WiFi is a Crucial Amenity for all Campgrounds

Administrator — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

After successful WiFi installations at Madison/Pittsburg, PA KOA and Jellystone Park in Natural Bridge, VA, VDM Consulting Group identified the great importance of WiFi for customer convenience and satisfaction.

Woodalls Campground Manager highlights how WiFi is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity. Click here to read more.

Social Media Success Summit 2012

VDM Consulting Group, Inc. — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

SocialMediaExaminer.com is offering great educational opportunities. Register for the largest online social media conference, Social Media Success Summit 2012, beginning May 1, 2012.

Click here to learn more and to register.

Hub Spot Provides an Easy to Use Guide on Facebook's New Business Page Timelines

VDM Consulting Group — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Gear up for Facebook's New Business Page Timelines by reviewing Hub Spots' Easy to Use Guide.

Click here to download your free copy from Hub Spot today!

Great Easter activities at Jellystone Parks. Open season for campgrounds!

VDM Consulting Group — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Make Jellystone Park your destination to celebrate Easter! Enjoy a great article by Woodall's Campground Manger highlighting Jellystone Parks Easter activities. Decorate eggs, join in a bunny sack race, take a wagon or tractor ride, and go on a egg hunt with flashlights with your three favorite bears...Yogi, Boo Boo, Cindy!

Click here to read the article at Woodall's Campground Manager.

Free Market Rate Analysis Report Available

Administrator — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Updated Annual Market Rate Analysis Available
Woodall’s has releases their 2011 ratings allowing VDM Consulting Group to create our Annual Market Rate Analysis. Identify your rates with your competitors to discover where your pricing stands in comparison to your region neighbors. The Annual Market Rate Analysis is quick and easy and can bring perspective to your fee structure and allow for you to examine your businesses worth. Interested in more information? Contact VDM Consulting Group about ways to market your campground today.

Kick Off at Olgebay for RV Park and Campground Owner's School

Administrator — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Annual Outdoor Hospitality Education at National School of RV Parks and Campground Management, Feb. 21-25, 2012.
Further your knowledge of business management principles and practices for the RV and campground industry. Hosted at the Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, WV, the experienced teaching staff of National School of RV Parks and Campground Management will instruct new and existing owners, interested buyers, site managers and staff on a two year program for new students and a graduate program for continuing education. First year curriculum includes leadership training, risk management, marketing and advertising, guest relationship management, accounting and financials. Continuing education in the second year curriculum features human resources, retail strategies, insurance, business planning and park construction and project management. VDM Consulting Group’s very own Ed VanDerMolen will be instructing for the 8th year. This in-depth educational experience is like no other! Learn more at http://www.campgroundschool.org/.

Groupon Success in the Campground Industry

Ed VanDerMolen — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

By now, almost everyone has heard of Groupon. Groupon is a company that promotes mostly local businesses by offering discounts to the public in a group buying method. A participating business sets the minimum quantity of “deals” that must sell before a substantial discount is offered to everyone who buys. For most who follow Groupon, it is not just a place to receive discounts, it is a place to receive interesting ideas of new things to do or experience, at a great discount. It is not for every business, and it is not for every campground owner, but it could be beneficial for almost all campground and RV park owners who target the overnight camper as a customer.

In general, the deals offered are approximately a 50% discount for some product or service. Groupon collects the money and gives about half to the business owner, depending on your agreement. Therefore, for the business owner, it is approximately a 75% discount. Sounds a little scary right? Well read on to see its full potential impact for your revenue stream.

The primary benefits are that deals are communicated to people who are primarily not your campground customers, there is no up-front cost to get your campground or RV park in front of their eyes, and the deal may be structured to help you sell your availability of weekday campsites and cabins. In our experience, virtually all Groupon buyers would not have come to your campground or RV park without Groupon. It is up to you to create the experience and environment to make them want to return. Not only does Groupon bring new people to your campground to enhance your future business, the offer itself can generate substantial revenue. In one recent example of a campground offer, our client received over $33,000 from Groupon, over $48,000 from upgrades for longer stays or to cabins (average upgrade was $87), and $37,000 from ancillary income (their average ancillary income per site per night is $31). In this case, a single Groupon deal for one campground will generate just about $120,000 of new revenue for that park, almost exclusively from people who have never been to the park before. Structuring the offer properly is important. Most offers won’t do this well, but a $20,000 to $40,000 boost in revenue from primarily new families is a typical result for our clients.

So if you are thinking about trying Groupon, have any questions about how the process works, or have any success stories of your own, feel free to drop us a line. We would love to hear from you. We have helped many clients through the “deal” creation and setup of terms for Groupon, and we offer this as a no fee service to our Preferred Client Development Plan partners. VDM Consulting Group does not receive a commission or any other fee from Groupon for helping a client use Groupon, we just use this as one of our many tools to help generate income for our clients.

The Economic Impact on Campground Industry Rates

Administrator — Mon, 23 May 2011 05:00:00 GMT

How has the economy affected rate increases in the campground industry?

Each year, VDM Consulting Group does a Market Rate Analysis of all the campgrounds in the Woodall’s® Directory. This report yields the answer to that question. With the data in hand from the 2011 Woodall’s ® Directory, we could see that for the contiguous United States, the average annual revenue increase from 2000 to 2010 was 7.1%. The average increase from 2008 to 2009 was 5.6%, and from 2009 to 2010 was 3.0%. An average annual increase in rates for ten years of 7.1% is rare in any industry. The campground industry has the advantage of not being affected by the global economy. In addition, the very high cost of building a new campground limits the possibility of a new competitor hurting an existing business. The number of campgrounds decreases each year, as some parks are sold and the land is converted to another use, and others are just closed. While many other industries have had to cut prices in this economy, the effect on the campground industry is only to slow the rate of increases from the ten year annual average of 7.1% to last year’s average rate increase of 3%. Go to VDM Consulting Group's website for more information on rates or industry changes in your state or region.

2010 Regional Rate vs. Rating Analysis Are Now Posted

Matt VanDerMolen — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 05:00:00 GMT

We have just finished posting all of the Campground and RV Park Rate vs. Rating Regional analysis for 2000, 2008, 2009, and 2010. This is a valuable report that can help you gauge how high or how low your rates are compared to other parks in your region and with your same Woodalls™ rating. All of the posted reports are available for no charge. If you are interested in an expanded report, we offer them for $40 per region. Click here to find your regions Rate vs. Rating report.

ARVC's School of RV Park and Campground Management Wrap-up

Ed VanDerMolen — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 06:00:00 GMT

I have just finished an exciting week at ARVC's School of RV Park and Campground Management at the Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia. About 100 students have had an intense educational experience that is not available in the same fashion anywhere else. There are several factors that make it appear that the attendance might grow significantly next year. If you are considering the benefits of this educational option, you will be able to attend at the tuition rate for this year's school if you register prior to May 1, 2011 for next year's school next February. It is also possible that the maximum capacity might be reached next year, and those who decide at the last minute might not be able to be accommodated. Send an email to Michelle Rice or Barb Youmans. You can get more information from the ARVC's School of RV Park and Campground Management's website. Scholarships are available from many sources including ARVC, Evergreen Insurance, and many state associations.

Ed VanDerMolen 7th Year Teaching At Oglebay Resort

Matt VanDerMolen — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 06:00:00 GMT

This week approximately 95 campground owners, managers, and a few potential owners gathered for a week of intensive classwork at the National School of RV Park and Campground Management at the Oglebay resort in Wheeling, West Virginia. The new ARVC President and CEO, Paul Bambei, and Barb Youmans, the new Senior Director of Administration and Education came to the school to see first hand what the school is all about and to support and enhance the efforts to maintain and continually improve the quality educational experience the school delivers. Ed VanDerMolen is in his seventh year as an instructor at the school. The diversity in the type of parks represented by the students and the diversity in the skills and backgrounds of the students energizes the instructors, as we try to impart a well-rounded, but also cutting edge, educational experience in this special industry. Ed returns home on Wednesday after visiting a few Pennsylvania parks on Monday and Tuesday.

Choosing Strong Internet Passwords

Matt VanDerMolen — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 06:00:00 GMT

As time goes on you accumulate more and more passwords for your online accounts. Just about everything you do online nowadays requires a password. So how do you go about keeping all of those usernames and passwords straight? Check out this article on a very clever way to remember your passwords for websites.

Interesting Fact: The top 3 most commonly used passwords in America are 12345, 123456, and 123456789.

SBA Loans for Campgrounds

Ed VanDerMolen — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 06:00:00 GMT

On September 27, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 was signed into law by President Obama. This resulted in a dramatic increase in the amount of SBA loans being provided to small businesses. In the fourth quarter of 2010, more than 10.3 billion dollars in loan guarantees had been approved. The bad news is that this level of activity used up all of the 505 million allocated in the bill to reduce loan fees. Read more information about SBA loan activity in the last quarter of 2010 here.

In spite of this, SBA loans, and particularly the 504 loan program are excellent options for campgrounds and other small businesses. A good summary of the SBA loan program can be found here.

Does your website work on mobile devices?

Matt VanDerMolen — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:00:00 GMT

2010 was a big year for mobile devices. The use of full browser capable mobile devices,, like Android based phones and iPhones exploded. Have you looked at your website on a full browser capable phone? Do you know if it even works? Well, here are some interesting facts that have been compiled to show the ever expanding usage and importance of mobile devices in our day to day lives. Click here for the 2010 Mobile Year in Review.

Yogi Bear Promotes Camping

Ed VanDerMolen — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Friday evening I took my family to Opening Night of the new Yogi Bear movie. It was the second highest grossing movie of the weekend, which is very impressive for a movie aimed at younger children. It grossed $16,705,000 the first weekend and was in 3,515 theaters. It out-performed The Chronicles of Narnia (which has been in theaters for a few weeks), which came in at $12,400,000 in 3,555 theaters. I thought the movie was very good and will educate another generation about Yogi Bear and how fun Jellystone Park can be. It should provide a very nice boost to all the Yogi Bear franchisees. I also think it will encourage non-campers to try camping, especially in rental units of some type. Many Yogi Bear franchisees brought Yogi and BooBoo to theaters and used the event to run contests for free camping, distribute special camping offers, and generally promote their parks. Share your comments on the movie and its potential effect on promoting camping. Also, tell us about any creative marketing efforts you know of related to the movie.

Color Choices of the Top 100 Web Brands

Matt VanDerMolen — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 06:00:00 GMT

As a graphic designer I've always been fascinated by the psychological aspects of design, everything from how a brand should make you feel to what colors are more likely to make you buy something. This info graphic goes into some fun details on the color choices of the top 100 web brands.

Enjoy!

Back to School

Ed VanDerMolen — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:39:12 GMT

From February 22 to 27, I will be at the Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia, teaching at the National School of RV Park and Campground Management. I believe this school is the premier educational opportunity in the industry. The school has a two-year undergraduate program. When you complete those two years, you earn your CPO designation. There is a graduate program which is an intensive process of how to make the strategic decisions, as part of a business planning process, to increase the value and cash flow of your business. This is the program that I and others initiated several years ago. To be part of the graduate program, you must either have completed the first two years of the school, or you must have owned or been an employee in the industry for ten years. Being in the industry as an owner or an employee for ten years is a new rule which allows seasoned operators to go directly to this class. Registration for the school this year is running well ahead of the last two years. Space is limited so make your decision as soon as you are able. More information concerning the school and scholarships are available at campgroundschool.org . Tim and Robyn Chilson, students in last year's graduate class, wrote in part:

"We came away from the graduate school program with a thorough understanding of business planning, categorizing projects, financing projects, setting rates, and more. The graduate school will forever change the way we operate our park."

I would of course be happy to answer questions you might have concerning the school. Or feel free to share your experiences if you have attended the school in the past.

VDM Consulting Will be Visiting East Coast Parks in December

Matt VanDerMolen — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:18:43 GMT

VDM Consulting Group, Inc. will be on the road the first two weeks of December to visit parks on the East Coast. We will be going through Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and more. We are going to visit parks that are signed up for our contingent based Preferred Client Development Package.

We will be sending out an email with details but please feel free to contact us before at matt@vdmcg.com or ed@vdmcg.com. You can reach us by phone at 630-566-8626.

Google Instant - Simply Amazing

Matt VDM — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:11:22 GMT

Google Instant was launched today to the public. All I can say is simply amazing! Take a look for yourself by going to Google.com and typing in a search. It will start showing results as you type. As if it wasn't fast and accurate enough, now they have reinventing searching, again.

Ed's first blog post

Ed VanDerMolen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:42:45 GMT

Well, I’m blogging. I remember when copiers were the latest and greatest office addition(early 70’s), and when fax machines became essential, followed by cell phones, laptops, and a host of other tools, all related to faster and cheaper communication. You need to use the latest tools to encourage the public to visit your campground or RV park, and I desire to help you to take advantage of the things I have learned from twenty years of analyzing RV parks and from countless great park operators. I look to continue to learn as I visit and analyze additional parks and get feedback from you on website or newsletter articles and blog posts. I will be blogging on important topics such as marketing ideas, operational challenges and their solutions, obtaining a loan, and many other such topics. I will also be blogging on simpler thoughts of the day, or my travel and speaking schedule, or a new tidbit of information or new idea from a campground I have visited or from a conversation that I have had. If there would be one over-riding goal, it would be to provide campground owners with information and tools to help them improve the financial health of their businesses. Since I have recently completed analyzing the camping rates and Woodall’s® ratings of every private campground in the country, I will start with that on my next post. See you soon.

Set Your Facebook Fan Page Name

Matt VanDerMolen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:29:18 GMT

Tired of sending people to your Facebook Fan page that has a ridiculous page name like facebook.com/companyname/cleveland_Ohio/12920398237? Well follow these quick and easy steps to set up your page with a simple effective URL. Please read this carefully and thoroughly before making any permanent changes to your Facebook pages.

NOTE: In order to create a vanity URL for your company’s fan page you must be listed as an administrator for the page, and your company fan page must have at least 25 fans.

If you already have a username for your personal Facebook page:
1. Sign-in to your personal Facebook account
2. Type ‘facebook.com/username’ into the address bar of your browser window.
3. You will be redirected to a page indicating that your username has been set. Click the ‘Set a username for your Pages’ link.
4. Select your company fan page from the drop-down box, and enter a username
5. WARNING: This will become your vanity url. If you select mycompany as the username, your URL will be facebook.com/mycompany. Once you have selected a username/url for your company fan page you WILL NOT be able to change it.
6. If the selected username is available, click ‘Confirm’ to apply the username to your company fan page.

If you do not already have a username for your personal Facebook page:
1. Sign-in to your personal Facebook account
2. Click the ‘Setting’ tab on the upper right hand side, this will take you to the ‘My Account’ section
3. Click the ‘change’ link to the right of ‘Username’
4. WARNING: DO NOT select a username that you would like to use for your fan page. This first username will be for your personal page. Select something that fits your personal profile like firstnamelastname
5. Click ‘Check Availability’
6. If the selected username is available, click ‘Confirm’ to apply the username to your account
7. You will be redirected to a page indicating that your username has been set. Click the ‘Set a username for your Pages’ link.
8. Select your company fan page from the drop-down box, and enter a username
9. WARNING: This will become your vanity url. If you select mycompany as the username, your URL will be facebook.com/mycompany. Once you have selected a username/url for your company fan page you WILL NOT be able to change it.
10. If the selected username is available, click ‘Confirm’ to apply the username to your company fan page.

That’s it. You can now direct your customers to facebook.com/mycompany.

Your Website and the iPhone

Matt VanDerMolen — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:44:57 GMT

Want to know how your website looks on an iPhone but you don't have one to test it out on? This neat little iPhone browser simulator will show you. This is a great little tool to give you an idea. So take your site for a test drive and see how it looks. One thing to be aware of, because most of us have Flash players installed on our computers, it will display Flash animations and graphics, which the iPhone does not support and will not display.

Also, here is a great resource to check the latest mobile web browser usage statistics to help you make educated decisions when it comes to cell phone browser compatibility. The iPhone and iTouch are still currently the leaders by far, but the Android has made some significant recent gains.

VDM Consulting Group, Inc. Now on Facebook and Twitter

Matt VanDerMolen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:30:32 GMT

VDM Consulting Group, Inc. is now on Facebook and Twitter. Become a fan or follow us and receive updates the way you want to get them. Sign-up to receive information directly from industry experienced professionals who will provide your business the tools to make decisions. To those who are already fans, we thank you and are excited to bring you some great information to help you grow.

New Reports Available

Matt VanDerMolen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:31:08 GMT

We have just finished creating the 2008 Rate vs. Rating reports and they are available to print or download for free on our Reports Page. These reports contain information that will guide you in setting your rates by showing you what your peer group is charging, and providing you with a projected 2010 rate.

We have also just finished our Expanded Industry Analyses for all states and regions of the contiguous 48 states, which contain a wealth of information including:

List of all campgrounds in the region sorted by rating and rate.
United States summary of Rate vs. Rating Report
Your selected state or region Rate vs. Rating Report
Number of campgrounds and number of campsites in the region as well as average rating and average rate.
Ranges of maximum occupancy per site or rental unit based on the latitude of your property.
Your own campground rate compared to your regional marketplace.
Step-by-step guide on how to use this information to set rates for your campground or RV park.

Ed VanDerMolen Teaching at Oglebay - February 15th-21st

Matt VanDerMolen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:31:43 GMT

Join Ed VanDerMolen as he heads up the graduate program at the National School of Campground and RV Park Management at the Oglebay Resort from February 15 to February 21, 2010. The school is a two year program plus a one year graduate program held each year in February at the Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia. The undergraduate program enables someone to become educated on every aspect of operating a business in this industry. The graduate program is concentrated on how to look at information from your business and the industry to build a business plan for your business. You must meet one of three possible pre-requisites to attend the graduate program.

Complete the undergraduate program
Own or manage a campground for ten or more years
Be a member of an ARVC 20 group

Make plans to attend this exceptional educational program.

Is Your Rating Affected by Your Advertising Purchase?

Ed VanDerMolen — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:31:27 GMT

True or False: Your Woodall’s Rating is Affected by Your Advertising Purchase?

VDM Consulting Group decided to examine this issue. We chose four different states, comprising over 400 campgrounds, involving four different inspectors, and examined the affect of purchasing advertising on a change in rating. Of the thirteen parks that increased their ad size, two received increased ratings and 11 ratings stayed the same. Of the 42 parks that decreased ad size, three received increased ratings, six received decreased ratings, and 33 stayed the same. Of the 68 parks that renewed their same size ad, ten received increased ratings, six received decreased ratings, and 52 remain unchanged. The above results were similar to the parks that did not advertise at all. Has an inspector ever been influenced by an ad purchase? You decide. Statistically, it does not affect the rate analysis of the marketplace.

Does Your Website Work?

Matt VanDerMolen — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:55:13 GMT

Cross Browser Compatibility Issues

Does your website work with the major desktop browsers
Does your website work with the top mobile browsers?
What browsers should you be compatible with?

Accessing the Internet is becoming far more diverse than ever. In addition to desktops and laptops, we now have the mobile devices of iPhones and iPods, BlackBerrys, and cell phones. The browser market has been dominated by Internet Explorer. As of September of 2009, the newer browsers, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera account for forty two percent of the market and their market share is growing. So, what happens when your customers visit your site using Firefox, or Opera, or from their iPhone? Does your website work?

If your website wasn’t built using the current standards compliant code, there’s a good chance it won’t work properly in many modern browsers. It also means that search engines won’t index your content properly. Using standards compliant code will greatly enhance search engine optimization, with the result that customers will have an easier time finding you.

Using mobile devices to access the web is a small percentage of total internet usage at this time, but it is experiencing exponential growth. The iPhone and iPod Touch dominate the market in North America at this time and are able to view the full web due to the use of Safari, one of the major desktop browsers. Other non-PDA style mobile devices use mini-browsers, which often cannot view a website without some problems.

What is the impact of this information? First, you should make your web-site function without problems for all the users of the top five browsers. In addition, you may find it worth spending some money to have a functional web-site that more mini-browser based cell-phone users can use. We did a survey of sixteen randomly chosen Jellystone Parks’ websites to see the level of browser problems

What Do Other Campgrounds Charge?

Ed VanDerMolen — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:58:10 GMT

Rates are a key factor in affecting the value and the cash flow of your business. Rates that are too high can discourage customers from visiting your park. Rates that are too low result in decreased revenue for your business. The rate survey for the state of Pennsylvania is presented in Figure 1 and Table 1. It includes information from all of the Pennsylvania parks in Woodall’s Campground Directory that have ratings. This is the rate environment your business is operating in. The maximum potential occupancies that are available for your property, based on the latitude of your park are shown in Figure 2. This information is based on research over many years by VDM Consulting Group. Use information concerning the rate environment that you are in, plus the information concerning the occupancies in your own park compared to the maximum potential occupancies available, to set the rates that you charge. For a specific step by step procedure, read our article, "How Do You Set Your Rates? If you would like additional help, contact us to discuss how we can help you.

Rates vs. Combined Woodall's Rating

Woodall’s® rates a campground for facilities and for recreational amenities. Each is rated on a scale of one to five. When the numbers are added together, this results in a rating of one to ten. Woodall’s® reports the highest rate that a campground charges. This rate would generally be for full hook-up sites in prime season.

The following graph and table present this information from the 2009 Woodall’s® directory for the entire contiguous forty-eight states of the United States. The 2009 directory is based on information and rates in 2008. This type of information for your state or region is more useful than the average for the entire country. There are graphs and tables below presenting this information for the entire country, broken down into twenty-four states or regions of the country.

You should not be setting rates so that you meet the average. Rates should be set at a level that maximizes the value and the cash flow of your business. This means that you have to take into account the occupancy (demand) for your sites. High demand properties should have rates above these averages. Low demand properties should have rates near these averages. Follow the steps in the section on setting overnight rates to take full advantage of this information. Many parks are charging less or substantially less than what is accepted in the market place.

How Do You Set Your Rates?

Ed VanDerMolen — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:01:37 GMT

Once you understand your position within the marketplace in which you operate, set your rates objectively to maximize the value and the cash flow of your business. Use the following steps to eliminate the emotional turmoil often involved in setting your rates each year.

Step One:
Obtain a marketplace rate analyses for your state as shown in Figure 1. Obtain a table as shown in Figure 2 which indicates the variation in rates for each level of Woodall’s rated parks. This information tells you where the market leaders are, as well as the lowest rates in each peer group.

Step Two:
Using the table provided in Figure 3, which indicates the maximum site nights per year per site which are achievable in different latitudes, and an analyses of the occupancies in your own park, determine how much, if at all, you might reasonably expect to grow the number of nights on your existing sites.

Step Three:
Now that you know the rate structure in your marketplace, and your own park’s occupancy compared to your potential, use elements of the following principals to establish your rate objectives.

Because I am near or at the maximum site nights per year that is attainable, I am going to be one of the market leaders and set my rates well above my peer group.

Because I have substantial under-utilized capacity, I will stay at rates just above (or equal to) (or just below) my peer group.

In addition to the above, my park is located in a premium (or difficult to find or very rural location) and I should adjust my peer group rate upward (or downward) by about ten percent.

Because I am improving my park or adding a major amenity, I anticipate that my Woodall’s rating will increase and therefore will consider my peer group to be one level higher than it is now.

I am already one of the market leaders and have also reached my occupancy potential. I will continue to maintain rates at the top of my peer group.

If your site nights per year have not been increasing for several years and you are at or near the maximum occupancy range in Figure 3, you cannot expect to grow the number of customers very much. Occupancy levels that are at this level mean that you are turning a substantial number of customers away. In that situation, your rates should be well above the average of your peer group and you should be among the market leaders. If you have substantial ability to grow your customer base on your existing sites, having the highest rate in your market area would probably not be wise. There is very little reason to be the lowest rate in your peer group. You are offering a unique experience available only on your property. Your customers decision to visit your park is based on many things. For very few people, is the rate you charge the most important thing.

Step Four:
After understanding your marketplace and your own park’s occupancy potential, if your rates are in line with your new philosophy, raise rates annually in a fashion that is consistent with the rate increases occurring in the marketplace. Continue to monitor the marketplace rates and your own occupancies. If your rates are below where you believe they should be, raise your rates aggressively (ten to twenty percent per year) until you get to the level consistent with your marketplace and your philosophy. Again, continue to monitor what is occurring in the marketplace and your own occupancies. Setting rates based on the marketplace and your own occupancies, in accordance with the above steps, allows you to set a rate structure without emotion to maximize the revenue and cash flow of your business.

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