August 2008 Newsletter

1. Article: The Truth About RV Park Amenities
2. RV Parks and Campgrounds For Sale
3. Comments
4. Featured Listings
5. RV Park and Campground Memberships For Sale
6. RV Park Employment
7. Links to some interesting articles we have found this month.
8. Tell us what you think and send us your articles!

THE TRUTH ABOUT RV PARK AMENITIES By: Frank Rolfe 

Benjamin Franklin once said “it is not the cost of the fireplace, but the cost to keep it in wood”. Franklin was never much of an RV player, but his suggestion is worth considering for all RV park owners concerning amenities. Owners should consider not only the cost to build the amenity, but also the cost to keep it up. Often the cost to keep it up is far more, in the long run, than the cost to build it. That’s why it is very important to make sure that any amenity you build is worth the money.

Clubhouse/Office/Store

In any RV park, it’s nice to have a respectable place for customers to check in. It can be no more than a portable building or a mobile home. Hopefully, it has a little class, even if only provided by the landscaping. I think that most folks would agree that the office is an important amenity and probably worth the cost. The biggest killer here is the cost of utilities. But if you keep the thermostat set responsibly, the monthly cost will only be about $200 in power, and the general enhancement in the appearance of your RV Park is worth more than that. 

As long as you have a little office, it wouldn’t hurt to have a store. Sell the products that an RV customer might need, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste and Kleenex and the like. At least this helps pay for the cost of the office. If you only net $200 per month on your store profit (price you sell them for minus cost of goods), that still means it paid for the monthly power cost of your office. So I think everyone would agree that a store is a good idea. 

Next is the clubhouse. Some RV park owners have built these large clubhouses where their customers can hang out. It has a TV, game tables, vending machines and even arcade games. The problem with this amenity is that it costs a lot to upkeep, yet brings in very little revenue. Sure, you might make $5 here and there on the pinball machine, if you even own it, but you will hemorrhage any cash you make in huge utility bills, cleaning costs and insurance. I would think really, really hard before going down this road. Look at how few people use clubhouses at other RV parks, usually on a small percentage of the total population. Is that worth the expense to build and operate one? I doubt it. 

Since many RV users have a definite need for laundry services, this amenity helps to keep your customers satisfied. Make certain not to “overbuild” your laundry room. You want to keep those machines running all the time. Otherwise, you will have wasted money by building too big a room, and reduced your income by stocking too many machines. If you enter into a contract with a laundry machine company, your best case scenario is to break even on the cost of the utilities to run the washers and dryers – but that’s still alright, as long as it is paying for itself. This is another amenity that costs little to upkeep, and pays a big dividend in happy customers.

Of all the amenities in existence, this one holds the record for high operating cost.  In fact, it can be a real man-eater. To build an in-ground commercial pool (about 20’ x 40’ in size) will cost about $50,000. That’s a lot.  Worse still are the operating expenses on the pool. You will have constant bills for 1) chlorine 2) ph balancers 3) other chemicals 4) labor to clean the pool 5) electricity to run the pump 6) lifeguard (if applicable) 7) insurance 8) property tax (yes, the tax assessor will raise your taxes) 9) the cost of repairing/replacing leaks and decking problems. That does not count wear and tear on the pool fence, the pool furniture, and random acts of violence (like people throwing all of the furniture in the pool). You’ll also have to pay to winterize it and re-open it in the summer. 

Why would you burden yourself with all these costs?  A pool is often a very important amenity, at least mentally. It looks cool to have a pool in your RV Park, especially if it’s located at the entry for all to see. The truth is that only a small percentage of your guests will ever use it. The rest simply admire it. If you have to have a pool, build it to the absolute minimum specs in size and depth, and restrict the hours to the bare-bones minimum. That way you can have the appearance of the pool without the huge operating expense.  Few people will ever complain, since only a small percentage ever actually uses it. 

Games

Many RV park owners have built sports and games infrastructure to amuse their visitors. Some, such as shuffleboard, are very low maintenance.  Basically a concrete strip with some lines painted on it.  Horseshoe pits, volleyball nets, things that require very little attention, other than to make sure that the pieces themselves do not get lost. These kinds of amenities cost little to build, are easy to install, last for years, and offer the visitor something fun to do with their friends and family. Most of them are well worth the price, although their total usage will always be lower than you would think.  You get a good return on the low dollar you spend as far as appearing to offer something unique. 

The next level up from these is basketball courts or tennis courts – anything that requires a large concrete slab. Building these types of amenities is very costly.  The on-going maintenance can be equally expensive. The cost to repair broken concrete, replace or repair nets and fences, paint rusting poles.  I would personally never build a basketball or tennis court, because it is a huge capital outlay that is rarely appreciated, and can cause a lot of on-going repair woes. 

At the highest end of the pyramid are elaborate miniature golf courses. While these look really cool from the street, they are expensive to build and time consuming to maintain properly. I have never talked to an RV park owner who was happy with his mini-golf course. It was a constant source of labor, just try and keep all that carpet free of debris, and the windmills and such break all the time. Plus, you have to keep track of balls and putters and buy pencils and scorecards. Better to leave this business to the local Putt-Putt.

If your RV Park caters to families with children, you may be considering building a playground. If this is the case, be sure to understand what you are getting yourself into. To build a proper playground, you need a safe “fall zone”. This is an area under the equipment that cushions a kid falling off your equipment. Typical fall zones are shredded tires, or wood chips, or pea gravel. They are a lot harder and more expensive to build than they look! Make sure to price this into your estimate of playground cost. 

As for the equipment, be sure to make sensible choices as far as maintenance and liability. It is really easy, for example, to get seriously injured in a merry-go-round. You have a big, spinning, metal object with a lot of force on it. If a kid gets their head or hand under the device, you could have a catastrophic accident. And the very concept of something designed to throw a kid off is a bad idea. Similarly, jungle gyms are chock full of liability, the whole concept is testing how far a kid can go before they fall off. 

The safer choices would appear to be swing sets (make sure they are in good working order at all times) and slides. Make sure that neither is very tall. Tire swings can also be fun without too much danger. There are hundreds of pieces of playground equipment in catalogs, so just be thinking liability and maintenance when you look through. 

Are playgrounds worth the money? Not if you do not have a lot of kids in the RV Park.  If you do, they do get pretty regular use. Most of the maintenance required on them you can do yourself which helps save on money. It is imperative that you keep them in good condition. If you don’t have the ability to keep them freshly painted and in good working order, then you should remove them. They look horrible as a bunch of rusted poles, and the liability is quite high. 

Picnic Tables

Here’s one amenity that is cheap to install, lasts forever, and requires little maintenance. Stay away from the wooden ones, if you can, and splurge on metal or concrete. Otherwise you will have splinter problems and the wood will discolor or require constant painting. Even if they don’t get a lot of use, they look inviting, and have about zero liability risk. You can find all different styles and prices on the internet.

Other

You may have other ideas than what is presented here. If so, always remember to think about more than the cost of building it.  Think about what it will take to keep it in good shape.  Also, if the cost is justified by the actual use it will receive.  Money you waste on unused amenities could have been used on better marketing or landscaping or some more productive return on your capital.

Conclusion

The RV park business is competitive. You must offer amenities to your customers, or risk them finding someplace else that does. The key to amenities is to make sure that you are budgeting realistically for the on-going maintenance, as well as the initial cost, and that you make good choices as far as items people really want and use. Remember another of Benjamin Franklin’s sayings “a penny saved is a penny earned”. Franklin should have been in the RV business!

8-13-08

Diane,

Thank you,

Carol and Skip

RV Park and Campground Memberships For Sale:

This section of RVParkStore.com is growing quickly.  Memberships are being listed and sold quickly.  With about 200 memberships currently for sale, this continues to be the prime outlet to buy and sell campground memberships. 

Best of all, when you are selling your membership, we do not charge you up front to do so.  You only pay us if you are successful in finding a buyer from RVParkStore.com. 

Find out more about Selling your Campground or RV Park Membership

8-28-08

Just a reminder that we sold our membership almost right away.  It did take a while to get the paperwork through to complete the transfer but we were so happy with the service you render.  When I had questions, Dave responded right away.  What a nice experience this was.  We also met the couple who bought it as they came to Washington State from Oregon to check it all out and be sure it was all legit.

Thanks for what you do.  We are worry free now.

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