Why a pet charge ??

westernrvparkowner wrote:

gemsworld wrote:
As a successful former business owner, I know first hand what it takes to run a business. I also know what it takes to keep customers happy and coming back.

Most customers resent getting hit with additional charges when buying a service or a product. They feel as if they are being singled out. Instead of targeting a segment of my customer base for additional fees and risking alienating them, I incorporated the additional expenses I incurred by those customers into the overall cost of doing business.

As a consumer, I hate nothing more that being nickeled and dimed to death by the hospitality industry. I particularly resent the deceptive practice of advertising low rates and then getting hit with a bunch of undisclosed fees. Don't you just love the "resort fee" now being charged by some in the lodging industry? I refuse to pay it.

And for the record: I don't patronize parks with a pet fee simply because I'm a responsible pet owner and pick up after my dog.

Friendly advice to campground operators: Don't nickel and dime your customers to death. If you incur certain expenses catering to a certain segment of your customer base, incorporate those expenses into your overall cost of doing business. And if don't want pets in your park, say so up front with a big disclaimer NO PETS ALLOWED and watch half of your potential customers disappear overnight.

And just as many people (if not more) resent subsidizing others and find charging them for services they do not use to be a bad business model.
I am curious as to how you could have been a successful business owner and yet in another post said you would never patronize a place that had "profit centers" The common definition of a successful business is one that makes a profit. And to make a profit you have to have "a profit center". So, If you did have a successful business, you personally would have never patronized it?

I never said I don't patronize businesses that make a profit. I said I won't patronize a place that shamelessly charges a "pet fee" under the guise of being an additional expense to the operator when in fact it is nothing more than an additional "profit center."

Most reasonable people will not object subsidizing certain costs for the benefit of others in the lodging industry. I know I pay for facilities and amenities offered in most campgrounds such as pools, clubhouses, children play areas and bathrooms that I never use. Therefore, don't come to me and ask me to pay for a bogus pet fee or try to charge me $2 a day for a lousy wifi connection.