Hello campground owners. I have a question. We frequently camp in Florida in the winter and try and use our PassportAmerica (PA) membership as often as we can. Many campgrounds in Florida do not offer PA rates in the winter, but they often have empty sites.The same with campgrounds up north in the summer. If you are affiliated with PA, it would seem to me that rather than have an empty site, you could generate income for your campground by offering PA members a site if available. Your comments are appreciated.
As an owner operator I have the authority go outside my policies, and sometimes do. I also give that authority to my employees , however they do not always feel comfortable giving unauthorized discounts. My guess would be that you are dealing with someone who doesn't have or doesn't feel they have the authority to go outside the box. You can always ask, the worst they can do is say no.
It is not that simple. If you give a discount to one person, you really need to offer it to everyone. Word will quickly get around that you offered a deal to someone that wasn't available to everyone else. That is an easy way to have a bunch of unhappy campers. As for Passport America, we do not participate because we feel it would not be profitable. If We got three additional guests by offering that discount, but had 4 guests in the park who would have paid full price, but instead opted for the Passport discount, we lose revenue as well as incur costs for those three additional guests. Often, it is the plan of a park to be less than full. Staffing is lower, maintenance can be performed and expenses are lower during periods of lower occupancy. Plus pricing seldom draws more business. My parks are in the Mountain West. No matter what the price, we wouldn't draw additional guests in late April or early May, they just aren't out there. Also, to many people, the Passport affiliation is indicative of a park that is either off the beaten path, less desirable than other parks or has their normal prices inflated to allow for the discount. It just doesn't fit into our marketing image.
Nicely stated. Having tried PA several times that's our sense of it. The parks are never quite where we want them to be, nor are they usually the nicest parks in an area.
Using RVPR as our primary guide as usual, we've found PA parks to be pretty much the same as other parks, some good, some not so good. The better ones generally seem to be in non-destination areas, or where PA is used to fill sites in the off season. Over the years, we've found some very nice parks that we continue to visit outside of their PA dates or even when they've dropped PA completely. We're not "resort class" RV'ers though, so I'm sure that reflects in our tastes in parks.
As a camper at the Red Oaks in Bushnell the PA rate was good for 7 days last year. This year park as changed hands and new policy for now is unknown Call'em up if interested 352 793 7117
