It’s RV Show Season!

RV Shows are a great place to begin your search for local reputable RV dealers.  RV Shows in this area are scheduled for January & February when dealerships are slow. 

RV Shows provide you the opportunity to see newest models and talk to dealerships that you may not have heard of, and reduce your expenses and time by not having to drive to different dealerships.  As a customer you can see and compare prices, brands, layouts, and more with one stop shopping.  However, there is always a huge range of quality & prices.  So when comparing units, make sure you’re comparing the prices of like models of differing brands.  One RV may look like another one, but you need to compare the options, construction, equipment, and features they both have to offer. See who offers the best deal but remember if the dealer isn’t reputable or isn’t equipped to work on the RV, or is located too far away to conveniently return the RV for service, your purchase may not turn out to be the best deal.  Don’t be afraid to talk with other RVers at the show. Many of these people have years of RV experience and knowledge of different products and dealerships.  Most will be honest and tell you when and where they’ve gotten the best deals & service.        

Buying an RV from a local reputable dealer insures you the best possible service, convenience, and shortest distance to travel for maintenance, repairs, & warranty work. 

It is always a good idea to visit the dealership’s physical location before you buy, check out their service department, service hours, etc.  In addition, many RV dealers offer show discounts and sometimes manufacturer rebates are available.  So not only do you save money with the one stop shopping, but there are huge savings in the purchase prices!

Show specials also sometimes include discounts or coupons from campgrounds.  So, your new RV sometimes comes with savings to use it, too!

For more information about local RV Dealers who have partnered with campgrounds in Western PA who offer $500.00 in free Camping and a chance to win another $500 of free camping with the purchase of a new RV in a Very Special Camper (VSC) Contest, visit our website at:  http://www.meadvillekoa.com/Discounts.html

RV shows aren’t just for RV dealers to showcase new and used RVs.  RV shows offer a wealth of information on the whole RVing industry.  Most campgrounds & RV resorts are slow or closed for the winter.  RV shows allow campgrounds to showcase new activities, special events, new amenities & extended stay (aka seasonal camping) availability to potential campers.  Make sure you stop by their booths and find new places to explore and exciting things to do with your family this summer!   

You can also find information for aftermarket RV products, RV accessories, RVing insurance, Camping or RVing Clubs, Discount Clubs, pick up brochures, camping directories for your state and more! 

Even if you don’t intend to by an RV, you can learn about cabin camping!  Many people think of camping as ‘roughing it” with a tent, the ground, the rain, and a less than pleasurable “vacation”.  This is no longer the case.  For the price of a motel room, most campgrounds are now supplying cabins.  Prices vary by campground and the amenities offered.  Camping cabins are generally the least expensive.  They are generally one room with beds and a table.  Cottage Cabins may offer kitchenettes, or a few more amenities, and camping lodges are deluxe facilities with full kitchens and bathrooms.  So, there is no need to own an RV!  You can enjoy the luxury of RVing with a camping vacation in a cabin and not miss any of the campground recreation programs and planned activities! 

Why not pack up the family for a fun winter-day activity and attend one of the local RV shows in your area.  Invite a friend to come along, and enjoy a day of looking forward to a summer camping season filled with friends & fun at these RV Shows: 

Ohio RV Super Show, January 9-13, at the I-X Center, Cleveland, OH.  Show Hours: Wed. – Fri. 1 pm to 10 pm, Sat. 10 am to 10 pm, and Sunday 10 am to 6 pm.  Ticket Pricing: Admission is $12.50/person.  Children 12 & under are free, and you can get a 2-Day pass for $20.00.  Discount coupons for admission are available on their website at:  http://www.ohiorvshow.com/!

Pittsburgh RV Show January 12 - 20  At David Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA!  Show Hours: Saturdays: 10 am - 9 pm, Sundays: 10 am - 5 pm, Monday through Friday: 5 pm - 9 pm.  Ticket Pricing: $10.00 for Adults, $9.00 Senior (55+), $5.00 Children 6-16,  One dollar off Discount Coupons are available online at http://www.pittrvshow.com/pages/home.php!  For More Information Call (724) 446-1046. 

Erie RV Show Feb 7-10 At the Bayfront Convention Center, Erie, PA!  Show Hours: Thursday 2 pm to 8 pm, Friday Noon to 8 pm, Saturday 10 am to 7pm, and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm.  General Admission: Adults $5.00, Children 10 & Under Free, and FREE PARKING!  More info online at: http://www.sportandtravelexpo.com/rv/homepage.aspx

We invite you to attend any and all of these RV Shows!  Stop by the Meadville KOA Campground booth and tell us hello, and that you received your invitation from my blog!  We hope to see you there!    

By Robyn Chilson

Tim & Robyn Chilson own and operate Meadville KOA Campground.  Robyn can be reached at 814-789-3251.  Kampgrounds of America, is now the world’s largest system of open-to-the-public family campgrounds.

Happy Holidays!

It is again the time of year, when all of us look forward to celebrating the reason for the season, and special time set aside for family and close friends.

 

As we celebrate this Holiday Season, we want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank each and every one of our camping customers for camping with us in 2012, and we look forward to seeing you again in the new year!  

 

We appreciate all of our wonderful camping families, and from our family to yours, we wish you a Very Happy Holidays!

 

Sincerely,

 

Tim & Robyn Chilson, Owners 

Breaking News - Awards & Honors!

We attended KOA’s 50^th Anniversary Convention in Orlando Florida in November.  Not only did we get to attend the 50^th Anniversary Convention of the world’s leading camping franchise (and one of the top 10 franchises in the world!), and the largest camping trade show that we’ve ever attended, and the KOA Care Camps Auction that raised over $376,000 to help support camps for children with cancer, but we were honored to be presented the 2013 KOA President’s Quality Award.  It was a thrilling convention that we will not soon forget!

The 2013 KOA President’s Award is an award that is based on us receiving high marks from KOA Quality Inspectors along with receiving high marks and ratings from you, our camping customers for our facilities cleanliness, fun family activities, and of course, of for our customer service in 2012. 

We thank all of you for making this award possible.  We received over 200 survey responses from you rating us in the company of some of the very best campgrounds in the country!  We truly couldn’t achieve this award without you!  Our Trailer Life rating (9/9*/9) places us well within the top 5% of campgrounds in the country.  Our KOA President’s Award places us above that!    

First and foremost, we love our camping families.  We’re very blessed to have so many wonderful families who camp with us year after year.  Many of our campers have been camping with us for over 13 years!  It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been that long, but we just celebrated our 13^th year of ownership.  We have so enjoyed watching your children grow up (hard to believe some are now in college!), and our good fortune to share many, many, summer camping adventures with your families!  We sincerely thank you.  Serving you is truly, our pleasure!

We just returned from the Pennsylvania Campground Owners Convention (PCOA), where we received awards for the best brochure in PA and the best promotional piece in PA for 2012!  The coolest part about winning these awards is because we owe these awards to you, our customers too! 

Our brochure for 2012 was a result of photos that were selected as winners in our 2011 Facebook Photo Contest!  We want you to know that we appreciate you participating in our Facebook Contests, and those photos of yours were winners not only for you, but for us as well!  Thank you again for submitting your photos and participating and sharing your photos of your children having fun!

We also owe our printer, Rick Morgan of Print King (http://www.printking.net/) from Cranberry, PA a huge thank you for the great and absolutely beautiful job he did on our brochure!  The photos were sharp, the print easy to read, and the color’s attracted the eye (as per the contest judges comments)!  If you want a quality printer for brochures to advertise your business, we highly recommend Rick and his team at Print King!  They do a great quality product at a good price!  We love Print King, and think you will too! 

And if that isn’t enough, our best promotional piece was our email blasts program that we email out to campers each month to advertise our upcoming events and activities, campsite and cabin availability, specials and discounts, and much more!  And, it’s you, our customers, who also make this program a success!  If you didn’t call to book that reservation, interact with that link, or disengaged with that program (removed yourself from the distributions list), it would be a miserable failure.  So we thank you for camping with us, and participating in our special weekends, promotions, and discount offers!  We thank you!

Each award we received this fall, involved you, our customers.  Some might say, “Isn’t that ironic?”  To us it makes perfect sense because without you, our camping customers, we don’t exist at all.  So to us, it’s only fitting that because of you, we’re a top rated campground that has won quality awards based on your customer feedback, your photos submitted for our camping contests, and email promotions that you receive and engage with to receive special offers, discounts, and more!  That makes perfect sense to us, because we truly have some of the best camping families who camp with us!  We have great campers who in many cases aren’t just camping customers, they are friends too!  Thank you for being great customers, the people that you are, great friends, and for making our campground the great and fun place to camp that it is!  We get lots of great comments on how nice and friendly our campers are, and we of course again owe that thanks to you!

And, we’re proud and honored to also announce that Tim Chilson was honored at the PCOA Convention for completing two consecutive terms (4 years) of service on the PCOA Board of Directors as Regional Director for Northwest PA, a 15 County Region.  Tim’s service as Regional Director has ended, but he was asked to fill a vacancy left by a resignation of another officer, and so Tim has accepted the position of PCOA Regional Vice President for all of Western PA (Regions 1 & 2).  We continue to serve not only our customers but our industry as well, as we continue to strive to make camping experiences better across PA.      

As our service to you, our state association, and our industry continues, we want to thank you, our camping customers again for providing us the opportunity to serve such a great industry, with so many great camping families as our customer base!  We’re so honored and fortunate to be able to do this.  And it’s all because of you, our great customers! 

We thank you, as always, for camping with us and your great feedback, and we look forward to seeing you again this summer at Meadville KOA!

By Robyn Chilson

Tim & Robyn Chilson own and operate Meadville KOA Campground in Meadville, PA.  Robyn can be reached at 814-789-3251 or at www.MeadvilleKOA.com