When Kindness Takes a Holiday: Our Latest RV Stay

Snaking our way through Mesa, Arizona with our home on wheels, we arrived at our destination at 12:38 pm. Why do I remember that exact time? Well, numbers have a way of sticking with you when something significant happens- good or bad. This experience was a first for us so maybe that is why the time stuck. Nevertheless, it was 12:38 pm when we tried to make our first contact with the office at our new destination.

Let’s back up… not with our 5th wheel and truck as it would have been impossible in this scenario without police helping to shut down a busy road. Instead, I’ll share the details as to how we got to the gate of no admittance. Our campground membership allows us to stay in special resorts called Encore Resorts for two consecutive weeks during “high season,” then we need to stay at a different network of campgrounds or go out of the system for a week before being able to go back to an Encore Resort. “High season” is the most desirable time of year for that particular resort. This allows others to use the resorts in our system otherwise members would just stay at the resort for the whole season blocking anyone else from being able to get in. Unfortunately, Arizona only has two of the different tier campgrounds and they are not near our desired location so we decided to select a resort for our “week out” near a mountain biking spot that James loves.

My job is to pick the camping spots as James lost privileges years ago when booking a “perfectly good hotel” for our family in a VERY undesirable area of Kansas City. We were entertained by the roaches scurrying across the bathroom floor and gunshots (or backfiring vehicles) outside. It was Easter, we had very little disposable cash, so options were limited. We were dry, warm, and “safe” so it ticked the boxes in his mind for our one-night stay. We all agreed that I would be selecting the places to stay from that point forward. Not a job that I love yet I have a few more requirements than James.

In my search online, I found our current spot because it was close to biking, a swap meet we like and was an easy drive from Tucson. The price was reasonable, the map overview looked congested (like all of Mesa) and the reviews were good. I learned long ago not to rely on the beautiful pictures the campgrounds and resorts post as they are the glamor shots rather than reality. Do you remember Glamor Shots? Oh, how I wanted to have someone do my hair and makeup, put me in trendy clothes, and make me into a model. My fine hair would have been teased to add another six inches all around my head and the makeup would have concealed all my young girl worries. Like a nice hotel room or RV resort, that luxury was not in the budget. I digress.

So I booked our current spot. One week before our stay I received the standard online check-in and term review. We were able to “pick our spot” so I knew what site we had unless the staff changed it at the last minute. Hopes were high as we headed to the resort. The first challenge was actually getting to the front gate. We had to take a left off a main road then an immediate tight right to the gate. In hindsight, I’m not sure we could have made the corner coming in from the other direction. Thankfully, we didn’t have to find out. We were happy that we fit in the short driveway so the back end wasn’t hanging in the road. At the gate there were two call boxes- one higher than the other. I love this as we sit up higher in the truck and it is hard to reach the low ones. Because of the tight turn, we were too far away from the boxes for it to matter anyway. Next to the boxes was a sign to dial “OOOO” for the office. We did. It rang, and rang, and rang. Then it hung up. We tried again. Same result. James moved to the low box and tried that one. Meanwhile I was looking up the phone number for the office. At every other campground or resort we have been to, we either have a packet waiting for us by the gate with all the pertinent information, there is a gate guard that checks us in, or there is an office right by the gate that you go to check in. The pre-communication from this resort did not share any arrival information so we assumed it would be something like we experienced at the 100+ other places we have stayed. Nope.

The lower box produced a woman’s voice asking how she could help us. Hazzauh! James spoke into the box that we were here to check in. She said back that she couldn’t hear us and she hung up. He called back, she picked up and he shouted that we were here to check in. She stated again, more frustratedly, that she couldn’t hear us and hung up. I shut off the truck, he called back, she answered and said she is not opening the gate for just anyone and that we needed to contact a resident if we wanted to get in. If we were doing an Amazon delivery we need to come back tomorrow. What? How did it become our fault that she couldn’t hear us on her system? Wouldn’t you come to the gate, or look at the camera that was pointed toward us to see that we had a camper? Wouldn’t you look at your paperwork and realize you were expecting at least one arrival and that shockingly, we could be those people? All the other places we had stayed knew we were coming and were expecting us. I tried calling the office number and kept getting their voicemail. We were stuck. We couldn’t back up and we couldn’t move forward. Then, a woman’s voice sprang forth from behind our 5th wheel with the gate code. We punched it in and were rewarded with the gate swinging wide open. Pulling over so she could pass us, we said we were checking in and had our site number but nothing else. She informed us that the person who runs the resort is probably not in the office and picked the call up from home. She shared her less than flattering opinion of the “woman” and sympathized with our situation. She then said to just go to our site and set up- that’s what everyone does as “the less you have to deal with her the better”. What a welcome. We drove until we found our spot and squeezed in. The neighbor had parked their car where our truck was supposed to go and was apologetic when moving it. That’s a good sign. Normally, campground hosts or rangers would have made sure the site was ready for a new arrival.

Talking with a dog walker, while we were setting up, we found out that this resort has more permanent residents working in the area rather than travelers like us. Guessing the person who was in our site in the past worked in framing or concrete as we found 5 long concrete nails in the pea gravel AFTER we set up. Hoping we don’t find any in our brand new tires of the 5th wheel or our truck.

I’m guessing this experience was so impactful to us because we received top-notch customer service at our last stay in Tucson’s Voyager RV Resort. I’m not saying that I expect someone to be in the office 24/7. There are many ways that check-ins can effectively happen without a person having to be physically there. We have experienced it at several campgrounds including one in Minnesota where a resident was designated as campground host when the office was closed or in Virginia where they had a welcome packet in a designated box with all the pertinent information including a phone number that would be answered if we had any concerns.

It really is simple: prepare for your guests, welcome them warmly, anticipate their needs, make doing business easy, and thank them for choosing you. Unfortunately, this resort missed the mark on most of those basics. We’d already paid for our week online, settled into our spot, and decided to stay quiet — no sense risking our reservation or losing our place. (Finding an RV site in Phoenix during winter isn’t exactly easy!) Still, we wanted to stop by the office to introduce ourselves — and maybe get the code for the pool gate! But every time we went by, the sales office was closed. Needless to say, this one won’t be on our list for a return visit.