Kampgrounds Of America Inc — Point Of Interest in Billings

ALL reviews about Kampgrounds Of America Inc

• Megan

  Added 2015.09.23

  I have had nothing but a bad experience with KOA, and they are one of the only companies that I've come across that charge for cancelling a reservation no matter what. This company has gone so far down hill that I hope they go out of business sooner rather than later.
• Rebecca

  Added 2015.04.30

  We are on a cross country camping expedition for the summer and I have camped with my best friend at numerous KOA campgrounds so far in a 2 room cabin tent as we spared no expense and bought everything that we would need thinking, we would have a great time but a lot of these campgrounds so far seem to have an unwritten "policy" allegedly, that prohibits tent camping for more than 3-5 days depending on whether, the tent pad is grass or sand. If we do stay more than 1 night in some areas we are told that we will have to move our tent from campsite to campsite. Cannot seem to get a plausible answer for this. We called KOA corporate customer service and was told that this alleged policy for tenters is not mandated or shared by corporate yet, this problem is still ongoing. In our experience so far things are not made easy for tenters in our opinion. We have heard everything from your tent will kill the grass, to we are trying to keep out the homeless and the freeloaders to it's just our policy, to people in tents trash the place or are dirty. We had no idea that tent camping deteriorated in our opinions since our youth. We had no idea that we could not camp at each KOA location for a week or two since most State Parks offer or allow 14 days as their maximum length of stay as that is a typical vacation length. We were very pleased with the KOA in Estes Park, CO and camped there for nearly 3 weeks during May of 2016. They were most kind and accommodating (no switching campsites). We feel campers with tents should be treated equal to customers with hard body campers and RV's. Customers paying the nightly rate who, are clean and follow the rules should be able to camp and enjoy their stay or vacations without switching campsites although, that is not happening for us so far. Basically, camping in some of these KOA's has become just a place to assemble our tent for a night and sleep then move on the following day to another KOA until we make our way back home which, doesn't allow us to visit local points of interest and so on. We truly wanted to camp and not just have a one night hotel type of experience in our opinions. It has been very stressful having to assemble and disassemble our tent daily and drive to the next KOA sometimes miles apart. What's going on? Why is this allowed? Hopefully, corporate can effectively address this concern. Please help. Well, it's a couple of weeks later and so far we are continuing to encounter this same problem. Our camping experience has not been pleasant. I am very unhappy with this problem. Our vacation has been ruined for the most part. We believe that campground owners should not possibly generalize the entire tenter population as either suspect or homeless in our opinion. Most folks are just on vacation. If, the owners truly feel this way as we have been told then why not close the campground to tenters completely? Make the campground just an RV park. That would eliminate the problems entirely and you wouldn't embarrass or frustrate anyone. It is unnecessary and shameful in my opinion to make anyone feel less than. Post ALL of the rules, expectations and guidelines on each KOA website correctly so that customers can read through and decide what to do. Some vacationers are traveling like us from afar so it is not good at all to have us or them arrive and be surprised or disappointed. People who, are not in the campground business may not know each and every question or rule to inquire about so offer the necessary information rather than have customers find out the hard way in my opinion. When customers go into a restaurant they don't expect to have to switch tables in the middle of their meals and most people know what to expect at a restaurant so make it just as simple and easy to camp as well. There is no need for confusion and frustration just to camp in the woods in my opinion.
• Jacob

  Added 2014.02.15

  We have traveled from the east coast to the west coast camping at many different KOA 's and some were nice and relaxed in terms of atmosphere, guidelines, staff etc.. but most that we have reviewed have been a total disappointment in my opinion. Very rigid rules or guidelines that change at random especially, for tenters in our experience. They seriously limited our stay in a tent which, prevents the tenter (us) on vacation from taking in local attractions etc... because you spend your time as I did planning your next move or KOA location or moving your tent from tent site to tent site like musical tent sites in my opinion and experience as well as packing and unpacking. There is no time to relax or cookout or swim at all. There is no mention of any of this nonsense on any individual KOA website that I have found. You only find out or experience this nonsense when you arrive and usually only after you have put up your tent. At one KOA in particular we were required to disassemble our family tent in a rain storm causing our belongings and tent to become saturated with water. The staff offered us no help during this time even though they assist campers with fifth wheels, pull behinds etc... which, includes escorting them to their campsite. We were made to disassemble our tent to accommodate another tenter. Can you believe that? We were told the other tenter had group or site locked our particular tent site yet, when we arrived and asked specifically how long we could camp we were told we could stay 14 days and there was no mention to us at all about the fact that we would have to move our tent and belongings after 2 days to another tent site. Had we been told about this requirement or prior arrangement with the other guest then we could have made an informed decision to camp elsewhere. We were not afforded that choice. That is not acceptable to treat guests this way or guests in tents rather. This never happened to anyone in a camper. Consequently, we had to opt to upgrade to a cabin at an additional cost to dry out. I am going to contact the CEO. I am reviewing each and every campground that we camp in and monitoring this issue very closely. This couldn't possibly be considered normal or acceptable. Another issue that is less major but an issue just the same is that most KOA websites advertise free WiFi yet, at some campgrounds the internet speed moves at a glacial pace or there is a constant disconnection of service or no internet service at all. One owner actually had the audacity to tell me "I wish I had a better answer for you" after she tried to access the internet on her smartphone and likewise was unable to do so. They obviously are aware or should be that it's an ongoing problem because other reviewers write about the same issue over an extended time period. Of course, there is never a computer problem in my experience with processing my credit card payment at lightning fast speed upon check-in. Hmmm! I wonder if when guests arrived to camp and no one's credit card would process if the staff would accept that same answer of, "I wish I had a better answer for you". I wonder if any of us would be allowed to camp? We are very social and have asked many of our friends and relatives to join us, some in tents as we are and some in campers so we can better gather more data for a comparative analysis since there seems to be key issues possibly happening that are unacceptable. They are going to review their experiences, observations and conversations at these locations as well. I am a KOA value card holder but I do not feel valuable. I have never received my value card because I cannot seem to get any of these KOA's to correctly update my address to Canada even though they have tried to update it in the computer. I can still use my value card number but no card.