Hi - We've been on the road 26 months out of the past 30. We bought into a TT "Elite" membership and found the following to be the most persistent and consistent drawbacks:
Booking windows - With our national membership we have access to all TT and Encore campgrounds but these can only be booked 120 or 60 days out respectively. We have found that Encore properties are generally of a higher quality as far as condition and upkeep. But the booking window makes it almost impossible for us to get into an Encore property during the desirable "seasons" (Nov-April in FL and May-Sep in ME are prime examples). In fact the one time we were able to get into an Encore cg was when we were told by another camper that they were about to cancel their reservation. Other than that we were limited to TT campgrounds.
First-Come-First-Served policy - This is a very annoying aspect of TT operations that is in place because of decades old contracts with original members. TT operates on the policy that campsites are NOT assigned according to the size of your rig, or your needs for water, sewer, electric but rather by your arrival at the location. When you reserve a site in advance at a particular TT campground, unlike KOA or any private cg, they do not set aside a campsite for you and have it waiting for you when you arrive. When you arrive at the TT cg you are told which sites are vacant (or will be vacant after check out time) and you are told to see for yourself which you would like to park in. This creates all kind of issues not the least of which is that after driving for 5 hours or more the last thing you want to have to do is crawl through an entire campground comparing individual sites for the one best suited to your rig. On one occasion we drove around Lake Gaston TT RV Park for 2 hours before giving up on what was available, canceling our reservation, and just going back on the road. The TT park did not have anything suitable for our rig - unless we wanted to park with our front wheels 10 inches off the ground - but didn't know it! We had to waste time and energy finding out what THEIR inventory was. This is a result of their promise of First-Come-First-Served - so that the 25ft pull trailers can fill 60ft long, extra wide sites. Reserving through the website is only a "general" reservation and the 800 "customer service" number is closed on weekends.
Locations - Since we haven't run out of places we've heard about that we want to visit we tend to be very selective about our destinations. When we decide we want to stay near relatives in Miami FL, or historic area elsewhere in the country - that means we would rather not stay at the TT that's a 2-3 hour drive away. So we spend the extra money to stay at a KOA or private cg closer to WHERE WE WANT TO BE. But that's just us. Before joining TT - look closely at their map and compare their locations to your wish list of places to see.
So these are the 3 conditions that annoy me most about my TT membership. The condition of the campgrounds vary but in general, with very few exceptions, there was no TT cg that we've been to that was nicer, cleaner, better organized, better maintained, or better located than the smallest KOA cg we've been to - and we wind up at a lot of KOA's because they exist where we want to go and we can usually get a firm booking when we want to be there. Encore cg are more attractive cg but are usually unavailable in desirable locations at desirable dates due to the 60 day booking window.
Happy trails!
