Billings KOA Holiday — Hotel in Billings

This is the campground that started the KOA franchise, but you wouldn’t know that except for the billboard on the road leading to the campground: it is well-maintained and surprisingly they don’t sell any souvenirs that celebrate that fact. The park has three sections to it: the section east of the office building is the newer sections with full hookup sites and a number of premium sites with patio furniture and swinging chairs. The section west of the office (on your right as you drive into the park) has the older RV sites with just water and electric hookups, along with several cabins, and finally the western end of the park contains the majority of the tent camping sites.

We stayed in the west section, in pull-through site 134. Unlike most KOAs, they do not guide you to your site but just provide you with a map and directions. The sites in this section were fairly typical for a KOA but some sites are trickier to get into than others. Most folks simply needed to assess the situation and enter the site slowly, but one fifth-wheeler had to get a little creative due to the street light at the back of his site: he ended up pulling through the empty neighboring site and then backing his way into the pull-through. The sites in this section are gravel and separated by grass, and ours at least was pretty level. Every morning staff members set up sprinklers to water the grass at vacated sites.

This KOA has quite a few amenities. The office contains a convenience store with a decent variety of food and drink items, as well as some RV supplies and souvenirs. The office is also the place to go to check out (at no charge) golf balls and clubs to use on the simple but elegant mini-golf course across the street from the office. The east side of the office has a few bathrooms and changing rooms for the pool and hot tub located on the other side of the mini-golf course, and behind the office is a small laundry building and a single hoop basketball court. There is a larger bathhouse on the west side of the campground. Next to the pool is a brand-new playground for smaller kids. Strangely one typical KOA amenity was absent: propane refills.

The campground has its own permanent food “truck” in the form of a Jayco fifth-wheel occupying a site across from the office. It specializes in breakfast sandwiches but also serves burgers. Campers can either place an order online or via a laptop on the porch of the RV. On certain mornings a food truck serving coffee will park behind the office, and every evening ice cream is sold by the scoop in front of the office.

The campground does have a dog park but it’s small, frankly too small for a campground of this size. So when we needed to take our dogs for a serious walk, we ended up using the short trail that leads from the back of the campground down to the shore of the Yellowstone River (the river is not visible from the campground): that area has plenty of open space for walking dogs.

In terms of cell service, the best speeds I got on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna during our stay were 45Mbps down and 12Mbps up, and we had no trouble steaming video at any point during our stay. The one speed test I did with my AT&T phone showed 54Mbps down and 17 up.

We would stay here again if we return...

The campground is great but when I checked in I was assigned a spot. When I got there, right next to me was a group with way too many tents and vehicles in the spot next to me and dogs that seemed aggressive. After getting set up, another person walked by and told me to please be careful because the dogs had gotten loose the day before and were dangerous. I went for a walk to see if there were any open sites and when I saw there were, I asked if it was difficult to move my spot because of the people/dogs next to me. They moved me and I was glad because as soon as I walked back to move, there was a manager and a police officer in front of my spot discussing the people next to me. I overheard they had been breaking rules all week and they were discussing how to get them to leave. It was clear that they assigned me to my spot knowing that the police had already been called. However, I just moved my things to a spot on the other side of the campground because I just wanted to be safe. On the last night of my stay, the manager came to tell me that there was no reservation in my spot and that I wasn't supposed to be here. I had to explain they moved me and that he was the one standing there with the police when I repacked everything. I brought up that it was frustrating that it was clear the police had been called and I thought it was inappropriate for them to assign me to a spot knowing they were going to confront the people right next to me with the police and he said it was just an automated system that assigns spots. When I said that still, at the front desk, they should have seen the spot it assigned me was right next to a spot with a lot of issues, he said that he can either deal with the problem or talk to his staff and not both at the same time. The issue with the other campers wasn't an emergency and I would think that the 30 seconds it would take to tell his staff information preventing future guests from feeling uncomfortable or unsafe wouldn't be too much to ask. This was an exceptional circumstance and I was just going to leave no review, but after being accused of overstaying my welcome and feeling like they don't have the appropriate communication over problematic campers, it's clear there are management/communication issues and they're just trying to cycle as many people through as possible. To top it off, when the shower passcode changed part of the way though my stay, I didn't get any warning or communication, so I'm glad I tried it just before they closed or I wouldn't have been able to get in.

The campground is very big and they have a lot of amenities but I will probably try the other campground next...

WOW....What can I say. As a local who frequently visits this KOA, and others, this KOA seems like its going down hill. Certainly not the usual experience we're used to. We stayed over the Memorial Day weekend .... Staff member in the front office (Parker) COMPLETELY unprofessional. The staff member was yelling at customers telling them to get out of the office and they can leave. I guess it was while customer(s) were complaining about the constant smell of Diesel, noise and dirt that kept coming into their camp ground from the near by dog park the KOA is working on. Some times even till 8 at night. Can't understand why you would have them working and constant noise and smell over a Holiday Weekend. The grounds smelled of sewage and was trashy, and dirty.

Also BEWARE....the transients and other low life druggies that frequent the area are constantly creeping around, so if you don't want your stuff stolen you better lock down everything, and I mean everything!! Just over Saturday night there were 4 bikes and a grill that were stolen to include one of my bikes. This is not the first time we were robed of our items here. However, I must note that it is posted, they are not responsible. Thieves are a CONSTANT here at this park. Patron this KOA at you're own risk. This was my 7th and last trip to this KOA.

Things to expect that I have found as a trend! Expect horrible service experience If you don't lock up, and I mean everything, it will get stolen!! The entire grounds smell of sewage. The grounds have been neglected so expect weeds and dirty camping areas. We had a deluxe pad....dog poo, weeds and trash left on...