Ageing Snowbird Parks, Changing habits, preferences.

Snowman9000 wrote:
If I was running one of these, I might give free or reduced site rent to a few hand-selected go-getters who have the cruise-director personality. With the understanding that they are there to head up, promote, and recruit for the (hiking/crafting/pickleball/golf/happy hour/new resident/whatever) clubs. Try to keep a finger on the pulse of what activities people are participating in, and work those with enthusiastic leaders.

Once people make friends, they come back. That is a way more important factor than amenities. So, develop a strategy to enable people to make friends more easily. In addition to the usual huge events for everyone, I would try to organize some smaller mixer type events, like block parties. Maybe have a block captain or den mother, lol, whose mission is to organize a couple of these get-togethers each month. Sounds like hard work? Depends on the personality of the person doing it. Find the people who like to do it, and give them the help they need.

I think this would be a lot more cost-effective than trying to have the biggest, most-est amenities.

I agree! We wandered through RV parks for years - each seemed to have its own personality. Sometimes the personality clicked with us; other times it didn't (even though the people were nice). I think overall, we just didn't like the "closeness" of being in an RV park for months (plus the spotty wifi) - so we opted to buy a small condo in a park-like community of all ages. I LIKE hearing children giggle and playing :-) And once we made a few friends - well, it feels like "home" to us. We really don't use many amenities here, other than the pool and the walking paths leading to the Intracoastal Waterway. But as Snowman9000 says, we have those people who organize impromptu gatherings, and the fellowship is what makes our place fun!