Something New Every Year

by David Gorin
President
David Gorin & Associates

With the rapid pace of change in this world, successful businesses must constantly reinvent themselves – doing something new each year to keep up with consumer desires and industry trends. Some years its big capital intensive projects that hit the consumer between the eyes - a new pool, clubhouse, water slide or new, larger sites. Some years it’s smaller less expensive additions that are a bit more subtle but can be just as important. In each case, the goal is to give the business and the guest "something new for the coming year".

Keeping up with the times is a constant effort. It’s equally important not to keep your improvements – regardless how big or small – a secret. Every RV resort’s advertising should call attention to the "new this year" additions to attract the consumer's attention and assure the public that the resort is always moving forward and improving.

What makes a park desirable - a place RVers and campers want to visit and tell their friends about? Is it location? Occasionally. How about price? Sometimes. But more often than not, an RVer or camper chooses a campground or RV resort for the combination of facilities, amenities, ambiance, flavor, and friendly service - and much of this can be accomplished through the addition of small, relatively inexpensive but very important niceties you can provide.

Communicating the new, special or extra – be it as small as a local menu guide or as grandiose as a new shuttle service – can make the difference between a solid reservation (and a repeat business customer base) and an “I’ll get back to you” response. Let’s take a closer look at several “upgrades” that you can make to your park – in most cases for considerably less than $10,000.
For practical purposes, the suggestions into three categories:

• Facilities – physical improvements to an RV resort and property. These include landscaping, ornamental art sprinkled throughout the grounds, an outdoor adventure for guests and pets, and the ever sought after wi-fi.

• Service – options to increase the professional and friendly way customers see your operation including a “welcome treat”, professional staff appearance, staff knowledge, local information, on-line reservations and an upgraded and improved website.

• Super Service Extras – these ideas may seem surprising at first but are pleasing guests at premium parks nationwide. Consider bicycle lending, transportation options, a “service station”, site seating or poolside towel availability.
Facility Friendly

For the most part, RVers and campers are an active group – spending most of their time outside their rig, interested in the outdoors, experiencing their surroundings, and sharing their experiences.
They say first impressions are lasting – and in the case of your park that’s generally true. Landscaping builds curb appeal for pennies on the dollar.

• Use pots or urns to grace the entrances to all the buildings – clubhouse, office, restrooms, etc. Hanging bright flower baskets add an important touch to lampposts, street signs and rooflines. Be sure to have a regular watering program in place throughout the season.
• Plant flowers and shrubs in beds along roads and paths, near buildings, and at “end cap” areas at the end of a row of sites.
• The addition of trees and shrubs not only provide shade but contribute to the natural appearance your guests are expecting.
• Choose indigenous plants that customers will identify with the area of the country they are visiting i.e. cactus in the southwest, rhododendrons in the northwest, palms in the south, azaleas or dogwoods in the mid-atlantic, etc.

When budgeting for landscaping don’t forget to factor in watering, maintenance, etc.

Ornamental art can be a modest cost/high impact addition to an RV resort environment when placed in prominent areas. Outdoor art is frequently overlooked as something that adds interest and personality to your park. Outdoor art also creates special “photo opportunities” that assures your resort will go home with your guests. When selecting outdoor art, choose items that represent and are unique to your area. For example, wood carved tree stumps in the northwest, nautical items near the shore, antique farm implements in the midwest. Give your park the appearance and flavor of your location. Fountains also fall into this category of additional artistic interest.

RVing guests seem to love nature and walking trails – places to explore to feel like they’re getting some healthy exercise and experiencing the outdoors. Regardless of whether you are a country park or a city park you can find a way to provide an interesting walk that your guests will enjoy – even if it takes guests outside the confines of the resort.

• Provide maps of the trail focusing on plants, history, art or any other points of interest (real or tongue in cheek).
• Use signage to provide direction and information on distance between various points.
• Consider adding some exercise stations with instructions along the trails.

Be sure to let your guests know about your trails – share this information on your site map and in literature you provide to guests at check in.

If you’ve not already done so, it’s certainly time to add a fenced pet walk and leash-free play and exercise area to your park. With so many campers and RVers traveling with pets these days, you are sure to lose business if you don’t make these folks feel their pets are welcome. If you can, add a pet grooming and bathing area and provide pick-up baggies to encourage campers to clean up after their pet.

In the same “if you’ve not already done it” vein, one of the most asked for amenities these days is wi-fi – wireless computer internet service available throughout the resort. Several set up options exist and there are a wide variety of companies offering everything needed for your park to become a wi-fi “hot-spot”. This is rapidly becoming – or may already be – a must; you’ll surely lose business without easily accessible internet access for your guests and, while we’re at it, for your reservation office!

Service Specials

Going the extra mile, instilling confidence, showing you care. These factors add up to excellent service – something today’s guests demand.

Create a visually positive image of your business by providing staff shirts to all employees – from the front desk staff to your maintenance team to the housekeeping staff. Require employees to wear these shirts all the time. Not only will they look great but customers are able to easily identify campground workers if they have a need or question.

Nothing says “welcome” more than sweet treats for your guests. Consider providing warm cookies and fresh coffee at your check-in desk. Encourage guests to enjoy – make them feel at home and while they are enjoying the treat your staff may have an opportunity to upsell, sell local attractions tickets, and encourage guests to browse your store.

In addition to the standard park site map with local advertising, consider providing a series of guest guides detailing the owner or manager’s favorite local spots as well as general points of interest to RVers:

• Restaurant menus and information about specials they offer such as happy hour, brunches, etc.
• Unique sites – easily overlooked but not to be missed attractions
• Interesting things to do – a local park, walk, viewpoint
• Post a listing of the nearest gas stations and current gas prices, grocery stores, farmer’s markets, fruit stands, etc.

These guides don’t have to be fancy – a little desktop publishing, color and a fun graphic or photo, and your park’s name/telephone number (in case they get lost and need to call you) will do. Or, spend some time during the off-season creating a more professional local guest services directory with ads from local businesses.

Add to the above idea with a menu guide. Have all staff members pick up menus from local restaurants they frequent and place them in a binder in a conspicuous location at the front desk. Collect a wide array of options – price points, type of dining, types of food, etc. Highlight those restaurants that deliver to the resort and you now almost have the RV resort equivalent of “room service.”

Though not a lot of financial profit in it, goodwill profit is certain when you offer movie rentals or loaners. Shop local video stores for “pre-viewed” VHS and DVD movies, peruse the classified ads for closeout sales, or ask friends and family to think of you when culling their collection. Offer as wide a variety as possible – from children’s favorites to thrillers to documentaries. Don’t feel you need to get the most recent releases – choose interesting titles and they’ll be appreciated. Focus primarily on DVDs – VHS is clearly on the way out or is already gone. Loaning the DVDs is a nice touch but if you feel it increases the value, charge a reasonable $1 or $2 per film.

One of the most effective ways to help your staff deliver top notch guest service is to give them the big picture. Send your key staff to your state campground association convention. As often as possible include some or all of your key staff in your annual trip to the ARVC national convention. This is a staff perk that will have significant payback over time.

Super Service Extras

Unusual and almost certain to garner comments, these super special extras make a lasting impression. You can almost hear the “wow” through the office window.

Offer your guests an easy way to explore your campground and the area by lending bicycles. They don’t have to be new but they do need to be safe and fully functional. Have the bicycles in a rack with a sign letting your guests know they are available for their pleasure through the front desk. (Family oriented vacation destination parks may want to expand this idea with a variety of bike styles for rent on an hourly or daily basis. In smaller parks catering to overnighters or older guests, loaners are a welcome touch).

Of course, the epitome of this idea is the growing popularity of golf cart rentals for transportation and recreation around the resort. This can be a very high profit ancillary revenue center in the right kind of resort campground.

Want to really see a smile on the face of your guests? Offer your guests that arrive without “get about” or towed transportation either “taxi service” on request or better yet, a vehicle to borrow. A very savvy campground in Maine offers two vehicles fully equipped with local maps, beach chairs and umbrellas, even coupons to local eateries. The philosophy? If a guy’s driving an expensive rig, chances are he’s a good bet not to abuse the loaner vehicle. Just remind the borrower to return it with the same amount of gas in the tank.

Inexpensive and a real pleaser, guests will appreciate an air fill-up, vacuum and water station. Install a 150 psi air compressor, a commercial vacuum cleaning system (the kind you see at gas stations – with a hose long enough to handle the driving compartment of an RV or a passenger car) and a water outlet at a shed or small building - perhaps near your vehicle/RV wash station or dump station. You can easily charge for the vacuum and offer the air and water as a complimentary service.

In addition to the standard picnic table at your sites, place a park bench or swinging love seat at each site as well. This gives a “living room” feel to your sites – encouraging guests to congregate outdoors – making new friends and pleasant memories.

Another guest pleaser that will also be quite a pleasant surprise is to provide towels at the pool. Guests can pick up the towel in the office if you don’t have pool staff, and return them in a hamper at the pool.

Final Analysis

Every one of these ideas – and many, many more you can probably come up with – can all be implemented for less than $10,000. For relatively little money, continuous improvements encourage new business as well as hold the interest of return campers. The key to success is communicating upgraded amenities and park enhancements in your print advertising, on your website – even on your telephone greeting. The little things do matter. In the final analysis, beauty and perceived value go hand in hand with increased ratings and increased rates.