A Camping Club Resort takes a good hard look at Membership Camping, finds it wanting and makes adjustments

Heritage Valley Resort on Sumas Mountain is a year round RV Resort located at Abbotsford in the beautiful Fraser Valley, approximately 50 miles east of Vancouver, BC. The community itself has a population of about 120,000 and is modern in every sense, but the surrounding area, including the resort itself, is as rural, pastoral and as beautiful as any resort location can be found. Abbotsford's heritage is steeped in Mennonite and Dutch Reform cultures, signaling large, well-kept farms, green fields surrounded by mountains and, of course, success. The Resort itself has been developed, owned and managed by the Everett family since its inception in the early 70's.

Heritage Valley Resort has retained affiliations with Coast to Coast and RPI for many, many years and has enjoyed visits by Camping Club members from all over North America. Non-camping club visitors to Heritage Valley Resort are also welcomed, which is a real departure from the norm! Its many amenities include 30 plus acres of fields and forest shared with heritage wedding, banquet and catering facilities, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, swimming pool/hot tub, dorm accommodation for groups, fully serviced campsites with clubhouse and walking trails. There is even a 1910 Historic Railroad station as its main office and check-in.

Late in 2003, Deanna Everett and her husband David Leadbetter who actually manage the Resort, along with other Everett family members determined that they wanted to continue to develop and improve the resort and looked to its Camping Club as a logical way to begin that process. Plans were developed to include major upgrades to its existing heritage facilities, doubling the current number of serviced RV sites and replacement of the two 40-person dorm accommodations with groupings or pods of cabin style accommodation for up to six or eight people each. This expansive development plan meant that the resort would have to radically improve its numbers of Camping Club members, but that posed a problem in itself.

Most of us who enjoy the RV lifestyle know the bad name many Camping Clubs concepts can project. We have all driven past attractive, walled-in exclusive resorts offering every imaginable amenity. When we stop in to discuss how we can gain access, many of us have been confronted with a different kind of wall, a wall that for many RV'rs has been and remains insurmountable. "You must have membership!" When we explore membership, we are immediately confronted with high-pressure sales people, people most of us wouldn't normally spend any time with. But we bite our tongues and suffer through one of those famous "1 hour sales presentations". In the end, after staying for our obligatory two FREE nights, we leave wide-eyed, thanking them very much for their time, but feeling as though we have just been abused. End result for most of us? You bet, we never go back! "But why?" we are often asked by friends and other interested RVr's. Our answers invariably include statements like "If it isn't the high-pressure sales techniques, it is the high cost of membership. If it isn't the lifetime commitments and obligations, it is the annual fees and/or hidden charges. If it isn't the difficulty in getting into one of these remarkable resorts, or the resultant concern about the real value of membership camping, it is the need to sell our memberships ourselves, once our interests or abilities wane."

The Everett family determined that it was better to address all the questionable obstacles thrown in the way of the vast majority of RV'rs by developing a Camping Membership Program that was obstacle free! They believed and still believe that RV'ing isn't just for the Snowbirds driving 40 foot Diesel units with dishwashers, EPS electronics, television dish and self-leveling systems. They believe that RV'ing is as much for young families with tent trailers as well as older longer established families with 24 foot bunk model trailers or 5th wheels, spending two or three weeks on the road as it is the Snowbird traveling full-time. But "How can all those young people, those established families and other folks that have been turned off by or excluded from Camping Club membership be brought back into the system? Literally millions of would-be Camping Club members have been turned away from the awesome opportunities to stay at some of the best RV locations in the world while paying 1/3d of the price for staying in a field. Sure, they could stay in beautiful surroundings with all the amenities including security, and sure they will save thousands of dollars over the years if they did join, but what about the turn-offs they have experienced? How can we overcome those ignorant and insensitive sales people or Resort owners who have said and done things that have turned them away, much to the detriment of the industry as a whole? How can we overcome that?" they asked themselves.

Well, their answer turned out to be simple, just remove all the barriers! And that is what they did! They developed what is now known as the "Access Camping Club Membership Program"! A neat and tidy, inexpensive way to access either or both the Coast to Coast and the RPI Camping Club programs. The plan includes the elimination of all inhibitors to membership. In fact, the "Access" Camping Club Lifetime Term Membership program was developed by Heritage Valley Resort in order to broaden access to "Camping Club" benefits to include all age groups regardless of income, social status, size of family or size of rig! They designed it to address most, if not all concerns RVr's commonly express when discussing Camping Club membership, and in doing so, brought "Membership Camping" back to the point where it was and remains truly beneficial to members!

Aside from these broad perceptions, Heritage Valley Resort's research also indicated that many people, particularly young families and fixed income seniors either won't or can't afford the high cost of staying in hotels. In fact, their need for an economical means of vacation travel is a major reason for growth in the whole RV industry. This rising demand for RVs and RV travel has put pressure on the Resort industry, and with the rising demand for facilities, costs for staying in RV Resorts have also risen, making ACCESS to affordable RV Camping an imperative! Heritage Valley Resort noted that RV Resorts (including National, Provincial and/or State Parks) in North America now charge an average in excess of C/US$30 per night stay. They then compared that nightly cost to the C$11 to C$15 for each night's stay a Camping Club member will pay at any of more than 1,000 of the best RV Resorts on this continent and things started to become clear! In fact, they concluded that savings of C$18 per night can equal savings from as little as C$810 annually (camping during 8 Statutory Holiday long-weekends and during 3 weeks vacation) to more than C$2,000 annually for those Snowbirds camping four (4) months each year. Whoa! Up to C$2,000 in annual savings? Wow! Combining arithmetic prowess and knowledge of savings potential with the concerns presented by the vast majority of RVr's against membership camping, a pattern of change began to coalesce into a new and exciting method of accessing camping club membership.

So what did Heritage Valley Resort do with their thoughts, beliefs and research? Why, they seem to have developed a very unique, cost effective and flexible access to either or both Coast to Coast and RPI Camping Clubs without all the obstacles, high costs and uncomfortable sales meetings.



The Heritage Valley Resort's "Access Camping Club Membership Plan"

A plan that includes:

• Sales presentations take as little as five (5) minutes with absolutely no pressure sales techniques!
• No Haggling! Membership costs have been established at the lowest possible price and are fixed for the duration of membership (including renewals).
• "Access" plan memberships are purchased as three (3) year term memberships and can be renewed on or before the date of expiration for as many three (3) year term membership periods as desired.
• The established purchase price includes all costs (Home Resort Membership for 3 years, 1st year CCC or RPI membership fees and all taxes). Members maintain their membership(s) in CCC and/or RPI directly for second and third year of Camping Club membership only (approximately C$100 each annually)
• Home Resort renewal costs are guaranteed at the original term membership price paid, for life!
• No Home Resort Annual Fees.
• No additional hidden charges or costs!
• No fear of litigation! Members just let the current prepaid three (3) year Home Resort membership term expire and do not renew!
• Three (3) days Free Camping at Heritage Valley Resort annually.
• Excessive costs for built in "Free" camping days have been eliminated! Members select how many days they wish to stay at Heritage Valley Resort! They purchase as many additional camping days at Heritage Valley as the member wishes - Sold in 1 week blocks at a total cost of C$200 per week (includes seven (7) nights stay in each year of the 3 years of term membership - less than CCC rate)
• Free RV Familiarization and set-up courses for new RVr's are available.
• "Access Camping Club" memberships can be upgraded to Heritage Valley Premier or Snowbird memberships at any time, simply by paying the difference of cost between the Access Plan and membership selected.