Monday, December 31, 2012

Santa Barbara RV park offers stays in vintage Airstream trailers

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., (Dec. 31, 2012) -- A new RVing experience awaits here with the opening of the SB Auto Camp, where visitors stay in smartly renovated Airstream trailers.

For the past month, neighbors have been admiring the re-landscaped park entrance that features four vintage Airstreams. The SB Auto Camp is part of an existing RV park that houses 30 other trailers from varying manufacturers. Several dozen local residents live full-time at the park.

The SB Auto Camp is a 15-minute walk from the historic Santa Barbara Mission, and a short bike ride southeast of Santa Barbara’s bustling downtown shopping district. Major shopping centers are within a half mile, and quaint local shops, services and eateries are next door and across the street.

The Airstreams were hand-renovated by local architect Matthew Hofmann’s custom renovation firm HofArc. “Each Airstream has been uniquely designed to connect yesterday with today without giving up modern comforts,” said Hofmann.

Each trailer comfortably sleeps four and features all new, all electric appliances, home-style fixtures and creature comforts found in luxury lodging. Each one also comes with its own outdoor barbecue grill and complimentary use of two retro-styled Huffy beach cruiser bicycles and riding helmets.

Nightly rates are $118 during a grand opening special at SBAutoCamp.com.

SOURCE: RVtravel.com
(permission to reprint granted if credit provided to RVnewsService.com
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Thursday, December 27, 2012

RV park chairman Jim Rogers of KOA to appear on TV's Undercover Boss.

Jim Rogers, CEO of Kampgrounds of America Inc., will assume the persona of Tim Bickford, an out-of-work accountant from San Francisco on the CBS TV series “Undercover Boss,” Friday, Jan. 11 (8-9 p.m., ET/PT).

Rogers said he welcomed the chance to go undercover, taking on the persona of a “front line” KOA employee. “’Undercover Boss’ is great entertainment, but it also does a great service by taking the general public behind the scenes of popular companies,” Rogers said. “Every episode is a case study in business management.
 
“My front line assignments on ‘Undercover Boss’ affirmed the importance of creating KOA systems that maximize the time that campground staff members can spend with guests,” Rogers said in a news release. “I learned that the great people we have on the front lines can always use more time to better know and serve our campers. Genuine engagement, ultimately, is what it’s all about. KOA campground owners and their staffs are the real heroes of KOA.”

Rogers has been at the helm of KOA for 12 years. The company has 489 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
 
Each week, "Undercover Boss" follows a different executive as he or she goes an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their companies. While working alongside their employees, they see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organizations and get an up-close look at both the good and the bad while discovering and rewarding the unsung heroes who make their companies run.
 
SOURCE: Kampgrounds of America, Inc, and RVtravel.com.
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Friday, December 14, 2012

Motorhome owner association FMCA announces 2013 rallies

The Family Motor Coach Association, FMCA, has announced its rally dates for 2013. FMCA is the largest national association of motorhome owners and is based in Cincinnati.

During FMCA area rallies and family reunions, motorhome owners socialize and enjoy seminars, entertainment and other scheduled events. Motorhome manufacturers and RV display product, giving attendees the chance to shop for a variety of motorhomes and RV-related merchandise all in one location.

FMCA’s 2013 Area Rally dates and locations include:
• Western Area Rally, Jan. 9-13, Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival grounds in Indio, Calif.
• Southeast Area Rally, Feb. 6-10, Hernando County Airport, Brooksville, Fla.
• INTO Area Rally (International Area), March 20-23, Lazydays, Tucson, Ariz.
• Midwest Area Rally, July 24-27, Delaware County Fairgrounds, Manchester, Iowa.
• Northwest Area Rally, Aug. 8-11, Linn County Fair & Expo Center, Albany, Ore.
• South Central Area Rally (Six-State Rally), Sept. 11-15, Missouri State Fairgrounds, Sedalia, Mo.
• Great Lakes Area Rally, Sept. 18-22, 2013, Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds, Goshen, Ind.
• Eastern Area Rally, Oct. 9-13, York Expo Center, York, Pa.

In addition to the area rallies, FMCA’s 88th Family Reunion & Motorhome Showcase will be held June 19-22, at CAM-PLEX Multi-Events Facilities in Gillette, Wyo. This will be FMCA’s first visit to Gillette for an international event and it is especially significant, as it will mark the culmination of FMCA’s 50th anniversary celebration. The association was founded in July 1963 by 26 “house car”-owning families.

SOURCE: FMCA news release and RVtravel.com.
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

RV refrigerator maker Norcold subject of class action lawsuit

December 12, 2012 -- Consumers in California and Florida have filed a lawsuit alleging that the manufacturers of Norcold brand gas absorption refrigerators, used in RVs and boats, knowingly sold defective refrigerators that posed a serious fire risk but hid that information from the public and federal regulators. The class action lawsuit, filed today in Orange County, Calif., seeks relief on behalf of all persons who purchased or owned RVs or boats in California and Florida equipped with three models of Norcold-brand gas absorption refrigerators. The complaint names Norcold, Inc., Thetford Corporation and Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corporation (DKM) as defendants.

The lawsuit alleges that since 1999, Norcold’s refrigerators have caused at least 2,000 fires resulting in millions of dollars in property damage, personal injury and death. The refrigerators contain flammable gases under high pressure, including hydrogen. The gases are heated by electricity or propane to circulate and provide the refrigeration effect. Fires are caused when defects in the refrigerator design release the flammable gases, which can then explosively ignite and spread quickly through the refrigerator compartment and into the passenger area of the RV.   

The lawsuit alleges that the companies knew of the potential fire hazard associated with its refrigerators, but rather than eliminate the design and manufacturing defects or provide an adequate warning of the potential safety risks to users of the product they tried to conceal and minimize these dangers through a series of limited manufacturer-initiated product safety recalls through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), beginning in 2000.  

In each product safety recall, Norcold represented that there was a single failure modality in a limited portion of their product population. They provided a retrofit that would fix that defect, rendering the refrigerators safe to use. But in truth, the lawsuit alleges, the refrigerators had a number of different failures that were common to all of the product lines, information that was never adequately disclosed to NHTSA or users of the product, nor remedied by the retrofit campaigns. Further it’s alleged that the devices provided by the companies to “fix” the defects were not only ineffective to remedy the propensity of the refrigerators to cause fires, but were designed, when triggered, to render the refrigerators inoperable and unrepairable, requiring users to purchase new refrigerators that contained the same design and manufacturing defects as the originals, and which had the same propensity to cause fires.  

According to Caleb Marker, one of the attorneys who represent the RV owners, "One of the fundamental purposes of this litigation is to hold Norcold and its co-defendants accountable for putting an unsafe product into the marketplace when they were fully aware that the product posed a serious risk of devastating fires that cause property damage, injury or death to consumers.  It is also unfair for defendants to force consumers to bear the cost of remedying the design defects inherent in their products.”   

Consumers can get more information or a copy of the complaint at www.zrclassaction.com. 
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Florida RV resort talent contest has $5,000 prize

RVers who sing, dance and play musical instruments might want to consider staying at a Carefree RV Resort in Florida this winter. There could be a hefty payoff.

The RV resort chain, with 30 properties in Florida, will host its second annual Carefree's Got Talent competition in March. Participants who stay at any of the resorts during the winter snowbird season will have a chance to compete for a $5,000 grand prize.

Preliminary competitions will take place at each Carefree RV Resort property in Florida in February and early March. The winners will then advance to a final competition.

The talent competition will be followed by a rally on the evening of March 20, which extends into the next morning. The cost of the rally is $35 per RV and includes dinner on the 20th and breakfast on the 21st.

Last year’s competition brought together 1,200 snowbirds from all over the state. Kenny Channels from Riptide RV Resort in Key Largo took home the $5,000 grand prize by performing hits from George Strait and the Zac Brown Band.

Details on the talent show and the rally will be announced at each Carefree RV Resort after the first of the year. Only Carefree residents who stay at a park for three months or longer during the 2012/2013 season will eligible to participate. However, all are encouraged to attend the show and participate in the rally.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Carefree RV Resorts offers a variety of RV parks throughout Florida, Texas, New Jersey, California and Massachusetts. For more information, visit Carefree online at www.carefreervresorts.com.

SOURCE: Carefree Resorts news release and RVtravel.com.
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Top RV parks announced by GuestRated.com

LAS VEGAS, Nev., Dec. 4, 2012 – Forty-two campgrounds, RV parks and resorts earned all around “A” grades in the fourth annual consumer satisfaction survey of campgrounds, RV parks and resorts. The top parks were announced Friday during the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds’  annual Outdoor Hospitality Conference and Expo at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

More than 30,000 camping and RV enthusiasts participated in the online survey, which evaluated guest experiences at 3,200 campgrounds, RV parks and resorts that are affiliated with the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC).

“Consistently earning an overall ‘A’ grade from guests is difficult, and our 42 winners this year represent less than two percent of all of the nation’s campgrounds. But what is even more impressive is that nine of this year’s winners have also received this award for five years in a row,” said Bob MacKinnon, president and CEO of GuestRated.com, the Murrieta, Calif.-based company that conducted the online survey on behalf of ARVC.

The GuestRated.com national online survey program was launched in February, 2008 in collaboration with ARVC. Consumers are invited to submit their own reviews of campgrounds and RV resorts they have recently visited by finding the park’s page on www.GoCampingAmerica.com.


The 42 parks earning “A” grades this year are listed below. They include:
    • Ashland Resort, Northfork, W.V., a three-time “A” grade winner, www.atvresort.com
    • Cross Creek Camping Resort, Delaware, Ohio, a two-time “A” grade winner, www.alumcreek.com
    • D & W Lake Camping and RV Park, Champaign, Ill., a three-time “A” grade winner, www.dwlake.com
    • Far Horizons 49er Village RV Resort, Plymouth, Calif., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.49ervillage.com
    • Kalyumet Camping & Cabins, Lucinda, Penn., a two-time “A” grade winner, www.kalyumet.com
    • Meadowcliff Lodge & RV Resort, Coleville, Calif., a four-time “A” grade winner, www.meadowcliff.com
    • Misty River Cabins & RV Resort, Walland, Tenn., a five-time “A” grade winner, www.mistyriverrv.com
    • Ocean Lakes Family Campground, Myrtle Beach, S.C., a five-time “A” grade winner, www.oceanlakes.com
    • The Springs at Borrego RV Resort and Golf Course, Borrego Springs, Calif., a three-time “A” grade winner, www.springsatborrego.com
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