I hate to admit this, but we frequently ask for a lower rate (my wife of course) and frequently get it. This happens when the park is nowhere near full. She will say, if we don't stay tonight, that spot will probalby remain empty and you will get nothing at all for it. We used to be inthelodging business and I know that this used to work on us. I feel pretty bad doing it, but I like the discounts. Our style is to not make reservations until the afternoon as we don't know where we will be for the night. If it is going to be a busy weekend, we don't follow this tactic. We recently did a Maine to Florida 3 month round trip and I we rarely ever stayed in a full campground. We are usually very low impact campers anyway.
I don't mean to be insulting, but I think your actions are niggardly and cheap. Every merchant in the world has set a price based on what he or thinks is a reasonable profit, and people like you are very frustrating. I would tell you to get packing if you didn't want to pay the rate, and quit wasting my time.
I don't guess that it is so much different than trying to get a 25% discount on a new MH. What was it Old Ben had to say about a penny saved?
This really doesn't sound much different than going into a large retail store or a car dealership or even an RV dealer and asking if this is their best price or if they will match the price of the same item in the store down the street. Many retailers will discount items in order to get your business (this is sometimes called a"sale"), but I am equally sure they do not go below an amount that would not give them some profit or they wouldn't still be in business. Besides when you mention your Good Sam membership aren't you asking for a cheaper price? I also think whether this is proper or not depends a lot on how you approach the campground owner. If you are polite and simply inquire if there might be a better rate or a discount then the owner can decide if he wants to lower his rate. On the other hand if you go in with the attitude that the prices are way out of line and demand a lower price then the owner probably should kick you out.
When we were in business before retiring, we routinely had people asking for a discount. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn’t depending on the situation. In a campground, a site is a perishable product. If you don’t sell it today, it is lost money. Not like a pair of shoes that you can sell the next day if you don’t sell it today. I believe that their expenses are fixed like mortgage, insurance, upkeep, labor, ETC and variable like, water, electricity, ETC. If they have a lot of sites open and you both know they won’t be full that night, getting 2/3’s or so of the normal rate is much better than getting nothing. You will be defraying the fixed expenses and not really adding too much to the variable. We of course don’t run around the campground saying, “I got them down to only $15 Yippee.” I think the campground owners generally realize this and they will usually take less. For the first 6 months of our marriage, I tried to wear the pants, but it didn’t work out.
Sorry, but I am with Beastdriver on this issue. An RV park is a service industry, not a retail outlet, such as a car dealership. Definitely apples and oranges. I am sure you don't go into a restaurant and try to negotiate a lower price on the daily special with the thought in mind that they may have to throw away some food at the end of the day. Lindsey, you had a B&B with 4 rooms for rent at a rate of between $140 and $190 per night per room, according to the website. You also lived in the house, so your expenses other than food were barely impacted by having the rooms rented or not rented. An RV park would have to rent 25 sites per day to make what you could make in a day, and I'll bet your expenses were minimal compared to an RV park. If I were an RV park offering the normal discounts, I am afraid that if you asked for more, the next move your vehicle made would be entering the highway at the end of my drive. I have full-timed for 4 years and never once asked for an undisclosed discount.
I've never asked for a discount that wasn't offered. But, if I were to stay at a campground that I thought was really over priced, I probably would ask for one now after reading this topic. I know there is one campground the Jellystone Park in Williamsport, MD where I definitely would ask for a cheaper rate if I would ever decide to go there...they charge you a base rate for your campsite and then charge you 7 dollars per night per person for the first three days to cover costs for their new waterpark, of which I wouldn't use and it also covers the mini golf and go-carts neither of which I'd use...I think that charge is ridiculous...give the people wrist bands who want to use that stuff and charge them for it and they shouldn't shove it down the throats of people who don't want it.
Hi, I don't have much jam when it comes to asking for a reduced rated. What do you do? Ask the price and then say "is that the best rate you can offer me?"
How many people who belong to organizations like Good Sams, Passport, FMCA, or the like would not ask for the discount even tho the campground may not publically advertise it? The same goes for a senior discount at any type business. How is that different from Lindsay’s issue? The campground is still taking less for the site. If you live in the preverbal glass house, don’t throw rocks. Has anyone noticed lately that a lot of campgrounds require a two-day stay over a weekend? That would be the reverse of a discount. If you don’t ask the discount question, the answer is automatically no. Either way, it’s a personal choice and the final answer rests with the merchant. Getting the most for the least is called free enterprise. It’s worked in this country for a very long time.
True. RV parks aren't quite the same as retail stores and that may be comparing apples and oranges. So how about hotels? Are they more like RV parks? At either place you are paying for overnight accommodations. And I think that there are many times when people make a hotel room reservation that they say "Is that your best rate?" or something similar like "Is there a weekly rate or a package deal?" If you ever listen to the Today Show (or any of the other morning programs) their travel and financial advisors are always telling you to ask about better rates when booking hotels, flights, tours, cruises, etc. They say these rates are out there, but you have to ask about them in order to get them. I still do not think there is anything wrong with asking if there is a better rate. The owner can always say no. All that said I do not make a habit of asking RV parks for a lower rate. I almost always pay the stated price without word one. If I do ask if there is a lower rate I never try to argue them down by telling them that their rates are ridiculous or too high for what you get, etc. If they say "No," then I say, "Thank you, thought I'd ask just in case." So I emphasize again that the attitude with which this is done makes a huge difference.
Gracie I wish those prices you quoted were correct. Actual was much lower than that and average was about $115. About 75% of B and B’s don’t even break even. We did a little better, but it was surely not the money maker most people think. The free living was mainly what it provided. If we had openings, we almost always accepted a lower offer. I too have questions about asking for a better rate and that’s why I started this thread. I have discussed this with many campground owners and they pretty much accept or offer a lower rate if the circumstances suggested it. Campgrounds have a much lower per site variable rate than a B&B and fixed cost are the big thing there. (according to the ones I have talked to). They give discounts for Good Sam, Passport America, ETC to get in additional business and most of that additional business goes straight to the bottom line once the mortgage, taxes, ETC have been paid. Electric in a hot state like Florida is about $3.00 per day and frequently we don’t even hook up water and sewage. That was the way I would look at it is do take the ½ price, with about all of it going to the bottom line or take nothing. I would also pay cash which all small business’s like. Arguing down a price certainly isn’t acceptable in my opinion. I have been on the wrong side of that too many times. We just ask and then stay or leave. From their side, depends on how much they need the revenue, if they think they can fill it without us for that night, and other factors. For us it depends on how long we have been dry camping, levels of my tanks, how tired we are, and the main deciding factor is what the Boss wants to do.
I have never asked for a discount mainly because i know how these things can grow. If I get this discount and the guy behind me then says, hey what about me and goes out and tells his brother in his RV that he got the discount, and next week he reserves for his site and six of his best friends now expecting the discount that he got last week and so on. I was in the store of one park during a busy check-in and there was a woman arguing that the site wasn't was she expected, she needed two boards to level the trailer, it wasn't wooded enough and it was too close to her neighbors. When the park offered to move her to another site, she said no, she's keep the one she was on but wanted some money off. To me, that just opens the door for everybody that camps to find a problem to reduce their price, however, she admitted all was well because she was willing to stay put for money off. Some people will try anything to save a buck. Once there was a woman that wanted a 30 amp site, the park didn't have one available, so ofcourse she wanted money off the 20 amp site because it wasn't what she really wanted. The park called a neighboring park to find her a 30 amp site, the woman didn't want it she stayed in the park later we sat with her at a campfire, I asked her why she didn't take up the offer of the other park she told us she didn't really need the 30 cause she had a pop-up, only wanted to pay less for her site. She said the other park didn't have as much to do as this one did and she really enjoyed camping there. Nice way to thank the park for their efforts! She wanted to pay less for more.......
QUOTE(dmsscs @ Aug 20 2007, 01:22 AM) [snapback]8032[/snapback] I have never asked for a discount mainly because i know how these things can grow. If I get this discount and the guy behind me then says, hey what about me and goes out and tells his brother in his RV that he got the discount, and next week he reserves for his site and six of his best friends now expecting the discount that he got last week and so on. I was in the store of one park during a busy check-in and there was a woman arguing that the site wasn't was she expected, she needed two boards to level the trailer, it wasn't wooded enough and it was too close to her neighbors. When the park offered to move her to another site, she said no, she's keep the one she was on but wanted some money off. To me, that just opens the door for everybody that camps to find a problem to reduce their price, however, she admitted all was well because she was willing to stay put for money off. Some people will try anything to save a buck. Once there was a woman that wanted a 30 amp site, the park didn't have one available, so ofcourse she wanted money off the 20 amp site because it wasn't what she really wanted. The park called a neighboring park to find her a 30 amp site, the woman didn't want it she stayed in the park later we sat with her at a campfire, I asked her why she didn't take up the offer of the other park she told us she didn't really need the 30 cause she had a pop-up, only wanted to pay less for her site. She said the other park didn't have as much to do as this one did and she really enjoyed camping there. Nice way to thank the park for their efforts! She wanted to pay less for more....... Didn't happen to catch what state she was from, did ya?
QUOTE(gilda @ Aug 20 2007, 05:07 PM) [snapback]8041[/snapback] I just have to put my 2c worth in here. I have managed parks in the past. I would find it extremely arrogant if someone asked for a better price. Would you go into a restaurant and ask to pay less on a sandwich ? Do you ask at Walmart if they can do better on their price ? If I was asked this at an rv park, I would probably search for an extra charge that I could impose. Actually, someone did ask once. I laughed and said...You're kidding, right ? Would you also think people are arrogant if they ask if any specials or discounts are available? After all, isn't that the same as asking for a better price?
QUOTE(gilda @ Aug 21 2007, 11:34 AM) [snapback]8050[/snapback] Of course not. We don't wait for someone to ask what discounts we accept. We ask at check in or over the phone if they belong to ......Good Sam, AAA, Passport America, etc..... There is a big difference, and I'm certain that you must know that. Sorry, I don't see any difference...both requests want to lower the price they want to pay. I've been to tons of campgrounds who offer specials that I did not know about until I checked in. Hotels essentially work the same way...they have standard and off the rack rates and then they have specials and such.
