Passport America

soos wrote:

SDcampowneroperator wrote:

Its a gimmick for both parties. If it was a very good one, you would see more members on both sides. We choose not to be one.
Max

I disagree that it is a gimmick. If you, as a park owner, offer PPA for your slow times, you entice people to stay who might not have stayed without the discount, If you are filling a spot that would have stayed empty, you win, If I get it for half price, I win too.
If I like the place, I might stay on my way through next time, even if I can't get half price. Once again, you win, and I stay at a place I am familiar with.
As a park owner, I don't see the down side- filling spots that would have been empty anyway.
As a bonus, if people like it and put reviews out there stating that, you win again.
Unless you are full all the time anyway....

Sue

Not necessarily true. Most parks wouldn't get a lot more guests no matter what the price. Say the park was at Glacier National Park. Lowering the price from $20 to $40 wouldn't draw any additional people to area. Nobody is in their RV saying we would go to Northern Montana in May if only the RV parks were 50% off. What would happen is a few of the guests that are in the area who would have stayed in that park for full price will, instead, pay half price. That costs the park money. For example, say there are 20 guests in the park at $40.00 per night. That's $800 gross. If 10% are Passport members they would take advantage of the discount if it was available, so the Gross goes down to $760.00 Now the park has to find two additional guests to break even on the gross income line and probably a third new guest is needed before they break even on the net income line, since their costs have risen (to get to the $800 gross they now have to have 22 rigs using services instead of 20 rigs if they just charged full price). If adding that third rig covers all the costs, they don't make an extra dime unless they can attract a fourth new customer (a 20% increase in business, not easy at any pricing level). Now the park has taken on the additional workload of 20% more business, meaning more trash to haul, more restrooms to clean, more sites to clean etc. etc. etc. all to make a fraction of $20.00 (that fourth rig is using utilities too, so they don't net 100% of that twenty dollars either).
That's why we would never consider it. It just moves customers from full pay to discount customers.