Buying A Thousand Trails "LIfetime" Campground Membership

wdk450

Well-known member
Gang:
I wanted to share something about what happens when you buy an existing Thousand Trails Lifetime membership either directly from the current membership owners, or through a campground membership broker. I belong to a Yahoo interest e-mail group of Thousand Trails members. A recent posting talked about TT corporate changing a membership from Lifetime to 10 years. Well, legally, I don't think they can change a standing contract, but when the transfer paperwork comes through from TT corporate on the SALE of a Lifetime membership, they insert a clause in the transfer agreement that the buyer MUST agree to, that limits the transferred membership until the 10th anniversary of the transfer transaction. These memberships for sale are listed as "Lifetime", but the TT Corporate transfer legalese changes them into just a 10 year membership.
 

Bones

Well-known member
Gang:
I wanted to share something about what happens when you buy an existing Thousand Trails Lifetime membership either directly from the current membership owners, or through a campground membership broker. I belong to a Yahoo interest e-mail group of Thousand Trails members. A recent posting talked about TT corporate changing a membership from Lifetime to 10 years. Well, legally, I don't think they can change a standing contract, but when the transfer paperwork comes through from TT corporate on the SALE of a Lifetime membership, they insert a clause in the transfer agreement that the buyer MUST agree to, that limits the transferred membership until the 10th anniversary of the transfer transaction. These memberships for sale are listed as "Lifetime", but the TT Corporate transfer legalese changes them into just a 10 year membership.
Do you have the choice of refusing the membership? will they provide a refund of the lifetime value or does the legal paperwork state that the terms can be amended from time to time?
 

wdk450

Well-known member
Do you have the choice of refusing the membership? will they provide a refund of the lifetime value or does the legal paperwork state that the terms can be amended from time to time?

If you want to buy someone's existing lifetime membership, the transfer must be approved by Thousand Trails Corporate, and they issue their own transfer document which must be initialed at every paragraph, and signed in full at the end, by the buyer, for them to accept the membership transfer. The sellers sign once on the front page of the document.

If you choose to refuse to buy the membership (which is the overall goal) the existing (selling) member has no sale, no monies received, but continues in their existing membership terms as when they bought it. If they are not using the membership they are probably still incurring the annual $600 membership fee.
 

Bones

Well-known member
If you want to buy someone's existing lifetime membership, the transfer must be approved by Thousand Trails Corporate, and they issue their own transfer document which must be initialed at every paragraph, and signed in full at the end, by the buyer, for them to accept the membership transfer. The sellers sign once on the front page of the document.

If you choose to refuse to buy the membership (which is the overall goal) the existing (selling) member has no sale, no monies received, but continues in their existing membership terms as when they bought it. If they are not using the membership they are probably still incurring the annual $600 membership fee.
So it sounds like a way to force an original buyer to stay with he contract. These things just sound like a horrible way to do business with no way to cancel a contract or sell it.
 

buddyboy

Well-known member
If you want to buy someone's existing lifetime membership, the transfer must be approved by Thousand Trails Corporate, and they issue their own transfer document which must be initialed at every paragraph, and signed in full at the end, by the buyer, for them to accept the membership transfer. The sellers sign once on the front page of the document.

If you choose to refuse to buy the membership (which is the overall goal) the existing (selling) member has no sale, no monies received, but continues in their existing membership terms as when they bought it. If they are not using the membership they are probably still incurring the annual $600 membership fee.

The lyrics from the song "Hotel California" come to mind. "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."

Glad we never bought a membership - we'd considered it, but for some reason pulled back.

Martha
 

JanAndBill

Well-known member
Frankly since TT came out with the annual zone membership, I really don't see any advantage to a lifetime or any other long term commitment. For $525 total you can purchase a zone pass good for a year with no contract commitment. It gives you two weeks in then 7 days out, plus discounts at Encore resorts. Last year they ran a Black Friday special of $399, so far we've camped a total of 35 nights in TT parks at a cost of $11.40/night, and still have some time before we have to renew. The only problem is that the TT parks are limited in some zones. This year we added a CC and RPI membership to the mix to cover our 7 day out requirements, and to cover us in those areas where there are no TT parks.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
Frankly since TT came out with the annual zone membership, I really don't see any advantage to a lifetime or any other long term commitment. For $525 total you can purchase a zone pass good for a year with no contract commitment. It gives you two weeks in then 7 days out, plus discounts at Encore resorts. Last year they ran a Black Friday special of $399, so far we've camped a total of 35 nights in TT parks at a cost of $11.40/night, and still have some time before we have to renew. The only problem is that the TT parks are limited in some zones. This year we added a CC and RPI membership to the mix to cover our 7 day out requirements, and to cover us in those areas where there are no TT parks.

With the "Lifetime" membership I bought for $1400 ($750 of that was "transfer fee" to Thousand Trails Corporate), I get to stay 365 days a year in the TT system, 3 weeks at any one preserve, 1 week away from THAT preserve, but I can immediately move to any other preserve. The annual dues are about $600 a year. $600 divided by 365 days equals about $1.65 a night for an electric and water RV space. Compare that to the Zone Pass restrictions:

"Q: How long can I stay at a resort?
A: While there is no limit to the total number of nights that you may use your Zone Camping Pass[FONT=PT Sans, Arial, sans-serif] each year, we do set a maximum of 14 consecutive days for any particular stay at one of our resorts. Additionally, if your stay exceeds four consecutive nights, you must wait for seven nights before you stay again at ANY resort."
Add to this that the Zone Pass restricts you to one of four geographical areas in the U.S., while the resale membership is good anywhere in the U.S.

[/FONT]All of the Thousand Trails have recreation lodges with WiFi, most have swimming pools, the ones in Southern California heat the pools. Many have lakes/fishing.
Right now, this is the only way I can make fulltime RVing work.
 

JanAndBill

Well-known member
With the "Lifetime" membership I bought for $1400 ($750 of that was "transfer fee" to Thousand Trails Corporate), I get to stay 365 days a year in the TT system, 3 weeks at any one preserve, 1 week away from THAT preserve, but I can immediately move to any other preserve. The annual dues are about $600 a year. $600 divided by 365 days equals about $1.65 a night for an electric and water RV space. Compare that to the Zone Pass restrictions:

"Q:How long can I stay at a resort?
A: While there is no limit to the total number of nights that you may use your Zone Camping Pass each year, we do set a maximum of 14 consecutive days for any particular stay at one of our resorts. Additionally, if your stay exceeds four consecutive nights, you must wait for seven nights before you stay again at ANY resort."
Add to this that the Zone Pass restricts you to one of four geographical areas in the U.S., while the resale membership is good anywhere in the U.S.

All of the Thousand Trails have recreation lodges with WiFi, most have swimming pools, the ones in Southern California heat the pools. Many have lakes/fishing.
Right now, this is the only way I can make fulltime RVing work.

Bill, if I lived on the west coast, the lifetime membership would be a better deal. In the the southern states the TT are scattered over such a larger area. There are only 3 in Florida which is a winter point for us. Last year we utilized 2 of those. The Orlando TT is fantastic, the other two acceptable. The 2 weeks in/7 days out is why we have the RPI and CC memberships, between the three we can get in without having to go a long way. In some case you can utilize two of the three to stay in the same park without moving anywhere.
 

RoadJunkie

Well-known member
Looks like the TT option work well for some, not for others. And for yet some, 10 years is a lifetime membership!
 
Top