Park status sound off.

[John_Joey]

Seems every winter we post this, so might as well keep the cycle of knowledge going. "How full is your park now that the holidays are over?"

Needless to say if your park is RV's that never move, then it will be pretty static (as in "full".) I'm asking only those that are in non owner parks that have transient slots during the year. Reason being when you're in an owner park, the residents have a vested interest in using there slot. They're "loosing money" if they don't use them.

I'm in deep south Texas. I'm seeing a very large number of open spots. Five years ago we were full after the holidays. Each year it seems like more and more spots are coming available. Rumor is there is over 150 open spots out of 600 this winter. There is no way those can all be Canadians either (due to their dollar exchange.)

Texas isn't know for their great weather, but the price reflects it. So I'm guessing that isn't the real reason for the declining rate, but then maybe it is. :h

[Me_Again]

We are at Canyon Vistas (11 days now) and a premium spot next to us is still open. As Thunder Mountain said, still quite a few open sites. Chris

[pawatt]

POSTS DELETED, NO MORE FLAMING & personal attacks, lets not let this worthwhile topic be locked or deleted.

[John_Joey]

DownTheAvenue wrote:
That is a good point, and I appreciate your response. The way the original post was worded, it seemed to me it was a topic useless, mindless chatter.

Just wondering, are you a snowbird? If not, what dog do you have in this race? BTW, sorry I did not word my OP in a way that was acceptable to you.

FWIW, for me,

most snowbirds will have 40,000 to 200,000 dollars invested in this lifestyle. Nice to know if that investment will give a ROI or not. If not, then one needs to tailor their purchase to a group other then strictly snowbirds.

BTW feel free to use the BLOCK function. You won't hurt my feelings. 😄

[John_Joey]

John & Angela wrote:
Outdoor resorts Palm Springs. Roughly 95 percent full.

Is this an owner park?

[tsetsaf]

This is actually a predicted trend; several factors are at play.

1. Changing demo = snowbirding is for the birds. The new full timers don't do it.
2. Exchange rate has kept Canadians away
3. Some of the old popular areas are not as popular anymore

We are staying in colder country a half hour from skiing and have been amazed with the amount of RV traffic in the area. Obviously not summer volume but still a lot of transients moving through the area.

[DownTheAvenue]

3oaks wrote:

DownTheAvenue wrote:
I just don't understand. What difference does it make, unless you are the RV park owner, the vacancy rate of the RV park where you are staying? Is that really all there is to discuss?

It makes a difference to me and I'm not an RV park owner.

We travel on a whim and never make advance reservations. Never know for sure how long we are going to stay or where we may want to go next. Any information about site availability where ever it may be is better than no information.

Now you know the difference. :@

That is a good point, and I appreciate your response. The way the original post was worded, it seemed to me it was a topic useless, mindless chatter.

[The_Texan]

Ozlander wrote:

The Texan wrote:
As of yesterday, we were 88% full. But that is not the whole picture, as there are many Canadians who have a park model and pay by the year who did not come down this year. Overall, our actual occupancy rate is around 75% right now. We have 336 sites.

I'm surprised a park outside Zion NP would be 88% full this time of the year.

Actually, the St George to Toquerville region is a serious Snow Bird destination area. However, we are not at our place there right now, we are in SW Arizona.

[almcc]

Here in Borrego Springs CA the resort is only about half full, It's been a very quiet season so far. The park got more busy over the Christmas/New Years period but even then it wasn't full, and there were cancellations. There is some activity with weekenders each weekend but come Sunday afternoon things get quiet again.

It's partially an issue with the Canadian dollar but something else seems to be going on. Maybe the US economy isn't doing quite as well as is being reported??

[TucsonJim]

LynnandCarol wrote:
All Rockport, TX RV Parks are FULL! Have been reserved up for a long time. Don't expect any openings until the Winter Texans start to migrate north! Then, the spring breakers and summer tourists will begin to move in.

Hmmm. We called a Rockport park three days ago for a five day reservation early next month and had no problem getting a spot at all.

Jim

[John___Angela]

Outdoor resorts Palm Springs. Roughly 95 percent full.

[Ozlander]

The Texan wrote:
As of yesterday, we were 88% full. But that is not the whole picture, as there are many Canadians who have a park model and pay by the year who did not come down this year. Overall, our actual occupancy rate is around 75% right now. We have 336 sites.

I'm surprised a park outside Zion NP would be 88% full this time of the year.

[BarbaraOK]

We're in Mesa and the area where we have our park model has LOTS of empty sites - last year at this time everything was full. This year, plenty of sites for people. And we noticed that a number of park models that are owned by Canadians are not occupied this year. A couple have already been sold.

[3oaks]

DownTheAvenue wrote:
I just don't understand. What difference does it make, unless you are the RV park owner, the vacancy rate of the RV park where you are staying? Is that really all there is to discuss?

It makes a difference to me and I'm not an RV park owner.

We travel on a whim and never make advance reservations. Never know for sure how long we are going to stay or where we may want to go next. Any information about site availability where ever it may be is better than no information.

Now you know the difference. :@

[Thunder_Mountai]

Our fifth January to be at Canyon Vistas in Gold Canyon. It is a mix of park models, long term sites and short term sites. We are in the short term. No hard statistics only my eyeballs. The short term business is probably 50% down. Also see more empty sites in the long term. In talking with folks, the Canadian dollar exchange rate seems to have had a noticeable impact. I imagine that many will still come but for a shorter period.

[pawatt]

Mission Texas area. I would say the rental parks are 60 - 90% full here. It seems the lowest cost parks are fullest. There are a couple under $200. A month for longer term stays. Used be a few years ago that the highest and lowest cost parks filled 1st and reservations were required for Jan. Feb and March. Now even the nicest parks have open sites. Our ownership park is 99% full but as John said that is a different type of bird.