Missoula KOA Holiday

If you want a beautiful campsite and unbelievable hostility and belittling treatment, this is the place for you. I use KOAs frequently. I booked and prepaid for a premium tent site at this, where the description stated a pickup camper was acceptable. I have a newer model F250 with a camper shell that I built out/converted into a very nice camping setup. Apparently that doesn’t qualify as a “pickup camper” in their books and instead qualifies as “vehicle sleeping”. They told me my options were to buy a tent - which I wouldn’t be allowed to set up because it was after dusk - or get a refund and leave. To quote the man behind the counter who spoke to me like I wasn’t there, “Well there’s a Walmart across the street. She can get a tent there or she can park in their parking lot overnight if you’re going to sleep in your vehicle”.

Another staff member stated, “They’re strict you know, trying to keep out the homeless people and riff raff”.

1. Thank you nameless staff member for confirming that these rules are arbitrary and discriminatory by design
2. How does that at all explain why I couldn’t stay in my **already paid for** site and sleep in a camper buildout?

They still checked me in, gave me a parking tag, bathroom codes and map. Said nameless staff member still led me by golf cart to my campsite. I, mistakenly, believed this was them giving me the go ahead to stay in my camper and that they were going to let it slide. It was one single night after all. I was showered, lights out, and in bed by 10pm.

Wrong. At 11:15pm someone starts tapping on my window. It’s another KOA staff member telling me I have to have a tent. Except the Walmart is now closed and there’s nowhere to buy one. I explained I was traveling solo, out of state, had nowhere else to go, only there for the night, and asked what it was he wanted me to do in the middle of the night. He didn’t respond and walked away. I thought this meant they were just going to be decent human beings for the night.

Wrong again. 12:15am police are pounding on my camper door. “The business wants you trespassed, you have 20 minutes to leave”

20 minutes to leave in the middle of the night, from a site I paid for, was checked into, and was already asleep in because I didn’t have a tent? Because I was sleeping a customized camper that locked from the inside because Im a woman traveling alone? Yep. The police explained my options were a truck stop 10 miles down the road or Walmart.

I was traveling solo, staying one night after traveling from Arizona. It was the college homecoming so there were no hotel vacancies. The staff had absolutely no care for that fact or the fact that I was traveling alone.

Again, I had booked and prepaid for this site 2 weeks prior. I read the rules. Thought I understood said rules. Still don’t understand how they considered that violating the rules. The staff and this KOA have absolutely zero concern for where you’ll end up when they turn you away.

My nightly rate is the average of the 4 nights with KOA membership discount and taxes included. This is an older large KOA, although very well maintained. I would give this park a 5 stare if not for the gravel sites, and the Mobil homes that are within the park, some unsightly. Contradiction to previous reviews, my interaction with the employees was friendly and helpful from all. Two large enclosed grassy pet areas are provided. My site was gravel with green grass between sites. Spacing between RVs was decent. I mistakenly reserved a site without a sewer connection, so be careful when making reservations.
Site L-09

My wife and I booked a reservation for two nights in one of their patio tent sites but noticed in their policies after making the reservation that they required RV’s to be RVIA certified. No skoolies or conversions allowed. We have a smaller low top Ram Promaster with a bed and storage in it. No plumbing, kitchen or bathroom. We also stayed at this KOA in 2020 with no issues.

We sent an email to the KOA staff to see if we were going to run afoul of their policies and received a prompt reply that they did not allow people to sleep in their vehicles. Strange since in the tent/patio site description it’s listed as “Used as an alternative to RV Sites for Pickup Campers, Sprinter Vans, Tear Drop Trailers and Pop-Up Tent Trailers”.

2 stars for their prompt reply and easy cancellation. Minus three stars for thier misleading description and restrictive policies.

We needed to be in Missoula for 1 night and so we reluctantly booked here. In our opinion, $60 was way too much for our pull through with water and power only.

This is a large park close to shopping. There are cabins and Teepees to rent, tent sites and RV sites, pet areas and lots of rules on signs. Restrooms were clean. There were a lot of staff in yellow jackets in marked trucks and golf carts. Half the park was full of seasonal/long term residents. Surprisingly quite considering it’s location.

We are not fans of Walmart parking lots or Cracker Barrel parking, but we would consider either of these next time we are in Missoula.

After driving north bound on I-90 for 200 miles and after boondocking for the last 3 days, we needed full hookups and rest. Well heck this place is right in the city and tucked between a old mobile home park, we pulled in a there was 2 police and a run down mobile home, not a good way to start but we already paid. Checked in and the store was empty their season was just starting and not fully staffed. Site are big plenty of room between each other, wifi and cable good but a lot of potholes.

Usually I am traveling with my Airstream, but since I wanted to visit Glacier NP and not spend days driving to get here, I flew in and rented a camper van via Outdoorsy. I’ve had a great time in National park campgrounds and even one KOA in East Glacier when I needed a shower and hot tub.

This was my last night and need to arrange my luggage, decompose and shower. And another hot tub for my hiking muscles. I’ve had deaths in the family since I left a week ago and it’s just a lot. So yeah, hot tub. The workkamper Joey running the pool yells at me in the hot tub with my can of sparkling water. No Cans! What? I thought he thought I had beer. I show him my can and say it’s water. No cans! I see signs around me that say the usual “no glass, no alcohol” I point!“No cans!” He goes into men’s room for a long time (was hoping a poop would help his mood.) I tried to explain myself again and apologize if I misunderstand and he is absolutely the worst. Told me I wasn’t a lady for arguing with him.

Sadly, 3 out of 4 KOA Workampers I come across need to just 100% retire from public-facing jobs. I’ve never had issues like this but to be treated like this tonight when I’m paying this amount (for van/tent spot) that is usually my FHU rate elsewhere, is ridiculous.

Also, weird location but it is right behind REI if you need to get stuff.

The tent/van/truck camper spots are nice though. The rest is just a not private pull thru grass field. Meh. For laundry, shower, overnight. Lots of RV resorts in area though.

We stayed here a single night while traveling through Montana on the way to Washington. We had to change our travel plans at the last minute, so the only sites available when we booked were their deluxe sites. A deluxe site consists of a regular pull-through site plus a driveway (a former pull-though site by the looks of it) to the right. While we didn’t need all that space for a one-night stay, it was nice to have. The pads are gravel and level. Some sites are partially shaded by trees while others are not.

The KOA is kind of immersed into the surrounding neighborhood, giving it a suburban feel. Despite the signs at the borders of the campgrounds that warned campers not to take their dogs beyond that point, this is a pretty dog-friendly KOA. It has three separate fenced-in dog parks, two at the front area of the campground close to the playground, and one in the back corner. We only used the back corner park during our stay, and while it didn’t have any lighting within the park, a nearby street light illuminates the front gate area.

The office is attached to a camp store typical of most KOAs. Adjacent to the office are a small mini-golf course, a laundry room, and a large indoor area for social gatherings. Across the road from the office is the pool with two adult-only hot tubs and a “fun center” where you can rent bikes and play games (I briefly glanced into the small building and saw a pool table in there). There is also a pull-though site used exclusively for food trucks: the campground texted us the morning of our scheduled arrival to let us know a hot dog truck would be serving dinner out of that spot. Unlike most KOAs, they do not sell propane, so just be aware of that.

In terms of cell service, the average speed I got on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna during our stay was about 21Mbps down and 40Mbps up, and we had no real trouble steaming video for the one night we were there. The one speed test I did with my AT&T phone showed 23Mbps down and 25 up.

We would stay here again if we were in the area, even for a longer stay.

This is the first time we have stayed at a KOA and we Will now consider them in the future based on the excellent customer service we received here in Missoula. This campground was in the middle of Missoula but felt like a vacation spot after dealing with how special the staff made you feel. Everything was clean and staff was professional. Laundry facilities well maintained and store is top notch. Thanks Missoula KOA for making our stay a great experience.

Loved this place. Not for everyone, though. This is an inner-city campground. It isn’t for everyone. When we first drove in, I was not impressed by some janky trailers nearby. But, I don’t like remote campgrounds. ( Too scared of bears.) The tent site was fantastic! We had electricity, water, lights, a cool covered picnic table, great pad area with grass for the tent. We were right next to the showers. Clean! Was slightly loud at night due to the train and some plane traffic, but that didn’t bother me. I felt safe and secure. Wifi, cell. Would definitely stay again! Was my favorite site during our 12-day trip out West.

In general agree with tone and content of the older reviews. Nothing has changed for summer 2021 and this park has the standard KOA pluses and minuses. It does have the nicest campsite layouts of the few KOAs I have used.

Milwaukee Railroad Bike Path is about 2-miles south via N, Reserve Street. Reserve has wide bike lanes but also has 45 MPH posted speed limit. 4/5 bikers I saw were on the sidewalks. City bike lanes/paths provide fairly good access to local entertainment and eating spots. Drivers seemed to be bicycle aware (benefit of a college town)

Consumer Cellular coverage was 3-5 bars around town.