RV Parks You Love Then You Hate Them You Need Them
Since I did a lighthearted look at RV'ers and their groupings I thought I should be even handed and do the same for RV Parks.
After more than two years on the road and by my count about 138 RV parks stayed in in almost every state west of a line drawn north and south on about the line of the Mississippi and a few hundred miles east of that from North Dakota to Fla to Texas the Baja and all the way to Alaska I think I can claim to have experienced about every type of RV Park that exists. And their owners.
There are several "degrees" of RV Parks from the ultra expensive, gated and patrolled that cater "exclusively" to Class A's to the humble smaller, simple places with gravel drives, no pool and (thank god) no Pickle Ball courts where riding in your $10 thousand dollar Golf Cart would elicit laughter and pointing.
The owners and staffs too are a very mixed bag from huge corporations with professional management and layers of bureaucracy to the Mom and Pop who got into the business "to retire".
It strikes me as I have traveled around and stayed in so many that a great many RV Parks, not all mind you, are owned and operated by people who have had no real experience in business and frankly do not belong in the hospitality business at all as they clearly do not like dealing with people and do it rather badly.
These folks I like to surmise decided "Wouldn't it be great to Own and RV Park!" "Build it kick back and let the money roll in...." mmm right.
These folks then come up hard against the fact that it can be a lot of work. And they have to deal with ALL THESE DEMANDING CUSTOMERS! Even though those same customers pay their Bills, and the mortgage they truly do not like us and dont really want to deal with us.
I wonder given some of what I see if they really understand ROI or what is truly profit vs Cash flow. It leaves me scratching my head sometimes how they manage.
Having said that I have seen many businesses survive and frankly do well (not nearly as good as they might however) in spite of their dubious Owner/Management rather than because of them.
There are many owners who do like to meet and deal with customers and who take their customers wants and needs seriously and do a great job of making their parks welcoming and neat and a pleasant place to stay. These can be either smaller places humble and simple or can be more modern and complicated. These are often run by middle aged folks who have some business experience an understand how to deal with people and customers. They have struck a great balance between "Rules" and freedom. They appreciate their customers and show it.
The Harvard Business Review has quite a few great articles on how businesses fail (and succeed) including well known ones like Best Buy, Martha Stewart Living, Dell etc. Most of the fault lies with the FOUNDERS and their inability to change with the times and the market.
I see this phenomenon in RV Parks all the time. Many are slow to catch on to new trends,technology and customer needs. As a group RV parks are some of THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY BACKWARD companies on the planet...yea the planet. I cannot tell you how many owners I run into that cant even troubleshoot their WIFI systems. Much less understand that in today's world WIFI is like running water it's an necessary infrastructure.
Now please save me the arguments about how the margins are low and there is no money to be made and do I know how much it costs? Actually yes I do. I don't think owning an RV Park is a fast way to riches for sure. But the numbers are there. It pencils out. You can make a decent ROI and a nice living.
The big corporate parks are another game altogether. Some are no better at customer relations than some of the Mom and Pop ones...mostly due to bad staff training than anything else.Usually everything works and all is neat and well trimmed, driveways are concrete or asphalt and there are 8 pages of rules.
Occasionally I stay at one of these and have nice stay. But like going into Target it's essentially impersonal. And it doesnt have to be that way. These parks also tend to have hundreds of spaces, and often some pretty touchy year-rounders who think they run the place.
These kinds of parks are big on "Activities". A sea of Blue hair line dancing is not my idea of fun. Especially when you throw in the fact it's TEQUILA NIGHT! Oh dear. Dont go near the Jacuzzi.
My favorite kind of park is smaller, more manageable, with kind management that truly understands customer service and is friendly but not intrusive. A place where most of the folks around you are neighborly but respectful. What happens inside a park and the atmosphere is set by the management. It can be cold an impersonal or warm and friendly, easy going (with limits) or chaotic and noisy. Good management knows how to get this right.
I dont really care if the streets are paved or gravel or the site completely level I want everything to work, be maintained and get what I pay for. All too often this is getting harder too find.
Now please, those of you that will jump in and say something like "well if you hate RV'ing so much why not just stay home?" just hold that thought to yourself.
I don't hate it. I rather like it. But like everything else it has it's positives and negatives. These are observations from my experiences. They are real and they all exist. It is a reality of this life I have chosen.
If everything were perfect life would be dull for sure.
After more than two years on the road and by my count about 138 RV parks stayed in in almost every state west of a line drawn north and south on about the line of the Mississippi and a few hundred miles east of that from North Dakota to Fla to Texas the Baja and all the way to Alaska I think I can claim to have experienced about every type of RV Park that exists. And their owners.
There are several "degrees" of RV Parks from the ultra expensive, gated and patrolled that cater "exclusively" to Class A's to the humble smaller, simple places with gravel drives, no pool and (thank god) no Pickle Ball courts where riding in your $10 thousand dollar Golf Cart would elicit laughter and pointing.
The owners and staffs too are a very mixed bag from huge corporations with professional management and layers of bureaucracy to the Mom and Pop who got into the business "to retire".
It strikes me as I have traveled around and stayed in so many that a great many RV Parks, not all mind you, are owned and operated by people who have had no real experience in business and frankly do not belong in the hospitality business at all as they clearly do not like dealing with people and do it rather badly.
These folks I like to surmise decided "Wouldn't it be great to Own and RV Park!" "Build it kick back and let the money roll in...." mmm right.
These folks then come up hard against the fact that it can be a lot of work. And they have to deal with ALL THESE DEMANDING CUSTOMERS! Even though those same customers pay their Bills, and the mortgage they truly do not like us and dont really want to deal with us.
I wonder given some of what I see if they really understand ROI or what is truly profit vs Cash flow. It leaves me scratching my head sometimes how they manage.
Having said that I have seen many businesses survive and frankly do well (not nearly as good as they might however) in spite of their dubious Owner/Management rather than because of them.
There are many owners who do like to meet and deal with customers and who take their customers wants and needs seriously and do a great job of making their parks welcoming and neat and a pleasant place to stay. These can be either smaller places humble and simple or can be more modern and complicated. These are often run by middle aged folks who have some business experience an understand how to deal with people and customers. They have struck a great balance between "Rules" and freedom. They appreciate their customers and show it.
The Harvard Business Review has quite a few great articles on how businesses fail (and succeed) including well known ones like Best Buy, Martha Stewart Living, Dell etc. Most of the fault lies with the FOUNDERS and their inability to change with the times and the market.
I see this phenomenon in RV Parks all the time. Many are slow to catch on to new trends,technology and customer needs. As a group RV parks are some of THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY BACKWARD companies on the planet...yea the planet. I cannot tell you how many owners I run into that cant even troubleshoot their WIFI systems. Much less understand that in today's world WIFI is like running water it's an necessary infrastructure.
Now please save me the arguments about how the margins are low and there is no money to be made and do I know how much it costs? Actually yes I do. I don't think owning an RV Park is a fast way to riches for sure. But the numbers are there. It pencils out. You can make a decent ROI and a nice living.
The big corporate parks are another game altogether. Some are no better at customer relations than some of the Mom and Pop ones...mostly due to bad staff training than anything else.Usually everything works and all is neat and well trimmed, driveways are concrete or asphalt and there are 8 pages of rules.
Occasionally I stay at one of these and have nice stay. But like going into Target it's essentially impersonal. And it doesnt have to be that way. These parks also tend to have hundreds of spaces, and often some pretty touchy year-rounders who think they run the place.
These kinds of parks are big on "Activities". A sea of Blue hair line dancing is not my idea of fun. Especially when you throw in the fact it's TEQUILA NIGHT! Oh dear. Dont go near the Jacuzzi.
My favorite kind of park is smaller, more manageable, with kind management that truly understands customer service and is friendly but not intrusive. A place where most of the folks around you are neighborly but respectful. What happens inside a park and the atmosphere is set by the management. It can be cold an impersonal or warm and friendly, easy going (with limits) or chaotic and noisy. Good management knows how to get this right.
I dont really care if the streets are paved or gravel or the site completely level I want everything to work, be maintained and get what I pay for. All too often this is getting harder too find.
Now please, those of you that will jump in and say something like "well if you hate RV'ing so much why not just stay home?" just hold that thought to yourself.
I don't hate it. I rather like it. But like everything else it has it's positives and negatives. These are observations from my experiences. They are real and they all exist. It is a reality of this life I have chosen.
If everything were perfect life would be dull for sure.
