Campground Amenities vs lower prices

westernrvparkowner wrote:

travelnutz wrote:
westernrvparkowner,

You are so right in most of your post but why charge the RV'er for your added amenities when there's no chance they would ever want, use, or need them? I'm glad your parks are doing well but that's not the norm for most. No way will we or perhaps the majority of RV'ers subsidize the cost of an RV park having unwanted amenities as you can clearly see by reading this thread alone and for us being in our 51st year of RV'ing now. It's merely an income and cost shifting scheme (income re-disposition) and the smart RV'ers see right thru that and so many potential high profit RV guests/owners will stay far away from these backdoor tatics.

I sure wish you would give me an example of an unwanted and unused amenity. Every amenity at my park gets used by some of the guests, and I doubt any amenity gets used by them all. And how are you going to charge for things like using the restrooms and showers (not needed by every guest), the sewer connections, the power, the cable TV, the pool, the dog parks, the playgrounds and everything else parks add to attract customers? Amenities are like park rules, there are always one or two people don't feel they need or use, it is just different for each guest. Personally, I don't like the a la carte method of pricing. Apparently that is the system your parks choose, which is fine. But I see enough KOA = Keep on Adding posts to steer clear. And my pricing structure is exactly what you say it is, an income re-distribution scheme. I am attempting to redistribute some of your income and make it into my income. And I see nothing immoral , unethical or criminal about it.

I get that and can see how it would be a nightmare to try and administer as well. I guess one could have an"undeveloped" section of half a dozen spaces for those who are just passing through overnight but I suppose the argument of "under utilized real estate" would be an issue. I think it would depend on where the park is as well. Is there that kind of traffic on the road or highway that services the campground. Is it a destination type location etc. But maybe its on a route where there is a lot of traffic on the way south or north that are only in for half a day etc. Then of course there might be lost revenue by forcing the overnighter that requires no service to pay for amenities that they don't want or need. I don't care how much money you have, paying 50 bucks for 12 hours off the highway when you don't hook up to anything hurts, especially when you are in a salf contained rig that requires nothing for a week or more at a time. "Supporting" a campground for the sake of "supporting" it is absurd. Its either a viable business or not. We don't mind paying a 100 bucks a night for somewhere we want to be for a few days, week, etc. But overnight we are pretty stingy. And as long as casinos (etc) are free I'll take 20 bucks and have supper in the casino at the end of the day. Don't get me wrong, I think a campground owner should be able to charge whatever they want. I've been in business all my life and that should be any business man's right. It is also the customers right to shop around and get the best bang for the buck.