QUOTE(Parkview @ Oct 7 2007, 12:12 PM) [snapback]8568[/snapback] Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, as an RV Park owner, the key to making everyone happy has finally dawned on me after reading these posts. All I have to do is provide everything that everyone wants "Free", keep it clean, keep it quiet unless you want to party, cut all of the trees if you want an unobstructed view for your satellite dish, do not cut any trees if you like shade, allow campfires as long they don't smoke, and allow all discounts in addition to providing everything "Free". I will begin this policy immediately as soon as I can figure out how to pay my staff. I obviously don't need to make a profit, that would be gouging. As an RVer for 25 years before retiring and building an RV Park, I never understood these obvious truths until today, and I just couldn't wait to share my revelations with such an enlightened group. Seriously though, I do still enjoy RVing and operating an RV Park, and I think the vast majority of our customers enjoy coming here, even if if it is not Free. Thanks for the opportunity to opine. Doug Thanks for the smile, Parkview. It always amazes me how people want you to be there, provide outstanding service, but not charge anything! Hope you get enough sane people so that you can stay in business. I know that most park owners try really hard to please and do the most they can for the least amount of money-- but how you stay sane dealing with the public is a wonder in itself. Thanks again for being there for us
Hi and Thanks Bud, We do it because we enjoy it. I am retired from a previous career with a pretty good pension, so we don't need to take money out of the park to live on. We have a beautiful location which was not being utilized before I retired. As for the economics of building and operating an RV Park, we could not have even begun to think of building an RV Park here if we had to purchase the land. As I've said before in these posts, I have been an RVer a lot longer than I've been a park owner, and I have tried to encompass all the things that I always looked for in an RV Park. The number one thing that I learned since opening is that everyone has differnt tastes in what they like and expect in an RV Park. Try as we might, it is impossible to please everyone, so our philosphy is to please as many as we can within what we can afford and try to enjoy ourselves in the process. As far as staying sane while dealing with the public, I consider myself and our staff the public; simply treat others as you would like to be treated. Everyone smile and be . Doug
Here's my funny pay-shower story... It was our first family camping trip, and we were in a tent. I had never been to a private campground or seen pay showers. :huh: So the first morning I put in my quarter and went about showering. My 6 year old daughter was with me. I had just finished her and had shampoo in my hair when the hot water stopped... so I had her go out (of course the pay box was on the other side of the bathroom) and put in another quarter. The next day I thought, I'll be creative and put in 75 Cents at the start and get 9 minutes.... so after 3 minutes when the water shut off I realized my good idea was pretty stupid.... :blink: since I was alone and soapy from head to toe and I had no more quarters. Luckily within a couple minutes my 6 year old who was in the outer bathroom area popped her head in to see if I was almost done and I explained my predictament. I asked her to run back to the tent (3 sites away) and get another quarter. Nope she didn't want to go alone and would not cooperate. So here I am freezing and not sure to be mad at her or myself! A nice lady in the bathroom heard our conversation and gave my daughter a quarter! Thank goodness for nice strangers....that's the last time we did a private campground, but I'm sure I have more to look forward to in the future.
Pay showers just make people not want to come back. Who carries around change with them to go take a shower.
QUOTE We have just completed a long RV trip from Florid to Maine and back and I was astounded by the large number of pay showers we encountered in the North East. Seems to me that when you buy a site, the showers should be included. ...To me, having to feed in quarters to get a shower is offensive. I normally take a “Navy” shower in the coach and actually use the provided showers only when I want a nice long hot shower. Pay-as-you-go showers are all over the country and we are probably going to see more of them. Water is becoming a dear commodity in the United States and this is a situation that is likely to become more dire. It _is_ kind of insulting to pay a hefty fee for a place to park (_no_ hookups, whatsoever) and then have to pay a hefty fee for the proverbial spritz of hot water. I usually see this situation at government 'owned' campgrounds and I plan accordingly (plenty of rolls of quarters in the glove compartment). We don't have an _inside_ shower. We have an excellent _outside_ shower (and shower tent) for camping at more primitive sites. On balance, where it is not appropriate to use my outdoor shower, I'm kind of glad to pay a fee to be able to "enjoy" a shower, none-the-less.
WOW! :blink: I admit I'm new to the RVing scene, but pay showers! Give me a break. Now I own a Class A MH and i would never think about using the CG's showers, I mean, good golly, I paid good money to be able to shower in my coach for goodness sake. The beauty of aqua-hot is the endless supply of hot water. I know my son can rip off a 40 min. shower like no bodies business...
We don't even use campground showers but, as a matter of principle. I won't stay at a campground that charges for showers if I know about it in advance. Ditto with extra charges for 50 amps, cable tv, wi-fi, etc. etc. I am willing to pay the tariff for an overnight parking spot, but refuse to be nickled and dimed to death.
We feel the same way as Beastdriver over the nickel and dime crap. We do not use showers anyplace we travel to in our motorhome, one we have works well. We hate KOA's due to the base rate system them plus TV, WiFi, power, water, sewer, late fee, you come in before 6:30 pm, and so on. Some parks will ask you to pay everything they can get out of you.
My problem with pay showers is when a campground has relatively high nightly price, and then adds in the pay shower. I can better see the pay shower if the nightly fee is comparatively low. Especially campgrounds with full hookups and not a lot of tenting campers, most people are using their camper's showers, so why charge for showers? The State Parks around me have push-button showers, but they are free. They work great, AND the nightly fee is low.
Unfortunately, the amount of theft and vandalism in campground showers is astronomical. I'm sure you are not one of the offenders, but you happen to be paying for the few who decide to steal and recycle or use the fixtures found in campground showers.
We mainly use our HTT's shower when we have a full hook up site. When we do not stay in a full hook up site we will only bathe the kids in our shower. The DW and I will use the campgrounds showers. The pay showers we have encountered have all been 25 cents for 5 minutes. I'm usually good with a five minute shower (an advantage of going bald ) and DW will take about 10 minutes. So we don't mind spending $.75 - $1.50 a day for showers. Our State Parks have free push button showers. I guess if you are unsure if showers are free and you won't pay for them, you should just make a phone call to the CG and ask. One thing that makes our small shower easier is this RV Offset Shower Rod Why am I always putting my 2 cents in when it's only a penny for your thoughts?
Pay showers. While I do not like the idea, I do sympathize with the park owners. I have been camping since I before I can remember, and I remember a few times walking into the shower room, waiting forever for the shower to open because I hear running water, only to find out some schmuck left the water on and left! But having 5 kids, pay showers is a huge downfall for me, especially if there's an arcade on the premises! I could never pack enough quarters! lol Not to mention, it IS extremely frustrating when you don't know they charge for showers in advance! lol Howerver, for those of you who want everything included, please. I use very little of what you want. Wi-fi? Cable? etc. Isn't that the point of camping? Get away from it all! Seriously, if you want all that, why not stay at a hotel? I'm missing the point of it. Why should it be included in the site fee? I'll never use it. And I'd place to bet, most ppl in the CG don't use those things, with the exception of the seasonals/permanents. Maybe that's why I tend to use more mom/pop camgrounds rather than RV parks/resorts. Thats just me.
grim509, I can see that you have just joined this forum. So first of all welcome. There is a lot of good people and information here. Second, being new you would not know about the previous discussions about the differences between "campgrounds" and "RV parks" and why people prefer one type or the other. Briefly there are those who like to get away from it all (as you seem to want to do) and those who want to stay in touch while getting away. Neither type of person is right or wrong--just different from each other--and they both have the right to enjoy their prefered way of camping/RVing. When you have time you might enjoy looking up and reading some of those discussions. They were interesting and gave a lot of insight into the two philosophies.
QUOTE(Tankster @ Jan 3 2008, 05:19 PM) [snapback]9783[/snapback] Unfortunately, the amount of theft and vandalism in campground showers is astronomical. I'm sure you are not one of the offenders, but you happen to be paying for the few who decide to steal and recycle or use the fixtures found in campground showers. Hello and welcome aboard Tankster! B) Never occured to me that folks would heist the fixtures (are they after the copper?) or just damage campground bathrooms/showers deliberately. h34r: That is, until we spent time at a county park and got to know couple of the volunteer hosts. They lived in Idaho and hosted at Lake Skinner outside Temecula, California each winter. Lots of mischief/vandalism until they began locking the gates at 10pm. Kept the roving gangs of "looking-for-trouble" to a minimum. We rarely use the public showers anymore...did when we started camping: backpacking w/tents. Always had a sock full of quarters in my pack: washing machines and showers! :lol:
QUOTE(poconosdj @ Feb 26 2008, 08:35 AM) [snapback]10428[/snapback] We mainly use our HTT's shower when we have a full hook up site. When we do not stay in a full hook up site we will only bathe the kids in our shower. The DW and I will use the campgrounds showers. The pay showers we have encountered have all been 25 cents for 5 minutes. I'm usually good with a five minute shower (an advantage of going bald ) and DW will take about 10 minutes. So we don't mind spending $.75 - $1.50 a day for showers. Our State Parks have free push button showers. I guess if you are unsure if showers are free and you won't pay for them, you should just make a phone call to the CG and ask. One thing that makes our small shower easier is this RV Offset Shower Rod Why am I always putting my 2 cents in when it's only a penny for your thoughts? Hello Poconosdj and welcome aboard! Great link for the shower rod. Could have used that with our Class C. Current rig is (thankfully) roomier. One thing to 'rough it' for couple weeks camping...quite another to live this way fulltime. Cheers!
QUOTE(poconosdj @ Feb 26 2008, 11:35 AM) [snapback]10428[/snapback] RV Offset Shower Rod These are much cheaper, you can move them to your next camper, or put them in any shower (I put one in my camper and one in my house) http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(c21crx55...KU=4293312&
QUOTE(mogulman @ Oct 14 2007, 03:50 PM) [snapback]8660[/snapback] Who carries around change with them to go take a shower. I do because I know ahead of time they have pay showers.
I feel pay showers are an insult. Who do the campground owners think they're fooling? It's not to stop water abuse, or any other made up reason. It's greed, plain and simple. Every business has an overhead and the overhead is worked into the fee. For example; just like all of the businesses that are adding in a "fuel surcharge" on their invoices to justify the increased fuel costs. I'm sorry, but if it is costing more money to buy the fuel to run your business, then adjust your fees to cover that. Then I will decide whether or not to use your service. Do not try to blindside me with an after the fact fee! Well the same goes for pay showers! If a campground owner needs to charge for the increased water usage/heating/sewage, etc. then work that into the campground's site fees and I'll decide whether or not to stay there. Don't slap us with a surprise when our britches are down (literally). Have some respect... for us and yourselves! What's next, charging us for inviting a friend to visit us in our traveling home?! Oh yeah, your already doing that!!
QUOTE(drmcleod @ Jul 18 2008, 03:58 PM) [snapback]12322[/snapback] I feel pay showers are an insult. Who do the campground owners think they're fooling? It's not to stop water abuse, or any other made up reason. It's greed, plain and simple. Every business has an overhead and the overhead is worked into the fee. For example; just like all of the businesses that are adding in a "fuel surcharge" on their invoices to justify the increased fuel costs. I'm sorry, but if it is costing more money to buy the fuel to run your business, then adjust your fees to cover that. Then I will decide whether or not to use your service. Do not try to blindside me with an after the fact fee! Well the same goes for pay showers! If a campground owner needs to charge for the increased water usage/heating/sewage, etc. then work that into the campground's site fees and I'll decide whether or not to stay there. Don't slap us with a surprise when our britches are down (literally). Have some respect... for us and yourselves! What's next, charging us for inviting a friend to visit us in our traveling home?! Oh yeah, your already doing that!! When I used to do business travel a lot, and stayed in hotels, I noticed that (and no offense to anyone on here from Pakistan, it's just what I noticed!!!) if the hotel owner was from Pakistan, you practically got charged for each toilet flush! JJ
