Post by jetzen on Apr 3, 2017 11:59:36 GMT -5
The DW and I are long timers leaving our NE Ohio home in the fall and wintering in Florida from November through March. We really are not hard to please and for the last 5 years we have wintered in the Bradenton area and we stayed at the Horseshoe Cove RV resort. The resort was a Carefree 55+ community in years past. It is an older park and is filled with a combination of park models and trailers was fairly well maintained, clean, with friendly and helpful staff. The park was reasonably priced for the area and amenities at $199.00 for November, $499.00 for December, $3000.00 for January thru March and $199.00 for April. We normally stay for 5 months making our total bill $3700.00, like I said before average for that area.
Sometime during the summer of 2016 Sun Corp purchased all of the Carefree RV resorts and I don't know if holds true for all but this resort did a nose dive after the change. The management team that was put in place by Sun has to be one of the worst to the point were there was so many complaints the head manager was replaced, improvements to the park were being done in peak season so many of the amenities were not available, the roadways through the park were being sealed by the three stooges paving co. and may vehicles and trailers were damaged with overspray including my truck and no compensation was offered for repairs. The 55+designation for the park was eliminated, roll off dumpsters were constantly parked on the roadways and the noise emitted from inside the park increased 10 fold. I am only hitting the tip of the iceberg, to top all of this they increased the rates, not by a little but by a huge amount. 5 months for fall/winter 2016/17 $3700.00 for the same time period next year 2017/18........$5800.00. No Thanks!!
Now for things that cannot be controlled (somewhat). I have been wintering in the Bradenton Fl. area for the past 10 years, 5 years at Horseshoe Cove. I have seen a steady increase of just about everything crime, air, water and noise pollution, litter, over crowded beaches, traffic congestion, soaring prices on everything but gasoline/fuel. Sarasota/Bradenton area used to be a nice place to spend the winter, now it's just a headache. There are many other communities in Florida that are quiet, slow paced, and affordable, for us next year will be spent at Cross Creek RV resort in Arcadia and I will report back about this RV park.