Camp Ground Owners' Response To Review

I could do without the price rate box, but to some it gives them decision info. For planned stops, I like calling to ask if they have a vacancy, can my coach get around, how the utilities and wifi are working...TODAY. We do make instantaneous decisions when broke down, for weather, tired, no net service or ???, but feel lucky someone is there and can just pull in if the unexpected happens...cost is not a high priority under those conditions.
I very seldom mention in a rating, personal and beyond the owners control issues. Most park owners didn't know future campers and tow/trailers would be 45'+ long, weigh 50,000#+, need TWO~50A, 120V power legs and slides that double the width of the RV.
We recently stayed at a park under development...3 years in the making. The owner explained his present accomplishments and future ideas...Today it's 35 FHU sites developed out of his pocket next door to his home on a major highway with his farm land on the other 3 sides. Everything underground including future necessities is over spec'd, roads/base are heavy haul, all pull thu sites, all gravel and instantaneous wifi. NO bathrooms or really any other facilities. Now that the campers have packed his roads and sites, he's ready to start installing level concrete pads and asphalt roads. At $17 per night, he's paid back his investment and has covered his phase 2 material. He'll increase his prices to $23 after phase 2 and $32 after the final phase (most typical park facilities/amenities). He has considered 140 sites max, but has a start that has drawn satisfactory reviews, labeling the park as an overnight stay. He feels his return customers will make this successful because he started so simple.

 

I go on one site that owners can respond and it is interesting. One campground thanks people for good reviews and explains things of bad reviews. One bad review they asked the reviewer to call them as if they really had the issues they claimed, they would refund their money. The review disappeared after a week or two. Another site lets anyone comment on a review which can be interesting.

I find a lot of times the rating does not match the write up, great place etc etc but the get a 1,2 or 3 for various reasons. As someone else said, the weather. Other good ones are our friends had to pay a visitors fee (have yet to see a campground that did not charge), neighbors were noisy, had to pay 25 cents to shower so the next guy can have hot water as well and on and on.

Talking to an owner, they usually know who posted the negative review because something happened during their stay which the owner knew about. One that I remember, they told my 12 year old that could not go in the adult only hot tub.

Anyway love to read the reviews and if improvements are made, should be good. I remember the days when they would post on the site, going camping, no new reviews will be posted for a week or so...

 

I think it would be a great idea to have a thread where campground owners can respond to complaints and criticism's of their business. Maybe they made upgrades, or plan to, since the review or they made a change of personnel or what ever, they should have a chance to set the record straight from their perspective.

 

QUOTE(vincee @ Jul 12 2014, 11:43 AM) [snapback]37241[/snapback]

I think it would be a great idea to have a thread where campground owners can respond to complaints and criticism's of their business. Maybe they made upgrades, or plan to, since the review or they made a change of personnel or what ever, they should have a chance to set the record straight from their perspective.




A completely updated site will be introduced soon, and we are working on a way to allow this.

 

Looking forward to the upgrades/changes!

 

Yes there is.......These cheap XXX steal it

 

Welcome to the forum! Please note that you're replying to a 2 year old thread...

 

Thank you for the welcome.

As you maybe have noticed, I do not say much

 

I just read something this morning out of a 2,000 year old book and it still has good meaning.

 

I am on board with you re: exaggeration. My park is tucked in next to Consrvation woods, and on the way to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. And that means we are in the boonies somewhat. There are few cell towers allowed, and television satellite is limited. We are very shady with mature trees and lots of green grass. And no we are not on the interstate. But...overnighters complain about lack of cell service and tv...and trees...and bats flying...oh my. That's the beauty of this area. Personally when I was an RV'er I always traveled with my personal Verizon Jet Pac and my own satellite system. Positive comments about my park far outweight the negatives. So when someone says, we couldn't get TV reception or Wi-Fi because of the trees they are stating a face, but most campers come here tor the enjoyment of the out of doors. I wish I did have a way to correspond back with campers. When they say there were weeds that stuck to their shoes which made their camper dirty it makes me wonder why they are C-A-M-P-I-N-G?

 

If a park list an amenity and then can't or won't deliver, then expect a poor rating. I have rated parks with zero amenities other than a place to park very high because they delivered what was advertised.

It sounds to me that Pheasant Acres is not advertising the comforts that some folks were complain about. They should post a rebuttal.

Darrell

 

I realize this is an old thread but wanted to stick my penny's worth in at this time. I agree with BC Wanderer above, if a park lists an amenity, then provide that amenity! Don't advertise that you have wi-fi throughout the park when in reality you can barely get on even at the office strong point. Don't advertise that your park can handle "big rigs" when in reality it can't. Don't tell us you have full hookups when in reality half of them don't work correctly and the other half are run down and not convenient to hook up to, etc. Don't post rules if you aren't going to enforce them.....for EVERYONE! And above all don't advertise yourself as a "Resort" when in reality your park is nothing more than a trailer park full of run down raggedy looking units with trash strewn about everywhere around them. When we travel all we expect is a true statement about the park we are contemplating staying at. It's a real PITA to arrive at a park you've driven 6 or 7 hours to get to, have reservations, and then pull in only to find the place is dump and nothing like what the advertising says it is. And yes this has happened to us on occasion so we speak from experience on this subject. Nobody like to be mislead and that doesn't have to happen if a park owner will simply tell it like it is and not try to stretch the truth way beyond the breaking point. A few park owners will no doubt take me to task for saying all this but hey, take your best shot because you would no doubt be the ones who are guilty of what I've just been saying...............

Happy Travels, BankShot...........(aka Terry)

 

Thankfully for us we have found that the greater majority of parks and campgrounds we've stayed at to date far outnumber the ones that I mentioned in my prior post. The good thing is that by now we have weeded out those parks that aren't being honest about their facilities and simply don't pay them a second visit. I guess like anything else in life one has to take the bad with the good and just move on as the next park down the road always seems to make up for the bad one we just departed and that left us feeling cheated. It's all good, as soon as we settle in and unscrew the cap on a bottle of Two and a half Buck Chuck and break out our brand new flex straws...............

BankShot............(aka Terry)

 

I find many park owners have an understandably hard time differentiating between a review and a complaint.

A negative review is not a complaint, it is one person's experience, posted for the benefit of the community. Obviously, if it's an outlier, we as customers can see that. But to sugar coat our experience just because it may have been an exception is a detriment to the community.

The very best way to counter a negative review is not by posting a written response-- often perceived as defensiveness-- but instead to make sure your business is on top of it's game so that future reviews are positive.

I can imagine it's hard to read a negative review as a business owner but it can be used as an excellent opportunity for improvement, if taken seriously.

Thanks for all you do-- I have appreciation for all park owners, even the ones who struggle to meet my expectations.

Best,
Al

 

Since I love camping, it is difficult for me to write a poor review. I personally know in real life a campground owner near where I live, and know it is a difficult, but rewarding career.

However, even if things are below expectations at the campground when I arrive, I can still make a go of it IF staff and owners have a courteous reply and seek to make things right.

One of the worst campgrounds received a poor review because not only were the grounds in shambles and bathrooms filthy, the staff stuck around in the store (which was weirdly across the street) and chose not to address any of the issues nor did we see any staff actually working the entire time we were there.

As the RV market continues to expand with more and more folks out on the road, this may seem to fare well for those few campgrounds which are complete dumps and none of the money goes back into the campground. However, a well-run campground would do the opposite. It's time to really take things up a notch and attract all of the newbies and get them to be repeat customers. You don't want to be the campground that sits 1/3 full during peak season because your place is filthy and dated and your staff is rude and lazy and folks would rather be on the waiting list at the campground that is awesome than stay at your's.

 

Well said by both RV_CamperGuy and hopefulone. I know it's not an easy job running/owning an RV park and having to put up with all the very different types of RVers. We've seen a few of them literally stand at the check in counter and unload on some poor guy or gal just doing their job, about something as silly as a single pile of dog poop in their site. Like they couldn't grab stick or a bag and get rid of it themselves? Why come unglued over small "crap" like that. There's a way to "talk: to people on either side of the counter and unfortunately there are those on both sides that haven't figured that out yet. The old saying "you get more bees with honey" is true most of the time and yet sometimes even with some people you end up getting a "bear" by offering honey. Like I've stated in a few posts along the way, we've managed to weed out those parks on our various trips that fall into the sub 5 ratings and aren't running into any bears anymore for the most part. On occasion we will run across an employee who needs a tad more training on how to talk to people on the other side of the counter but hey, that happens in all businesses and we just roll with it, try not to let it bother us and go back to our RV, pop open a fresh jug of Meadow Vista Red and get out the flex straws............

Here's to more bees along the way, BankShot............(aka Terry)

 

We have actually had quite a few park owners respond to negative reviews, and most have done so very professionally, not appearing to be defensive but rather accepting the negative comments as being constructive, apologizing that the park did not meet the needs of the reviewer, and sometimes providing an explanation for why there was a problem. Many park owners have expressed that they were sorry they were not made aware of the problem and would have done something about it if they had known. Some have even apologized for bad weather even though they could do anything about that. They have also thanked reviewers for pointing out a problem that could be fixed and said they would take care of it. This type of response shows that the park owners care about their business and the welfare and satisfaction of their guests and that they want to maintain and improve their parks in the best way possible. We hope all our registered park owners will respond to both their good and negative reviews in the same manner.