside assistance, online courses, and more, this club covers everything related to RVing. Let’s get into the money saving stuff.
Money Saving Opportunities
Escapees saves RVers a ton of money on overnight camping, RV related products and services, and more.
The discounts you get with this membership will pay for the membership itself in no time.
One of my favorite perks of this membership is that you get discounts on other RV clubs on this list just for being a member.
An Escapees RV Club membership gets you discounts on Harvest Hosts, Boondockers Welcome, and Passport America. You can’t beat that!
As a member you can save between 15-50% on participating campgrounds, save money on tires, pet services, RV extended warranties, batteries, and so much more.
Related:
Passport America
Passport America is a discount RV camping club that pretty much pays for itself the very first time you use it. This is a bare bones membership that only offers camping discounts on over 1,400 campgrounds. But the discount is a whopping 50% across the board.
The price of a Passport America membership is only $44 per year and like I said, it pretty much pays for itself right off the bat!
Money Saving Opportunities
As a Passport America member you can get 50% off of campground rates at over 1,400 campgrounds.
I’ve used Passport America extensively and it’s saved me thousands of dollars!
Imagine being on a long summer road trip and just needing to stay somewhere overnight. You don’t want to park in a Walmart parking lot because you’d love to run your AC, but all the campgrounds in the area are too pricey to justify just sleeping there. With a Passport America membership, a $50/night campground turns into $25/night.Â
You can check out this review of Passport America for more info!
Harvest Hosts
Harvest Hosts is a pretty cool RV camping discount membership that started out offering free overnight stays to RVers at wineries… but the idea quickly grew into what it is today!
Harvest Hosts partners with businesses like wineries, museums, breweries, restaurants, golf courses, and more to offer RVers free overnight camping opportunities in unique places.
The overnight camping is typically just a night or two and there are no hookups at the majority of the businesses. This is a dry camping experience but you’ll have some cool stories to tell.
The price of a Harvest Hosts membership is $99 per year – or just under .28 cents per day.
Check out the full Harvest Hosts Review here.
Money Saving Opportunities
Harvest Hosts might sound expensive at $99 per year – and it is more expensive than most other memberships on this list, but it’s worth it.
This camping membership can potentially save you thousands on overnight camping expenses and it will get you access to places you’d never have been able to stay before! Once you’re a member, your overnight stays are free.
All you have to do is find a host, request to book, and once you’re accepted you can head on out to your awesome camping spot.
Boondockers Welcome
I’ve had some cool experiences using Boondockers Welcome and that seems to be the consensus from everyone else I talk to who’s used it!
Boondockers Welcome is a unique RV membership that allows property owners and RVers to connect in a way that had never before been seen. As an RVer, it’s nice to have a spot to park for free overnight or for a couple of nights on your journey. But there’s not always good free parking available… and that’s what this membership aims to solve.
Property owners can sign up as hosts and they allow RVers to boondock on their property for 1-3 nights, depending on their preferences.
Some property owners have electric, water, and/or sewer hookups, but for the most part you can expect dry camping.
Once you sign up for Boondockers Welcome, your overnight stays are totally free.
This RV club membership costs just $50 per year. The company was recently acquired by Harvest Hosts. So if you’re a Harvest Hosts member you can sign up for Boondockers Welcome for just $40.
Money Saving Opportunities
The money saving opportunities with Boondockers Welcome are essentially endless! If you just used this membership exclusively, you’d save thousands of dollars a year on camping fees… because every stay is free.
Thousand Trails
Thousand Trails is a unique camping club that offers many different membership options at different prices, but the premise is all the same. A Thousand Trails membership gets you free camping at RV resorts, and a lot of it.
Thousand Trails quickly became my favorite RV camping membership that was specifically for camping, and my best campground memories are of Thousand Trail resorts and RV parks.
The price for an entry level Thousand Trails membership is around $600 per year. You can choose monthly payments that work out to be around $40-50/mo depending on terms. Before you balk at the price, read on to learn how this actually saves you money.
Money Saving Opportunities
Thousand Trails resorts are full-fledged RV resorts and campgrounds. A $600 camping pass membership gets you access to any Thousand Trails resort in your region for free. That’s right – you camp at a resort of your choice with no nightly camping fees.
There are stipulations to the membership, but they’re not crazy! One stipulation is that you only have access to the resorts in your region, but you can add another region to your membership for just $65.
Another stipulation of this pass is that you can stay 14 days in a row, but then you have to spend 7 days out of the system.
A Thousand Trails membership saved me literally tens of thousands of dollars on overnight camping fees.
If you think about it like this: with the lowest pass – the camping zone pass, you have to pay for camping for 1 week per month while out of the system.
If the average overnight camping fee is $40, that’s $280 per month on campground fees. Or 3,360/year. Add in the $615/year of Thousand Trails and you’re still only paying $3,975 per year (or $331/mo) on camping.
If you paid the average camping fee of $40/night for an entire year, that would cost $14,600, or $1,216/mo. So a Thousand Trails zone pass membership could realistically have a savings of over $10,000 per year.
If I haven’t lost you yet, you can see that this is an insane amount of savings, especially if you’re the kind of RVer who loves full hookups, hot tubs, pools, and all the amenities of an RV resort.
Are Camping and RV Club Memberships Worth It?
Camping and RV Clubs are worth it if you want to save money and get access to other benfits. If you don’t care about saving money, I doubt you’re even reading this section of the article.
I think these clubs are amazing and they’re so worth it to me from both a money saving standpoint and a benefits standpoint.
If you want to save money and start to grow a personal community of RVing friends, I highly recommend these RV clubs and memberships.
Related: Is it Cheaper to Live in an RV than a House or Apartment?
Free Printable RV Checklist Bundle
I put together an Ultimate RV Checklist bundle of 8 RV checklists! If you'd like the bundle, just put in your name and email below and I'll send them right over!
Carrie Wilder
Carrie has a passion for location independence and nomadic lifestyles. After traveling full-time in an RV and living the van life, she created Making Money and Traveling to help others make the switch to a remote lifestyle. Learn more about Carrie on the About page or connect on social media below.Â
Download this FREE ebook learn 60+ ways to earn an income from anywhere!