If you know anyone with land, tell them to build an Rv Park

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Fact is there are just too many variables to turn over many RV park's reservations to an automated system.

The state of WA has a totally automated booking system that's worked just fine for me and apparently others. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes on the phone, but they haven't shut it down yet.

john&bet wrote:
I got the acreage. But the corn and soybeans are alot less hassle for me and a lot more profitable. Oh, and I am to far off of any beaten path with enough RV traffic.

Our land renter puts the check in our bank account 2x a year and we mail the real estate taxes off to the county 2x a year, what could be easier ? Our total annual expense is 2 postage stamps. Renter won’t even let us pay for fence repairs, he says he has fencing supplies around so we shouldn’t worry about it.

westernrvparkowner wrote:

RoyBell wrote:
We have noticed over the past couple years our favorite spots book up FAST. Supposedly millennials are going crazy with camping. I am 35 and started camping when I was 24 so take that for what it's worth. It got huge when recession hit because it was cheap entertainment. Well, not really cheap anymore. Now sites are $75/night because the places are packed and can charge it. We always debate getting rid of camper and getting a boat because the sites are getting pricey and crowded. We can book hotel rooms and be money ahead over the extra fuel and ownership costs of an RV.

More CGs would be nice. Would like to see more with Full hookup. I don't know what it adds to the cost of building, but I would gladly pay an extra $5-10/night to not have to wait in line at a cleanout or plan my exit/entry to the CG by the line at the cleanout.

joelm wrote:
We are in the process of developing a park. Westernrvparkowners numbers are close to what we are coming up with for the sites. Office, store, rec area,pool, etc, we are looking at 400k. My brother/partner is a contractor so savings there.
One of the mistakes I see people making is building where there is no reason for anyone wanting to stay. Just because you own a piece of property doesn't mean it is a good location for a park.
We are also going to spend time and money marketing beginning a year before opening. A good website with a proper marketing plan and budget will pay dividends.

Online presence is huge nowadays. Sooooo many CGs are stuck in the 80 with zero web presence. Most of them you can't even book online yet! It's 2017. If you can book any Michigan state park online, you should be able to book any private CG online. It costs some money, but they don't need someone sitting at the phone all day saying "no sorry, we are booked". Nothing I hate more than calling 40 CGs and getting the same response when I could just check their website to see if they have any spots avail.

First and foremost, There is no excuse for parks that don't respond within a designated response time. If it is in season, they should respond with a short period of time during business hours and almost immediately at the beginning of the next business day, should the request come after hours. During the off season, a clearly stated policy should be front and center and adhered to. If those two responses do not happen, they are irresponsible and dropping the ball Period, end of story.
But a totally online booking system is way too complicated for many parks, including mine. We have multiple sites that only take certain types of rigs or certain size rigs. A large number of our guests have specific site requirements that cannot be requested and administered with an online system. Things like they must be near the restrooms, must be satellite friendly, must be near the dog park, pull thru, views in certain directions, must have multiple sites side by side etc.
Then there is the fact that it get way more complicated the longer the stay. With a bunch of one or two night stays, it's relatively easy to move people around and keep everyone happy. When you start juggling 7 or more night stays, it becomes virtually impossible. You can't split those reservations, people don't want to move once they get set up.
Finally, people will sometimes "exaggerate" to attempt to get the site they want. They will lengthen their rigs, thinking they will get a bigger site. They will shorten their rigs, if a response were to come back "no site are available to accommodate your RV", They will "forget" to include the car hauler trailer or the boat being towed behind the fifth wheel. Many people figure once a reservation is confirmed, it becomes the problem of the park to meet all their unspoken requirements.
You just don't have most of these concerns in a hotel setting. The rooms are pretty much the same. There just isn't too many special requests to complicate the reservation process. If they screw up, the rooms assigned will still work, even if not to the customers complete satisfaction.
Fact is there are just too many variables to turn over many RV park's reservations to an automated system.

I see your point completely and it makes a lot of sense. I am not saying to get rid of phone booking. It is nice looking at a map of campsites so you have an idea where you are booking though (in relation to bathrooms, parks, etc) so you have a visual idea of the location. We are pretty easy campers. Any place is good for us as long as it's not a nasty hard to level site :)

RoyBell wrote:
We have noticed over the past couple years our favorite spots book up FAST. Supposedly millennials are going crazy with camping. I am 35 and started camping when I was 24 so take that for what it's worth. It got huge when recession hit because it was cheap entertainment. Well, not really cheap anymore. Now sites are $75/night because the places are packed and can charge it. We always debate getting rid of camper and getting a boat because the sites are getting pricey and crowded. We can book hotel rooms and be money ahead over the extra fuel and ownership costs of an RV.

More CGs would be nice. Would like to see more with Full hookup. I don't know what it adds to the cost of building, but I would gladly pay an extra $5-10/night to not have to wait in line at a cleanout or plan my exit/entry to the CG by the line at the cleanout.

joelm wrote:
We are in the process of developing a park. Westernrvparkowners numbers are close to what we are coming up with for the sites. Office, store, rec area,pool, etc, we are looking at 400k. My brother/partner is a contractor so savings there.
One of the mistakes I see people making is building where there is no reason for anyone wanting to stay. Just because you own a piece of property doesn't mean it is a good location for a park.
We are also going to spend time and money marketing beginning a year before opening. A good website with a proper marketing plan and budget will pay dividends.

Online presence is huge nowadays. Sooooo many CGs are stuck in the 80 with zero web presence. Most of them you can't even book online yet! It's 2017. If you can book any Michigan state park online, you should be able to book any private CG online. It costs some money, but they don't need someone sitting at the phone all day saying "no sorry, we are booked". Nothing I hate more than calling 40 CGs and getting the same response when I could just check their website to see if they have any spots avail.

First and foremost, There is no excuse for parks that don't respond within a designated response time. If it is in season, they should respond with a short period of time during business hours and almost immediately at the beginning of the next business day, should the request come after hours. During the off season, a clearly stated policy should be front and center and adhered to. If those two responses do not happen, they are irresponsible and dropping the ball Period, end of story.
But a totally online booking system is way too complicated for many parks, including mine. We have multiple sites that only take certain types of rigs or certain size rigs. A large number of our guests have specific site requirements that cannot be requested and administered with an online system. Things like they must be near the restrooms, must be satellite friendly, must be near the dog park, pull thru, views in certain directions, must have multiple sites side by side etc.
Then there is the fact that it get way more complicated the longer the stay. With a bunch of one or two night stays, it's relatively easy to move people around and keep everyone happy. When you start juggling 7 or more night stays, it becomes virtually impossible. You can't split those reservations, people don't want to move once they get set up.
Finally, people will sometimes "exaggerate" to attempt to get the site they want. They will lengthen their rigs, thinking they will get a bigger site. They will shorten their rigs, if a response were to come back "no site are available to accommodate your RV", They will "forget" to include the car hauler trailer or the boat being towed behind the fifth wheel. Many people figure once a reservation is confirmed, it becomes the problem of the park to meet all their unspoken requirements.
You just don't have most of these concerns in a hotel setting. The rooms are pretty much the same. There just isn't too many special requests to complicate the reservation process. If they screw up, the rooms assigned will still work, even if not to the customers complete satisfaction.
Fact is there are just too many variables to turn over many RV park's reservations to an automated system.

2oldman wrote:

RoyBell wrote:
Online presence is huge nowadays. Sooooo many CGs are stuck in the 80 with zero web presence. Most of them you can't even book online yet!

My favorite is having a contact form on the site that they never respond to.

That is so annoying.

Here is what happens in my house.

1) We decide we can go camping xx weekend.
2) We talk about where we want to go.
3) We sit down after dinner and research CGs in the area. IE: 9pm.
4) Call the CGs, of course office is closed that late.
5) We realize we need to call in the AM.
6) We are both at work and forget all about it
7) We get home and yell at each other for not calling the CG
8) Repeat for 2 weeks.
9) I finally remember to call around and everything is booked except for that rinky dink CG.
10) Wife gets pissed because it's not where she wanted to stay.

RoyBell wrote:
Online presence is huge nowadays. Sooooo many CGs are stuck in the 80 with zero web presence. Most of them you can't even book online yet!

My favorite is having a contact form on the site that they never respond to.

We have noticed over the past couple years our favorite spots book up FAST. Supposedly millennials are going crazy with camping. I am 35 and started camping when I was 24 so take that for what it's worth. It got huge when recession hit because it was cheap entertainment. Well, not really cheap anymore. Now sites are $75/night because the places are packed and can charge it. We always debate getting rid of camper and getting a boat because the sites are getting pricey and crowded. We can book hotel rooms and be money ahead over the extra fuel and ownership costs of an RV.

More CGs would be nice. Would like to see more with Full hookup. I don't know what it adds to the cost of building, but I would gladly pay an extra $5-10/night to not have to wait in line at a cleanout or plan my exit/entry to the CG by the line at the cleanout.

joelm wrote:
We are in the process of developing a park. Westernrvparkowners numbers are close to what we are coming up with for the sites. Office, store, rec area,pool, etc, we are looking at 400k. My brother/partner is a contractor so savings there.
One of the mistakes I see people making is building where there is no reason for anyone wanting to stay. Just because you own a piece of property doesn't mean it is a good location for a park.
We are also going to spend time and money marketing beginning a year before opening. A good website with a proper marketing plan and budget will pay dividends.

Online presence is huge nowadays. Sooooo many CGs are stuck in the 80 with zero web presence. Most of them you can't even book online yet! It's 2017. If you can book any Michigan state park online, you should be able to book any private CG online. It costs some money, but they don't need someone sitting at the phone all day saying "no sorry, we are booked". Nothing I hate more than calling 40 CGs and getting the same response when I could just check their website to see if they have any spots avail.

wouldn't touch that biz with a 391/2 foot pole, just us :)

joelm wrote:
Not sure name yet. Just outside of Yosemite on Hwy 120

Congratulations on your new venture!

Hope that your Park will have pull-through's to accommodate 45 ft. coaches with a tow vehicle. :D

Safe travels,
MM.

No one mentioned seasonals as a key to making money for rv park owners. If I was in the business, I'd include a plan to have mostly seasonals in my park paying me once a year upfront for their site. As a transient camper, I believe they are the reason some of the parks exist and in some cases allow for "deals" on a transient site.

It's a perfect storm out there....boomers are retiring in large numbers, gas is cheap, economy booming, etc. To OP's point, I wouldn't want to be a fulltimer in this environment. Thought about it but decided against it for now. July, August, January, February, and March )1/2 the year!), too hard to "get in" in popular locations. Boondocking in the middle of nowhere is of no interest to me.