Another Point of View. A personal Rant.

[Just Dallas]

Removed

[wal1809]

I guess we can figure out what has been going on in Franklin;)

[DaveG]

Your points all seem valid...in case you need validation (which we all know you don't!).

[bubbaqgal]

I just had someone complain that he had trouble getting his 5th wheel in the spot Bryan and his family had.  I told the man that I had just had a bus there and he said that buses are easy to park.  He also told me that he should have been given a pull through and anyone with a motor home and towed should have to unhook and use a back in spot. We even have people with Class C's demand a pull through because they can't back in a spot.    I understand that people, even us, don't want to pay a lot for camping but there is more overhead than many people realize, not the least of which is insurance to cover incidents that can happen.  There is electric, taxes, land payment, upkeep, water, wifi, not to mention either a manger or camp host. Camp hosts don't get paid but they are taking a spot that could bring in $27.00 (in the case of our CG) every night and that spot would bring in almost $10,000 a year.  Generally we get some nice people here but sometimes we get some that want to argue about the spot, the cost, the wind, the rain and other things that we have no control over.  I never thought about any of this until we took this job but now I realize there really are two sides to camping.

[MattC]

No mention of Circuit breakers, Sigh!   =P

[bubbaqgal]

Matt, I still don't know why you and Liz think you need electricity. 

[MattC]

Matt, I still don't know why you and Liz think you need electricity. 

One Word ....   TV

[Melbo]

When people show up with an attitude and confrontational argumentative approach at check in or or check out time don't you treat them REALLY REALLY nice and offer a discount or free nite at no charge or invite them to dinner???

I mean people like that are such a pleasure to be around I would think you would want them to stay a really long time and even ask them to give you advice on how to run your campground.

Now that I have taken my tongue out of my cheek -- maybe that is the reason those people live in a camper or motorhome because they have to leave REALLY REALLY often because they wear out their welcome REALLY REALLY quickly.

Just a thought.

Melbo

[Dreamscape]

We have been full timers for just over one year. Have seen all kinds of people, as there are lots of stars! Some just don't care, but the majority I have seen here do.

Most of the spots here are taken by guys who work in the wind farm field, lots of them going up around here. They keep up their outside areas pretty clean for the most part, you do see a few who don't.

We've even had the owner/manager state he's had a few pull in, then leave the next day without paying. He just doesn't get too excited about it.

We have 100' pull thrus so backing in is not an issue. Some folk just want to go forward because they can't back up a lawnmower. They don't want to show the world how bad they are as they attempt it.

Some are grumpy, others are very pleasant. You will get all kinds. Just go to a any eating establishment, some leave a mess, others stack the plates for the server.

The people who park don't care what your expenses are, they feel they are paying too much no matter what. Take the good with the bad and leave the light on!

[belfert]

land payment, upkeep, water, wifi, not to mention either a manger or camp host. Camp hosts don't get paid but they are taking a spot that could bring in $27.00 (in the case of our CG) every night and that spot would bring in almost $10,000 a year.  Generally we get

The camp host costing $10,000 a year I would question.  First, is your campground full 7 days a week year round?  Second, if you are full all the time aren't some of those sites paid at a lower weekly or monthly rate?

The Texas market is certainly different , but I know here in Minnesota the camping season is pretty short and campgrounds are only going to be fairly full during the week for maybe 6 to 10 weeks a year.  The rest of the time they are busy only on the weekends especially when school is in session.

I don't envy you workng at a campground.  Picking up after slobs sucks.

[belfert]

I boondock 100% of the time.  Other than tire tracks and foot prints you'll never know we were there.  We pick up everything.

One year our utility trailer looked like a Chinese junk as we had it heaped high with trash bags when we left.  Luckily we found a dumpster we could use before we hit the highway.  Last year we towed an enclosed trailer and every bit of empty space on the way out was packed with trash bags.  We put the trash in a dumpster at a truck parking area along I80.

(The guys I travel with sure like to generate trash.  I have never seen a group create so much trash in 4 days.)

[bubbaqgal]

land payment, upkeep, water, wifi, not to mention either a manger or camp host. Camp hosts don't get paid but they are taking a spot that could bring in $27.00 (in the case of our CG) every night and that spot would bring in almost $10,000 a year.  Generally we get

The camp host costing $10,000 a year I would question.  First, is your campground full 7 days a week year round?  Second, if you are full all the time aren't some of those sites paid at a lower weekly or monthly rate?

I don't envy you workng at a campground.  Picking up after slobs sucks.

If you figure $27.00 a night for a rental spot and it is occupied by a camp host so you can't rent it out it adds up to close to $10,000 a year.  Yes we have monthly rates but I'm figuring the rental rate per night that is lost by not being able to rent it out every night.  We are open 365 days a year here.

[cody]

Last year summer came early here, it was on a tuesday. lol  Our season pass has a day listed on it lol.

[luvrbus]

 40% of the people don't give don't give you problems the other 60% are a PITA, back in the late 90's heading for retirement we had a nice KOA in Payson AZ with cabins and the whole shooting match.
I hope the word KOA doesn't upset you guys we had the campground for 3 years and never and I do mean never will I ever deal with the public at a campground the KOA is long gone and condos are in it's place now



good luck

[Sean]

If you figure $27.00 a night for a rental spot and it is occupied by a camp host so you can't rent it out it adds up to close to $10,000 a year.  Yes we have monthly rates but I'm figuring the rental rate per night that is lost by not being able to rent it out every night.  We are open 365 days a year here.

That's not how the math works for anything fungible, such as an individual site in a campground.

The "opportunity cost" of a camp site that is given to a host, or for that matter is unusable for any other reason, is the average revenue for that site, minus any costs not underwritten.

So it would only be worth $10k per year if all your sites are always full all year long at the full, $27 rate.

If, on the other hand, you have, say, 100 sites, but on an annual basis you sell 10,000 "site nights" at $27 and 50 "site months" at $500, your overall average per-site revenue is ($270,000+$25,000)/100 annually, or just under $3,000.  That's the number, by standard accounting rules, you get to state as lost opportunity cost for a site given to a camp host for a full year.  I'm sure your actual numbers are somewhat different, but probably not that far off.

BTW, which way you figure the numbers for the W-2 is a topic of some contention.  I would bet none of the hosts allow the management to get away with sending them a W-2 for $10,000 in income for the year.  And, yes, IRS rules require the value of goods in barter to be taxed if there is a quid-pro-quo; IOTW, if there are duties that the camp host must handle for which an ordinary employee would be paid wages, and that host accepts instead a "free" camp site as payment, tax is due.

FWIW.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com