$200 per night campsite!

[Mrjkq]

Taking the "Silver Streak" out west in just a few weeks and on the return trip stopping at one of our favorite areas of Wyoming, Spearfish/Sturgis/Deadwood area. Our RV Park of choice is proudly advertising on its website the rates for Sturgis Bike Week a whopping $200 nightly rate vs their normal $40 rate. I understand, it's supply & demand for this most popular event, just glad we check out a day before.

[AWCHIEF]

Greed is an ugly thing.

There is a campground in New Orleans that has a floating rate structure depending on what is going on in town. From $75 to over $500 a night.

[Protagonist]

Reminds me of the price gouging that happens at Mardi Gras and the Jazz & Heritage Festival here in New Orleans.

[Tincampers]

$100 with Passport America? ������

[Gearheart]

Perceived value=whatever the market will bear. caveat emptor

[Mrjkq]

Originally Posted by mrprez

$100 with Passport America? ������

Lol,not a chance!

[KJRitchie]

I wonder if they charged that rate last year? If they did and were full then good for them. Must be hard to make a living running a campground.

Kelvin

[sb55]

$200.00/night. Wow. We were planning to go to the Adirondacks next week. Most CG's don't open until mid-May or later, so the only place we found open is $48.00/ night. We thought that it was high, but I guess it's a bargain!

[Mrjkq]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

I wonder if they charged that rate last year? If they did and were full then good for them. Must be hard to make a living running a campground.

Kelvin

I'm sure they did. I totally understand a rate jump for a big event but when you multiply the usual by five....that's a WOW. STURGIS is the biggest Bike rally in the US so I guess they can charge what ever the traffic will bare. I was there in 2007 & the RV rigs were the biggest & best, million dollar motor homes towing trailers full of $35K bikes. It's a spectacular event to behold & the biker chicks are what gives a senior like me a heart attack.

[3wd67rg]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

I wonder if they charged that rate last year? If they did and were full then good for them. Must be hard to make a living running a campground.

Kelvin

It makes a decent living but it ties you down. I have a friend trying to unload one.

[McDave]

You see a lot of this kind of thing going on, mainly renting out rooms in the vicinity of major events, like the Super Bowl. First time I've heard about it happening with trailer parks, though. Amazing to think of spending $200 for a night on a plot of dirt! Fine with me if they can get away with it, as long as I don't happen to come by, blissful in my ignorance, expecting to get a spot for the usual rate.

[PeterKV]

I need to save this so the next time someone in a half million dollar MH complains when I charge them $34 for a pullthru site

[Dlapitz]

I hope the camp makes lots of money so they can stay in business. Sturgis during bike week is only for the brave and those willing to work very hard so that the visitors can have some fun. It is the American way. Make hay while the sun shines.

[ghaynes755]

Sturgis is so big there is one campground/bar with 600 campsites that only opens for Sturgis. Many other campgrounds also open for the event and are closed the rest of the year. Every campground within 50 miles is sold out every year. Last year 75,000 bikes and then the attendant additional visitors. So yes very much supply and demand.

[cwf]

I remember folks in Stugis renting out garages with bunks and per head for lawn naps...

Used to be lots of fun... Average guys...almost all blue collar... And occasional fun dealer (no, not bikes)...

Then the fad hit.. Malcolm Fobes showed up with his motorcycle shaped hot air / helium ballon. It all hit the fan.

The folks living in Stugis/spearfish eek out a living most of the winter... Then spring and summer...so.. "it is time to fish"... Gone ate the days where a nice lady let a grubby biker stay in her basement apartment for a week for $20.... But then who would stoop to the level of accepting her kindness....

God rest her soul..

Well... I am choosing to be thankful I am meeting so many folks in my life who may not be "financially comfortable "...but are spiritually comfortable and comforting to others.... You know who you are...

[paiceman]

Sturgis is a mecca for bikers. I don't consider the super high prices gouging at all, it's free market, no one needs a campsite or hotel room for Bike Week, they want one and obviously are willing to pay for it. Gouging comes when someone needs something, like food, water, generators etc during a crisis or emergency and a store or entity raises the prices only because there is a shortage.

Sturgis for the area is like Christmas season for retailers in the US, either make it then or go out of business.

We will be in the area during bike week this year in Spearfish City Campground if anyone is in the area stop by - doing volunteer work at the next door DC Booth Fish Hatchery and have a free campsite.

Bud

[Foiled Again]

Never went to Sturgis during bike week, never want to; however I did get stuck in a local campground during a biker weekend. Never again. Harley's roaring through the campground at 3:00 AM and "amateur drunks" puking and going antisocial everywhere.

The campground owner sustained $20K in damages because someone went wild in one of the shower houses with a baseball bat or some other blunt object. Every toilet and sink was smashed, plumbing lines broken and even tile on the walls was ruined.

They had one smaller section "dedicated" to regulars -- but that didn't stop a lot of incursions into the area. Luckily no one's trailer got set on fire and about the worst thing was having to hose the vomit and urine off of the truck's wheels.

I told the owner that I expected fair warning the next year so that I could go elsewhere - 50 MILES elsewhere if necessary. He responded that the cleanup cost and repairs to the bath house would probably wipe out most of his profit, and there would be no "next year". He kept his word - so I suppose that the high rates might have a LOT to do with the hard partying damage that is expected.

Paula

[Denis4x4]

You can buy the Durango KOA on 160 for $3.9 million or stay at the Durango Riverside Resort (old KOA north of town on 550) for $125 a night. That's a 50 amp site next to the Animas River.