Passport America, worth it or not?

Bumpyroad wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
check out the locations/restrictions/etc. on line. call and make reservations with the campground. I have been in some that were bare bones and some that were very nice. if a campground is normally 80 percent full and happens to fill that 20 percent at half price, it is a plus plus, regardless of what a campground owner might think.
bumpy

Your business math is just plain wrong. It is a given that some of those 80 percent will also be PPA members, so the park will have less revenue from that business. On top of that, those 20 pecent additional guests have a cost to them. Electricity, water, and all the misc. costs of a guest. On top of that, there is no guarantee that offering fifty percent discount will bring in a single additional customer, yet it is likely some of the existing customers will use get the PPA discount. That would mean the park would lose money.
PPA works best in three situations.
1. Where the park is has a lot of competition and is not the most desirable of the parks.
2. Where the price can be set where a 50 Percent discount would actually allow the park to make what it really wants for the site.
3. When the park is located in a location that otherwise would not attract customers.
PPA sells the idea that parks are filling sites that otherwise would go empty, but for most parks that is simply not true.

it is completely within the park's purview to "ration" out available spaces for the PA rate. I have had stays at the reduced rate that exceeded the 3 night rule, etc., and doubt that the campground would allow that if they were losing all that money. the pool needs to be maintained as do the grounds and one or two more people using the facilities surely doesn't make a big dent in the utility bill, unless your maintenance folks get paid more if they have to take care of additional people.
I'm sure that some of this expense is written off as good will and perhaps the people will return or increase patronage by word of mouth, if they enjoy their stay.
bumpy

There was a study done by the University of Montana for the State of Montana Tourism Board that showed the average visitor to Montana returns every 17 years. That means for many people it is a once in a lifetime trip. Doesn't make much sense to give away your services for "Goodwill" on people who will never come back.
Additional occupancy comes with costs. But you are right, even with a 50 percent discount, it is likely that the park would make some profit, but how much additional work would you take on to make literally pennies? Even if you are sitting at home, doing nothing, there is a threshold that has to be crossed before you would take on work for income. You wouldn't go dig ditches for ten cents an hour.
Say you were a plumber, you get a job replacing a toilet and you will net $100.00. It takes you one hour plus 1 hour of transit time, to and from your shop. If while you were there, you noticed that their sink drain was slow, there was a leaky spigot on the side of their house and a couple of the irrigation sprayers were not working. You have all the parts with you, and the customer agrees to buy them at cost. Now you are down to negotiating labor, you are already there so there is no additional travel time, the extra work will take 3 hours. Will you agree to do the job for 1/2 half of what you normally make ($25.00 an hour vs. $50.00 hour) Is giving up 3 hours of your time worth $25.00 an hour?
What if something happens while doing that 3 hour job that ends up making it a 5 hour job? You have lost all your safety margin when you agreed to the half price rate. Now you are making $15.00 an hour while potentially missing other jobs, or you have to call your next appointment and upset them by telling them you are running two hours late. Or you miss your favorite TV shows for a relatively small income.
However, you still have the magic of the referrals working for you. The customer tells that referral that you are a great plumber, but he also tells the referral that when you come out to do a job you will take on additional work for 1/2 of the normal rate. If you do it for Bill, you really need to do it for Bob, or Bob will give you bad reviews. So you have another job at much less than your normal hourly rate.
Then the first customer calls with another plumbing need, but he says "If you make me a deal like you did the last time, I will hire you for this job, but otherwise I really need to shop around." You can't take chances with your current customer base, so you tell he "OK". What has happened is by giving big discounts you have become a 1/2 off plumber.
We have seen it in our business. We used to make deals for people who stayed very early or very late into the season. Those are the slower times, but what happens is these guests eventually want to stay in the peak season and get upset when you don't offer them that same deal, or you offer that deal and make considerably less than you would renting that site to a full price customer. Or they tell their referral friends that you can get a big discount at Western's park. When we dropped those special deals, almost all the customers kept coming, and our revenues and income increased. The discount wasn't what was drawing them in the first place. It was the service we provided. Cost was a non-issue.
Filling sites for the sake of being full is just spinning your wheels and often leads to unintended consequences.