Campground pricing.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi kcmoedoe,

For a 30 amp RV:

.20 per kwh x 3.6 x 24 = $17.64 max. But it won't be that high because the RV is not drawing the max it can all the time. Also $0.20 per kwh is an extremely high rate.

The wonder to me is why there is not a greater difference for a 50 amp site vs 30 amp.

kcmoedoe wrote:
How much is the electric bill?

Of course, that is per site. When we take your 200 site campground on a hot summer day, that translates to around $3500/day in electricity. Assuming a more realistic 50% use rate, that's $1750/day in electricity off the top.

For a campground that size, you are probably looking at 5 people on staff for at least 14hrs per day. Assuming a modest $10/hr plus 2.5 overhead multiplyer, that's another $1750/day.

Then you add in trash, property taxes, permits, pool maintenance, lawnmowers and trucks plus thier fuel and maintenance, etc and it's a losing proposition before you even get to the capital improvements.

A 200 site campground is probably upwards of 50 acres, so assuming $10k/acre for undeveloped land, that's half a million before putting in roads, utilities, bath houses, pools, etc... You can easily be in the $2-3million range to build a campground of that size. Invested that should be throwing off $200-400k per year after expenses including labor or it it's probably better not to invest somewhere else.

Then as mentioned, in most areas there are busy and slow periods. In the north, there can easily be 6months with zero income. Likewise a lot of snowbird destinations are nearly empty in the summer.

If you run the numbers you will find $25/night campgrounds are usually short on space, amenities and not in the best location because they can't afford to be (the exception is if you are looking at long term rates). It's not that they are bad. Just don't expect luxury resort ammenities to come with cheap prices.

While I don't feel sorry for them, I do understand they aren't making money hand over fist in your example.