When I first embarked upon my adventure working with the family campground industry over four decades ago, most campgrounds were owned and operated by a mom and pop. In many instances, either their last name or a combination of their first names also served as the name of their campground. They provided a highly personalized, but likely less than profitable, service to their guests. It was literally a labor of love. They knew the names of every camper who stayed at their park, even the transients who were there for their first of what would turn out to be many weekends. It was the owners themselves who sat behind the registration desk, mowed the grass, collected the trash, cleaned the restrooms, answered the phone (yes, just one landline phone), and took reservations that were secured with the equivalent of a handshake. Larger parks had the owners’ sons and daughters helping out on weekends and during summer school vacations. Reservations came in the mail as often as over the telephone, and they were typically written with erasable markers on a big white board behind the desk. They provided the kind of quiet, relaxed experience that many people nostalgically recall today, when kids were satisfied with catching frogs in a pond and their parents were content with breathing clean country air and sleeping under star-filled skies.

Times have changed. The campground business now calls itself the outdoor hospitality industry, and mom and pop have either passed away, turned the keys over to their sons and daughters, or sold to new owners with more modern business ideas. Just think of some of the things that seem so essential to running a campground today that did not exist 40 years ago: cell phones, WiFi, websites, Google, sponsored search advertising, social media, campground management and online reservation software, credit card processing, reputation management, water attractions, jumping pillows, dog parks, 50 amp electric hookups, mining sluices, hot tubs, karaoke, slide-outs, glamping, and playgrounds that consist of more than a swing set, teeter-totter, and maybe a merry-go-round … not to mention buyers coming out of the woodwork and people telling you that your business needs a presence on TikTok!

I have made no secret of the fact that I disapprove of many of the changes that have taken place in the campground industry in recent years. In particular, I believe that the trend toward corporate ownership and real estate investment trusts is bad for the industry and bad for the future of camping. I have written in the past about the parallels between what is happening in the campground industry today and what has taken place in the ski industry (where I actually started my business in 1980, prior to embracing the campground industry in 1982). I am still an avid skier, and I appreciate the senior flex lift passes (on RFID cards these days, of course) at my local ski areas, at a time when the bulk of the world’s ski resorts have been bought up by a handful of conglomerates that have priced skiing out of the reach of most families.

Near the price pinnacle during the 2023-24 ski season, a season pass at Aspen Snowmass would set you back at $3,314.00 per person, a weekday adult ticket was $244.00, and a weekday child’s ticket was $179.00. The Aspen Snowmass parent, privately owned Alterra Mountain Company, owns 17 ski resorts through a series of acquisitions in the United States and Canada, essentially fixing prices through its Ikon Pass. Vail Resorts, valued at $6.25 billion in 2021, owns 43 ski resorts throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Switzerland, essentially fixing prices through its Epic Pass. Each of these companies has also partnered with additional resorts in South America, New Zealand, and Japan to extend their reach even further. Even if they can afford to pay the price, with limited ticket sales in effect at most ski resorts these days, skiers are essentially locked out of what used to be their favorite mountains unless they purchase the respective season pass. There are smaller multi-resort passes, with a more limited reach from Mountain Collective and Indy Pass … but – stop the presses! – Ikon, Epic and Mountain Collective have recently announced a merger that will introduce the new “THE Ski Pass” at $4,079.41, according to the conSKIerge website.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, and I do not claim powers of clairvoyance, to see where things are headed in the outdoor hospitality industry today. At a time when ski resorts are now charging you to park your car or check your boot bag, campgrounds are introducing fees for everything from locking in a specific campsite (following in the footsteps of the airlines charging you to select a seat) or using a credit card for payment. If the trends continue, it will not be long before the families who cannot afford to ski will no longer be able to afford camping. Until recently, the campground industry represented a camaraderie, where park owners supported one another, supported long-time vendors who supported their industry, and supported the associations that supported their interests. That is changing. Membership in associations is declining, and ownership groups are attempting to reduce costs through self-insurance, direct buying, and other means of circumventing the established distribution channels of essential products and services. This, in turn, is leading to an aggressively more competitive environment among suppliers. Does the industry really need 25 or more online reservation service providers? In my own business, I recently caught a competitor (rhymes with “big pig encyclopedia”) whose husband-and-wife sales team was directly contacting my clients with a sales pitch that pushed the ethical boundaries. This never would have occurred years ago. Mom and pop are turning over in their graves.

It’s been nearly a year since I first wrote on the topic of Facebook in a column where I advised readers that “It’s Okay to Be Antisocial”. I am far from either a prophet or a clairvoyant, but the warnings that I sounded have proven to be true, and those who may have dismissed my advice may seem mighty foolish in hindsight. My advice today more than ever is, not to use Facebook more cautiously, but to abandon the platform in its entirety, with that same advice applying to most other so-called social media as well.

Yes, it was not that long ago that I was presenting seminars and writing how social media advertising – Facebook, in particular – was the greatest new development since the Internet itself. Five years ago, I was offering suggestions on how to beat Facebook at its own game, using guerilla marketing techniques on the platform. Sure, we all recognized that the intrusions into our personal privacy were a bit creepy, but the ability to reach targeted marketing prospects seemed to be worth the compromise.

In the beginning, Facebook (originally called Facemash) seemed to represent little more than an awkward attempt by nerdy Harvard undergrads with a lack of actual social skills to meet young women at neighboring colleges. When you think about it, even that original concept exploited the personal privacy of its users. For years, most people were baffled by the company’s continual growth while it failed to show even a penny in profits prior to 2009; however, it did not take long for Facebook to evolve into a money making machine that would be built upon ever-increasing exploitations of personal privacy.

On a personal level, I stopped using Facebook in its entirety in early September of 2020. I actually experienced what I would describe as a 7 to 10 day period of withdrawal, missing the ability to stay in daily touch with countless friends both old and new, but my sense of newly discovered freedom afterward was absolutely refreshing. Over the course of the 10 years or so when I remained active on the platform, I would often joke about how Facebook would “coincidentally” show me advertising that was related to one of my recent posts or comments. When I, along with millions of other people, started using ad blockers, Facebook started showing paid posts in lieu of paid advertising. These paid posts represent advertising content that is being disguised as editorial content, even when that advertising originates with foreign governments or domestic terrorists and clearly represents content that Facebook knows to be untrue.

Facebook’s business model is designed to amass huge profits by intentionally sowing discord among its subscribers. Simply put, the greater the controversy, the greater the profits. Regardless of where a person falls within an increasingly polarized political spectrum, Facebook will show that person paid content that pours fuel on the fire while demonizing those with opposing viewpoints. Whereas media outlets such as Fox News and CNN play to their specific audience demographics, and as such will never reach more than half of a divided population, Facebook profits by selectively appealing to the entire demographic spectrum and taking money from literally anybody who wants to influence them. It is the essence of the company’s algorithms, as has been only partially exposed in recent whistleblower releases of internal documents.

By being fed a one-sided diet that is often based upon disinformation, subscribers’ opinions and beliefs are reinforced in a manner that continually enhances the polarization. Varying opinions regarding the coronavirus pandemic, vaccines, and mask mandates have earned Facebook a fortune in profits. In fact, in a statement released the day prior to this writing, Facebook announced that its revenues increased by 35% to $29 billion in July through September 2021, while profits rose 17% to $9.2 billion as compared to the same time period in the previous year. It should not require an insurrectionist attack upon the U.S. Capitol for reasonable people to understand that these escalating profits represent a rapidly accelerating downward spiral for the platform’s users.

Where do you see your business fitting into this scenario?

Let us be clear that Facebook advertising is not a bargain. In the early days, businesses would pay to advertise on the platform in order to get users to “like” their page and then see their posts. Soon afterward, advertisers needed to pay Facebook so that even people who had already “liked” their page could actually see their posts. Think about it. If you continue to play along, you are paying Facebook an ever-increasing sum of money so you can reach not new customers but your existing customers. Why would anybody pay to do that when there are countless alternate means of reaching your customer base at a far lesser cost? Any why would anybody do this at a time when most campgrounds have experienced unprecedented occupancy levels and can barely keep up with the demand for campsites? In the campground industry, some of the same people who willingly pour money into Facebook advertising question the rationale for offering Good Sam and similar discounts that they feel cut into thin profit margins. Depending upon your available inventory, I would suggest engaging in dynamic pricing or offering customer incentives rather than feeding Facebook’s coffers. After all, your customers who use Facebook can still promote your campground, and even Facebook will admit that direct end user engagement is far more effective than paid advertising. Yes, Facebook and the other social media may be capable of sending you customers, but it is simply not worth the price. Should you decide to continue to pay to play, what is the percentage of your profit margin and what is the threshold for return on investment where you will finally decide that it is time to kick the habit? The costs to participate will only continue to escalate, as Facebook rolls out its next generation of social interaction, the so-called “metaverse” that is based upon 3-D virtual reality and the use of its Oculus VR headsets. There are people who will argue that you will have to be there as well, but I will argue that they are wrong and that Dr. Frankenstein’s monster is out of control. The Federal Trade Commission has wisely proposed the breakup of Facebook, a process that is long overdue. In the meantime, it is your decision as a small business owner to decide whether or not to continue financing a business model that you may agree is inherently exploitive and basically wrong.

Let me be the first to admit that I am guilty. It was not that long ago that I was presenting seminars and writing how social media advertising – Facebook, in particular – was the greatest new development since the Internet itself. As recently as four years ago, I was offering suggestions on how to beat Facebook at its own game, using guerilla marketing techniques on the platform. Sure, we all recognized that the intrusions into our personal privacy were a bit creepy, but the ability to reach targeted marketing prospects seemed to be worth the compromise. After all, when I was a child watching television in the 1950’s, Captain Kangaroo would seamlessly segue from visiting with Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose to selling Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and Schwinn Bicycles, and what was wrong with that? Actually, there was plenty wrong with it, prior to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruling in 1969 that prohibited children’s show hosts from directly promoting commercial products.

In the beginning, Facebook (originally called Facemash) seemed to represent little more than an awkward attempt by nerdy Harvard undergrads with a lack of actual social skills to meet young women at neighboring colleges. When you think about it, even that original concept (an extension of the sexist freshman photo books that had been sold on college campuses for decades) violated the personal privacy of the young women whose photos were being used. From that start, it did not take long for Facebook to reinvent itself into a money making machine that would be built upon ever-increasing exploitations of personal privacy.

On a personal level, I stopped using Facebook in its entirety in early September of 2020. I actually experienced what I would describe as a 7 to 10 day period of withdrawal, missing the ability to stay in daily touch with countless friends both old and new, but my sense of newly discovered freedom afterward was absolutely refreshing. Over the course of the 10 years or so when I remained active on the platform, I would often joke about how Facebook would “coincidentally” show me advertising that was related to one of my recent posts or comments. When I, along with millions of other people, started using ad blockers, Facebook started showing paid posts in lieu of paid advertising. These paid posts represent advertising content that is being disguised as editorial comment, even when that advertising is originating with foreign governments or other unscrupulous characters. The only way this can happen is by Facebook’s algorithms monitoring every word that you type, just as craftily as the National Security Agency (NSA) monitors the telephone conversations of known terrorists.

What made me see the light was when I realized that Facebook’s business model was designed to amass huge profits by intentionally sowing discord among its subscribers. Regardless of where a person falls within an increasingly polarized political spectrum, Facebook will show that person paid content that pours fuel on the fire while demonizing those with opposing viewpoints. By being fed a one-sided diet that is often based upon disinformation, subscribers’ opinions and beliefs are reinforced in a manner that continually enhances the polarization. It should not require an insurrectionist attack upon the U.S. Capitol for reasonable people to understand that this represents a rapidly accelerating downward spiral.

Let us be clear that Facebook advertising is not a bargain. In the early days, businesses would pay to advertise on the platform in order to get users to “like” their page and then see their posts. Soon afterward, advertisers needed to pay Facebook so that even people who had already “liked” their page could actually see their posts. Think about it. This means that you are paying Facebook so you can reach your existing customers. Why would anybody pay to do that when there are countless alternate means of reaching your existing customer base at a far lesser cost? In the campground industry, some of the same people who willingly pour money into Facebook advertising question the rationale for offering Good Sam and similar discounts that they feel cut into thin profit margins. I would rather offer a customer incentive than to take that same money and pour it into Facebook’s coffers.

Yes, Facebook and the other social media may be capable of sending you customers, but at what price and in what environment? If a drug dealer approached you and said, “Yes, my main business is selling heroin, but I can also send you customers”, would you do business with that person? I doubt that many of us would enter into that sort of deal with the devil.

The Federal Trade Commission (yes, the same people who ruled that Captain Kangaroo should not be hawking breakfast cereal) is currently proposing the breakup of Facebook, a process that is long overdue. Facebook has steadily grown – with the acquisition of Instagram, WhatsApp and related platforms – and a breakup of its monopoly would be the first such action since the breakup of AT&T four decades ago. Many of my peers in the advertising industry will disagree with me, and I welcome that debate. I remember the days when tobacco products were extensively advertised on television, a practice that contributed to countless deaths. Today, I believe that many other types of advertising should be banned because they either mislead consumers or actually prey upon vulnerable segments of our population, typically the elderly. These include the advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals, advertising by class-action attorneys (think “mesothelioma”), advertising directed at children (think about Saturday mornings), and advertising directed at senior citizens (think about Medicare supplements and the aforementioned pharmaceuticals). In the meantime, it is your decision as a small business owner to decide whether or not to continue financing a business model that you may agree is inherently wrong.

“Gimme Some Truth” is one of my all-time favorite John Lennon songs, originally released in 1971 as “Give Me Some Truth” on the Imagine album. It is a song of frustration that addresses the nearly ever-present deception that was running rampant at the time. The song was produced by Phil Spector and featured a slide guitar solo by John’s fellow former Beatle, George Harrison. The song later became the subject of a 2000 documentary film Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon’s Imagine Album. Perhaps even more relevant today than it was in 1971, Gimme Some Truth is the title of a new deluxe box set of 36 remastered recordings that was released on October 9, 2000 – what would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday.

I have been thinking the words “Gimme Some Truth” to myself quite a bit lately, not only when I watch the news or when I am presented with online or television advertising, but when I read press releases right here within the campground industry. I have always been a believer in the glass being half full, rather than half empty, and there is certainly nothing wrong with presenting things in a positive light. The problem is when the positive light crosses the spectrum into the realm of absolute deception. Having spent my career in advertising, I know the importance of putting a positive spin on things, but there is a chasm – not a fine line – between a positive spin and alternative facts. Keep this in mind when promoting your own business.

It has always been my belief that with the exception of an occasional run-down park with owners who are overdue for retirement, there are very few undesirable campgrounds, despite what might be suggested by sometimes negative reviews. There are simply instances where, perhaps due to the way that a park has been marketed, the wrong campers choose to book a stay at the wrong campground. Every campground has its ideal clientele, and it is important that your park is not marketed in a way that presents itself as something that it is not, encouraging reservations by the “wrong” campers. It is far better to be booked at less than full capacity than to book even a single guest who will spell trouble.

There is a long list of characteristics that determine the types of campers to which any particular park will appeal. Determine where your park fits within these parameters, then formulate how to positively but accurately portray your park to the masses of campers who are seeking out a park exactly like yours.

• Is your park considered large, or is it small?
• Is your park located near major attractions, or is it in a remote setting?
• Does your park offer non-stop activities, or does it offer guests an opportunity to relax and “get away from it all”?
• If your park is next to a busy highway, you may want to promote easy access but not peace and quiet. You should also not promote a peaceful setting if your park is down the road from a shooting range, a kennel, or other source of frequent noise.
• On the same token, do not promote dark skies at your park if the sky actually glows with the light from a nearby shopping center parking lot.
• Does your park cater to seasonal campers? If so, do your transient campers find it difficult to feel welcome?
• Does your park cater to big rigs? If so, if tents and pop-ups are allowed, do their owners feel out of place?
• If your park caters to an older, retired clientele, are families still welcome? Will visiting grandchildren feel like they are in a reform school rather than a campground?
• Is your campground at the upper scale of predominant rates in your area, or is it highly affordable?

Then there is a set of questions where the answers are not quite black and white, but where the wrong expectations can lead to serious misunderstandings and the ever-dreaded negative reviews:

• If you say that pets are welcome, do you have a list of breeds that are not allowed? Telling a pet owner that his dog is part of a “vicious breed” is comparable to telling a parent that his child is ugly.
• If Wi-Fi is provided at your park, are you describing its coverage, bandwidth and reliability without exaggeration?
• If you say that your park is “handicapped accessible”, is your park truly making an effort toward ADA compliance?

Finally, in the midst of a pandemic, are you making everything as clear as possible prior to your guests’ arrivals?

• Are you flexible in instances of cancellations and refund requests, particularly during a pandemic?
• If activities and nearby events are either cancelled or subject to cancellation, and if nearby attractions are closed or operating under limited capacities, are you informing your guests to the best of your ability at the time of reservation?
• If your guests are required due to either state regulations or simple common sense, to wear facemasks, practice social distancing or avoid assembling into groups, are those policies disclosed at the time of reservation?
• If your store, snack bar, swimming pool, or other facilities are closed, operating with restrictions or require reservations for use, are your guests aware of those limitations prior to their arrival?

As you can see, many if not most problems arise from a lack of careful and honest communications, and those communications start well in advance of the time of registration. Try not to present your park with the words that you might think your potential guests might like to hear rather than an accurate and thorough description of what the park offers, what it doesn’t offer, and why the majority of your guests like it for exactly what it is. Life is too complicated, and running your business profitably is more challenging now than ever. Help yourself to succeed in that endeavor by treating your prospective guests to the truth that they deserve.

There is no question that our world has been turned upside down within the last few weeks. Just when some people were concerned that the spring allergy season was about to begin, we have been faced with a worldwide pandemic of an entirely new and highly deadly virus called COVID-19. One impacted state after another has responded in rather serious fashion, starting with the states that were hit with the earliest concentrations of outbreaks, eventually leading to a nationwide response at the federal level.

Here where I live, in Massachusetts, we have been one of the most highly impacted states after Washington, New York and California. As I am writing, most of our schools and colleges are closed, restaurants and bars are closed, state and municipal offices are closed, shopping malls and most retail stores are closed, and hospitals and nursing homes are closed to visitors. Gatherings of 25 or more people have been prohibited, including concerts, sporting events, theaters, conferences (including at least one campground conference), and even church services and faith-based gatherings. The terms “social distancing”, “self-quarantine”, and “sheltering in place” have been added to our everyday vocabularies.

The Campground Industry

The impacts upon private campgrounds are evolving on a daily basis. Let us start by looking at the positive side of the situation. First of all, Americans are coming together like we have not in years, sharing a common determination to overcome the current crisis. Secondly, we will continue to find a healthy refuge in outdoor environments. If nearby public parks and campgrounds are closed as a result of the pandemic, you may be able to fill a new demand. Thirdly, campgrounds are not being hit nearly as hard as businesses in many other industries, including airlines, cruise lines, travel agencies, hotels, tourist attractions, and restaurants. In that sense, we can count our blessings. On the other hand, many campground owners have told me that their cancellations have exceeded their reservations in recent weeks. Fear and uncertainty do not drive consumer confidence and spending, and families who are facing layoffs at work no longer have discretionary income to spend on vacations.

Your Response

Keeping in mind that we are all in this together, it is time to waive your usual cancellation policies for the time being. Do not even ask questions. The tide will turn, and people will return to the businesses that treated them honorably and respectfully. Next, go out of your way to let your customer base know that you care about their health and well-being and that you are introducing new measures to ensure their safety. It is time for every business to introduce a personalized Coronavirus Statement. This statement should be thoughtfully written and personalized for your own unique situation. Outline any of your recreational amenities or services that will be temporarily closed, curtailed or limited, stressing how those actions have been taken in the interest of your guests and employees. Outline the measures that you have taken to maintain cleanliness in your facilities that remain open, including your store, restrooms, snack bar, playground, fitness room, and rental accommodations.

When you have carefully drafted your statement (and run it by other sets of eyes for proofreading!), share it on social media and post it to the Home page of your website, updating the statement as necessary, as the crisis evolves and hopefully subsides. To post this statement to your website, you can include it as text near the top of your Home page; however, you may want to consider the alternative of providing a prominent link to a PDF file that people may download, particularly if your statement is somewhat lengthy. Another advantage to the PDF option is that it will avoid having text related to the Coronavirus be what search engine robots are indexing, rather than text that outlines the features of your park. One word of caution is to ensure that your PDF file is tagged and ADA compliant. (Remember when ADA compliance was one of your biggest concerns a few months ago?)

The Impact Varies

Some campgrounds will be impacted more than others. If your park’s primary selling point is that it offers a remote natural setting, you might be offering the type of escape that will be sought by an even wider group of people. If your campground has proximity to local, state or federal parks that remain open and offer recreational opportunities, try to capitalize upon that positive situation. On the other hand, if your guests primarily stay at your park due to its proximity to one or more major tourist attractions that have been closed as a result of the pandemic, you will need to improvise a more creative approach. Similarly, if people have historically flocked to your campground to partake in a well-organized activity program, you may need to find alternatives that will involve smaller gatherings and greater opportunities for social distancing. You may want to even rethink or rename certain events. Just this morning, I found myself updating the activity schedule on a campground website, and the annual “Hooray! School’s Out for the Summer” weekend suddenly took on a different and less jovial connotation, at a time when most schools are closed for either the next two weeks or the entire semester. Prepare to adapt and modify your schedule.

Another impact will involve international travelers who would normally vacation in the United States. Many campgrounds have seen a steadily increasing volume of traffic from overseas, and many campgrounds in the Northeast rely upon an annual influx of guests from Canada. Travel from Europe is currently banned, as is traffic in both directions at the border crossings between the United States and Canada. It almost makes one long for the days when the greatest impediment to Canadian visitors was an unfavorable currency exchange rate! On the flip side, gasoline prices are currently at historic lows, which will help to encourage domestic travel.

The bottom line, as I sit here in mid-March, is that we have no idea where the chips will have fallen come Memorial Day and beyond. This may be the summer when people more than anything need to escape to the outdoors and experience a natural setting. It could even be that simply sitting around a campfire could be exactly the cure that the doctor has ordered.

I have always had an affinity for small family-owned businesses. I was raised in a small business environment, I own and operate a small business, and most campgrounds are small businesses. My favorite clients are probably otherwise known as Mom and Pop. What we have in common is a willingness to work endless hours and the ability to wear a variety of hats during the course of the day.

My small business experience began during my early childhood. My father’s business was located on the same parcel of property as our home, and I was fortunate enough to be able to appreciate the continuous overlap between our family life and business. Sometimes it’s just in your blood to control your own destiny and be your own boss, although you quickly understand that you are actually working for your customers. My father was one of 10 children of French-Canadian immigrants who built their lives out of virtually nothing, and most of his siblings were also small business owners.

In my father’s instance, his destiny was in the wholesale produce business, leaving high school in his junior year when he was offered a partnership in an existing business that he grew into that home-based business and a warehouse that was built the year I was born. When I was in grade school, I could not wait to return home in the afternoon to see what chores I could be assigned in the warehouse, even though most of the activity took place much earlier in the day. When I was a 16-year-old high school student, I remember getting my driver’s license one morning and being sent off by myself in a truck to pick up a load of butternut squash that afternoon at a farm in the next county.

What I learned from my father I also see when observing my clients at work and fellow vendors at trade shows. In addition to the aforementioned commitment to long hours, I find that the key ingredients to success are a commitment to quality, a willingness to take risks, and the ability to innovate. Above all else, it involves a total dedication to the needs of your clientele.

My father’s customer base consisted of a combination of small businesses and larger commercial enterprises. Those customers included corner grocery stores (and later convenience stores), supermarkets, restaurants, caterers, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and the commissary at the nearby air force base. At an earlier time, before I was born, truckloads of produce would be driven non-stop to be unloaded into the backs of transport planes that were part of the Berlin Airlift.

As times changed, my father’s customer base changed. In 1958, the “Chef” potatoes that were peeled and prepared by hand in virtually every food service operation in the country were suddenly replaced by the frozen French fry. Three railroad carloads of Maine potatoes sat and rotted in a new warehouse expansion that had been built specifically for their short-term storage. The crystal ball was not always crystal-clear, and the risks involved in the perishable food industry have always been enormous. It was important to explore new product offerings and to respond to new customer demands. Exotic fruits were introduced, and ethnic Asian and Hispanic businesses had demands for produce that had been previously somewhat “foreign”. Soon thereafter, organic produce became a major product line rather than merely a niche.

In every instance, it was important to not only respond to customer demands but to attempt to forecast that demand, influencing it through marketing that was based upon inventory of a highly perishable product line. It was also important to source produce as locally as possible, at least on a seasonal basis. Although primary sources of supply were large regional distribution centers (in our instance, Boston) with railroad sidings and easy highway access, every effort was made to buy directly from local farms during their harvest seasons. Freshness was mission-critical, along with same-day delivery – usually within two to three hours.

In the years since my family business experience, the produce industry – like the campground industry – has changed dramatically. Large buying groups were designed to eliminate the middleman, with large supermarket chains and food distribution networks like Wal-Mart, Whole Foods and Costco having the power to buy direct, providing their own transportation, warehousing, and distribution network. For the smaller buying organizations, the integral role that was played by wholesalers such as my father’s business was replaced by much larger food distribution companies such as Sysco, U.S. Foodservice, Performance Food Group, and Gordon Food Service – each of which maintains dozens of distribution centers throughout the United States.

With all of this background in my blood, it is easy to understand how I have an appreciation for smaller small businesses, and campgrounds provide a very natural fit. Fortunately for campgrounds, the vendors within the industry provide a myriad of opportunities to work with businesses that are similarly sized – or even smaller than most campgrounds themselves. I would encourage you to maintain loyalties with vendors that have proven their reliability and commitment, thinking “small” or more “local” whenever it makes practical sense. As I walked the halls of industry trade shows in recent months, it was easy to spot not only new vendors within established product and service categories, but also several startup companies with new approaches to old ideas, as well as some with entirely new ideas that might benefit your business. Be open to considering what they have to offer, understanding that they may or may not offer any advantages whatsoever over working with proven performers. Ask them to share their visions, explaining the problems their businesses are designed to solve, and giving them an opportunity to listen to you. Generally speaking, vendors who take more time listening and getting to learn about your business, rather than telling you about their products, are the ones whose trust you want to establish and maintain for years to come.

I attended a trade show in Florida late last year, flying into and out of Daytona Beach International Airport, a smaller airport that is serviced by only three airlines (Delta, American, and JetBlue) with a limited number of arrivals and departures. During the event, we stayed at the Hilton Hotel that was the designated host hotel for the conference. At the close of the conference, we were anxious to return home to Bradley International Airport. We had a connecting flight in Charlotte, where the airlines were already cancelling flights in advance of a large storm that had a bullseye on the Carolinas. Timing was critical.

Our flight out of Daytona Beach was on a plane that arrived with a mechanical issue that needed to be addressed, delaying departure on this, the last flight out of the airport for the evening. The delays were extended, due to the fact that there are no technicians available in Daytona Beach to sign off on a safety report. The plane was not moving until after a technician could drive in from Orlando. The gate counter had a line of people who were trying to explore their alternatives, essentially the choice between spending another night in Daytona Beach or waiting for the plane to be approved for its late departure. Unless your final destination was Charlotte, you were going to be stranded there for at least another day.

Some of the passengers were more irate than others, taking out their frustrations on the gate agents, seemingly without understanding that the situation was beyond the control of those airline employees.  In our instance, treating them with due respect, one of the gate agents and her supervisor went well out of their way to find alternate arrangements to get us home with the least delay possible. Flying to another airport, such as Boston or Providence, was not an option because our car was parked at our home airport outside of Hartford. American Airlines departures from Daytona Beach only fly to Charlotte, so our workaround involved getting us to another airport with alternate destinations.

The airline pulled our checked bags (refunding our baggage fees), paid for a taxi to take us to the airport in Jacksonville, arranged for a ticket agent to work overtime to meet us at the ticket counter in Jacksonville (that was otherwise closed by the time of our arrival), and paid for us to spend the night at a Hilton Hotel near the airport so we could catch an early morning flight that would connect in Philadelphia rather than Charlotte – ahead of the coming storm. This was customer service above and beyond anything that could be reasonably expected. Let me add that we were not flying first class but in economy seats.

If you have been following the news recently, you probably recall that several airlines have suffered some widely reported public relations disasters. There was the United Airlines incident where a passenger’s puppy died after they were forced to stow it in the overhead bin and another incident where a passenger was dragged from an overbooked United Airlines flight when he refused to voluntarily surrender his seat to another passenger. Recovering from bad press can be a slow and difficult process. Fortunately for most small businesses, customer relations incidents generally occur on a one-on-one basis. As long as you do the right thing, reasonable people will appreciate your efforts. These are example of successful customer service. The customer service failures in this story begin with Hilton Hotels.

The ticket agent working overtime at the American Airlines counter in Jacksonville was tasked with making our hotel arrangements at the nearby DoubleTree by Hilton airport hotel. When he called both Hilton reservations and the local hotel’s front desk, he was told that no rooms were available. I fired up my laptop, went to my Hilton Honors account, and saw that there were plenty or rooms available at the hotel. What Hilton would not do – after 10:00 PM on a night where they had dozens of vacant rooms that would otherwise generate zero income – was honor the so called “distressed passenger” discounted rate that is the usual arrangement between hotels and the airlines. We had to pay for the room ourselves, and then provide a receipt to the airline for reimbursement (which was processed and paid quite promptly.) Think of this from a campground’s perspective. If you have unsold inventory at the last minute on the day before the start of a summer weekend, you are likely to offer space at a discount rather than leave a site vacant. For a hotel, 10:00 PM on the night of arrival is definitely the last minute to sell an otherwise vacant room.

Also if you have been following the news, you know that both Hilton Hotels and its DoubleTree brand have suffered some public relations disasters over the past year, not the least of which was the incident in December of 2018 where a registered guest (who happened to be African American) was evicted from the DoubleTree Hotel in Portland, Oregon for using his cell phone in the lobby. With bad press like that, you would think that DoubleTree by Hilton Hotels would be going out of its way to try to cater to its customers. Public relations disasters are almost always preventable, and public relations success stories almost always result from employees who have been empowered to do the right thing, every time and under all circumstances. Of course, this does not mean that every Hilton or DoubleTree Hotel is problematic, but bad press for any member of a franchise casts a shadow of doubt over the entire chain.

Some might argue that providing exceptional customer service is too costly and time-consuming or that the good deeds are rarely recognized beyond the direct recipient. I would argue that consistently positive customer relations can serve as the foundation of a company’s success. In the long run, it is a winning strategy.

Wait, There’s More …

Did I mention how pleased I was with American Airlines? Well, it did not take long for this enthusiasm that American Airlines had generated to get flushed totally down the drain. Allow me to explain …

Three months later, I happily returned to American Airlines to book a flight from Hartford to Colorado Springs, paying $463.00 for my round-trip fare. My return flight was one of 40 flights that were cancelled on March 7, 2019 when 14 of American Airlines’ Boeing 737-800s were taken out of service due to mechanical issues with overhead bins.

Upon notification of the flight cancellation, I called and spoke with an American Airlines ticketing agent who, over the course of a lengthy telephone conversation, assured me that my ticket had been transferred to United Airlines for a return to Hartford via United. On the basis of this assurance, I checked out of my hotel, returned my rental car, and proceeded to the United Airlines ticket counter in Colorado Springs, where I was told that I did not have a ticket.

Going back and forth between the United and American ticket agents in Colorado Springs, I was told that American Airlines would not transfer my ticket because I had purchased a basic economy fare. I understood that this fare meant that I would board in the last group, not have pre-assigned seating, would not be eligible for upgrades, and that I would not qualify for flight changes or refunds due to changes in my plans. I was there to fulfill my end of the agreement and was not of the understanding that this fare would disqualify me for the transfer of my ticket to another airline in an instance of a mechanical failure on the part of American Airlines.

Without any viable options, I paid United Airlines $1,312.00 (plus a $30.00 baggage fee) for economy seating on my return flight. The American Airlines ticketing agent in Colorado Springs told me that I could contact American Airlines for reimbursement for the unused portion of my fare. I requested not only that reimbursement but reimbursement for the full amount that I paid to United Airlines after I had been told that American had transferred my ticket.

While I understood that American Airlines was under no obligation to offer me this compensation, I would hope that under consideration of my past loyalty and future travels, it would choose to do the right thing. It did not. It has been over 6 weeks since I wrote to American Airlines, and they have not even responded to my letter, let alone issue a refund. I know that, like several other airlines, American has been taking a hit with the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet. On the other hand, they have not been too preoccupied to prevent them from spamming me on a daily basis, promoting dubious travel deals and a variety of ways to earn AAdvantage miles. I will pass.

The lesson I have learned, in addition to NEVER again buying a basic economy airfare ticket, is that big companies like American Airlines can never be trusted to do the right thing in the long run. My enthusiasm has been crushed, and my loyalty has been obliterated. Thanks for nothing, American Airlines!

Update, July 29, 2019: The following post was written about the Equifax security breach when it first came to light back in October of 2017. The wheels of justice often turn very slowly; however, in an agreement reached on July 22, 2019, Equifax has agreed to a $700 million settlement that includes $425 million that has been set aside as compensation for the 150 million people affected. You were probably one of the 150 million, now entitled to compensation. If you are unsure whether or not your data was compromised, click here to determine your eligibility to participate in the settlement:
https://eligibility.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/en/eligibility

Presuming that you were affected, it will take all of 5 minutes of your time to submit a claim for a minimum $125.00 settlement payment following this link:
https://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/file-a-claim

Every so often, a truly important news story breaks into the public consciousness through an information overload that seems more and more obsessed with partisan issues, celebrity news coverage, and YouTube videos gone viral. One of these recent stories involved the unfolding cybersecurity breach at Equifax, one of the three American companies that compile the personal information that determines your credit-worthiness, your ability to obtain a loan, and the interest rate that you will pay for that privilege.

Of course, a legitimate question could be asked regarding what gives Equifax, Transunion and Experian the right to gather hyper-sensitive personal and financial information on every American citizen alive today. We have certainly come a long way from the idealized days of George Bailey and the Bedford Falls Building and Loan, when financial decisions were local and finalized with a handshake. In our modern times, it would seem that the minimum responsibility on the part of credit reporting agencies would be to maintain iron-clad security standards to prevent our personal information from falling into the hands of malevolent third parties.

In the recent Equifax incident, the personal security information of 143,000,000 Americans was compromised. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, there are only about 125,000,000 households in the United States. Without question, you were personally impacted. Essentially, the names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers and more for virtually every adult citizen in the United States were compromised. In addition, investigations have disclosed that credit card numbers of 209,000 individuals were hacked, along with personal identification numbers (PINs) for another 182,000 consumers.

According to testimony prepared for a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Equifax CEO Richard Smith admitted that the breach was the result of a failure to apply a software update, despite warnings from the Department of Homeland Security, followed a day later by a warning from the company’s own security team. The company’s policy was to apply such patches within 48 hours, but this failed to happen. The patch was designed to repair the vulnerability in the open source Apache Struts software that the company was using in one of its systems. Even following the company’s internal software policies, hackers would have had three days to exploit that vulnerability – a virtual lifetime in the world of hackers. The Apache Software Foundation had issued a patch for the flaw in March, two months before hackers began accessing sensitive information on Equifax’s servers on May 13. Clearly, Equifax had no excuse for its failure to have taken immediate corrective measures.

This all occurred two years after a similar, but smaller, security breach occurred at Experian, compromising “only” 15,000,000 Americans. What did the credit reporting industry learn over that time? Apparently how to wait months before reporting the incident, while providing an opportunity for three top Equifax executives to unload $1.8 million worth of company stock, after the breach was discovered but prior to its announcement. It also forced Smith to resign, albeit with an over $90 million golden parachute, according to Fortune Magazine.

The impacts of the Equifax security breach upon individuals have been well-documented, including advisories to subscribe to free credit monitoring services, change all of your passwords to unique strings of characters that are more difficult to crack, to pay to freeze reports on your credit (only unfreezing the reports in specific instances, such as when applying for a loan), and to join into one or more of the class action lawsuits against the company. As a small business owner, on the other hand, what measures should you take to ensure that you are safeguarding the information of your customers to the best of your ability? There is no question that international cybercriminals tend to pursue the larger and more lucrative targets; however, every business that conducts business online (not necessarily through its website, but through any Internet-based transactional application) is vulnerable and bears a responsibility for protecting its customers.

The Federal Trade Commission offers a series of five areas of recommendation for how businesses should handle their customers’ personal information.

• The first is an assessment of how your company handles personal information that is gathered from a variety of sources, including credit reports, employment applications, and customer-provided data. How is it delivered to your business, how broadly is it accessed within your company, and how and where is it stored? A particular area of concern is the processing of credit cards. Above all else, cybercriminals are looking for credit card information, social security numbers, and banking information. There is no reason for most businesses to maintain records of that information in any form.
• Stop gathering information that you do not need. With the exception of very specific matters including employee tax accounting, there is no reason to ever ask for anybody’s social security number. Do not maintain records of credit card numbers. Those should only be gathered through a secure point of sale terminal or via a secure online payment gateway, where you do not actually see the number, its expiration date, or the security code. Never ask people to provide that information via email, and discourage the common practice of taking that information over the phone. Because “we’ve always done things this way” is no longer an excuse.
• Keep all physical and electronic records secure. Paper records and backup files should be stored in locked rooms or file cabinets, with limited employee access to a limited number of keys. Electronic files should be encrypted and password-protected. Individual computers should be password protected, put into password-protected sleep or screen saver mode when left unattended, and shut down at the end of each business day. Scan the computers on your network for vulnerable open network services. For example, if a computer is not intended to be used for the sending or receipt of email, the ports for those services should be closed on that computer. Every computer should also be running real-time anti-malware and anti-virus software that includes scans of incoming email messages for malicious content that might be disguised as routine file attachments. Never allow an employee who is untrained in basic security precautions to access and open email messages.
  A highly secure password is almost worthless if an employee is allowed to write it down on a Post-It Note, typically attached to his computer monitor. Educate employees (and yourself!) on the importance of password security, use a “password safe” application with a highly secure master password, and lock out users after a limited number of incorrect login attempts on any computer and any online application. Laptops and mobile devices are particularly vulnerable due to their portable nature. They should never be left where they would be even momentarily visible to thieves, and their access to secure information should be carefully limited. Using unsecured Wi-Fi access at airports and other public places is an extremely risky practice.
• Always maintain proper disposal practices. We have all heard the old adage about one man’s trash being another person’s treasure. That was never as true as it is today. Paper records and disposable electronic media containing sensitive data should never go into the trash. These need to be run through cross-cut shredders or incinerated. When disposing of old computers and storage devices, all data must first be removed with a data wiping utility. Simply deleting files leaves them recoverable by a thief. Did you realize that your office copier or fax machine contains a hard drive that stores its data? That data probably includes copies of your tax returns, and that data also needs to be wiped prior to the disposal of any such device.
• Finally, maintain a response plan in the event of a security breach. If a computer is compromised, immediately disconnect it from Internet access, remove it from your network, and then shut it down. Bring in an expert to identify and correct the vulnerability and assess any threats to personal information. If there have been compromises, immediately notify your customers and anyone else who may have been impacted by the breach of security. Do not repeat the Equifax mistake of hiding disclosure for months.

This is a brief summary of what occurred in the recent Equifax security breach, how you should react to that breach, and some of the measures that you should implement to tighten the security standards at your own business. If you would like to learn more, be sure to attend the “10 Steps for Securing Your Digital Identity” seminar that I will be presenting at the Outdoor Hospitality Conference & Expo, in Raleigh, on November 8, 2017.

If you are selling a product on eBay, you are required to clearly define your return policy, and if your website is involved in any type of e-commerce or online payments, payment gateway service providers such as Authorize.net will require that your site defines its refund policies. Your policy may simply be “no returns and no refunds under any circumstances”, but that policy needs to be clearly defined – both for your protection and for the protection of your customers. Misunderstandings can lead to disagreements and the need for mediation.

One of my company’s clients e-mailed me late last week, after one of her campers contacted her on Friday, asking for a refund – minus her stipulated $25.00 processing fee – for a last-minute cancellation of his weekend reservation, due to a less than perfect weather forecast. The client balked at allowing the refund, even though her website did not clearly define the terms for cancellations and refunds. Under the circumstances, this first-time guest at her park was making a totally reasonable request. With this instance in mind, it may be time to take a closer look at your own park’s cancellation and refund policies, confirming that they are covering the full range of potential circumstances.

As I explained to the client last week, most of our campground clients who are booking either real-time reservations or online reservation requests have policies that are much more clearly defined than what she had instructed us to post to her site. Typically, they might say that a full refund, less a $25.00 administrative fee, will be issued if the cancellation is made 14 days or more prior to the intended date of arrival; a credit for a stay at another date will be issued if the cancellation is made between 7 and 14 days prior to the intended date of arrival; and no refunds will be issued for cancellations made less than 7 days prior to the intended date of arrival. Each park is likely to have its own timeline for cancellations, its own administrative fee (if any), its own expiration date for any credits that it may issue, and probably separate schedules for campsites and rental units. The important thing is for all of those details to be clearly defined.

Many of our more savvy campground clients (typically, campground owners who have decades of experience in dealing with people who will try to find loopholes that they can use to their advantage, in this case capitalizing upon any vagueness in a cancellation and refund policy) will also specify the following:

• Deposit forfeited for non-arrival on scheduled arrival date.
• Holidays, special events, monthly and seasonal reservations are non-refundable.
• No refunds for early departure.
• No refunds due to inclement weather.
• No refunds for evictions due to violation of rules.

These policies should be clearly visible on your website, accompanying your rates and probably repeated on a page that lists your park’s rules and policies. You want your customers to see them, and you also want to be able to direct customers to the text should any misunderstandings arise. I also suggest that cancellation and refund policies be outlined, with a link to the full list, at the end of the reservation process, using a checkbox where the guest must indicate acceptance of those policies before the form will be processed.

I know that some people like to keep things simple, and others fear that they might scare away business by posting what might be perceived as stringent policies; however, a customer who is unwilling to accept reasonable cancellation and refund policies is probably not the ideal guest.

Despite having policies that are crystal-clear and etched in stone, you will probably still want to evaluate each instance individually, exercising a degree of discretion in resolving each request. The bottom line these days is that, if a customer demands a refund, it is a lot less expensive in the long run to keep that customer happy than to suffer the consequences of encouraging him to post negative reviews or to complain on the social media. Going out of your way to make an exception to the rule in order to accommodate a first-time guest might turn that new customer into a lifetime source of income for your park.

Remember that, at least in his or her own mind, the customer is always right. Try to make an effort to help reasonable people to understand – in advance – your business’s point of view when it comes to cancellations and refunds.

It sometimes baffles me how some businesses will go out of their way to annoy their customers – and potential customers – when customer service should be their primary concern. Let me outline 5 bad practices that are in common use. I am hoping that none of my readers employ any of these practices; however, if you do, it is never too late to repent and change your ways!

Spammy E-Mail

It is amazing how everybody seems to think that only other people send out spam. We all think that our own messages are important and that the recipients are sitting on the edge of their chairs, just waiting to hear from us. Guess what? It doesn’t work that way.

Spam is in the eyes of the beholder. If you are not already engaged in an e-mail conversation with the recipient, and you are initiating a marketing-related message, what you are sending out is an unsolicited e-mail. By definition, that is spam. If your e-mail is carefully crafted and subtle, many people might cut you a break. Want to increase the odds of having your message flagged as spam? Use a compiled list, use ALL CAPS in the subject line or body of your message, use different fonts and colors, or use words like “free”, “not spam”, “please read”, “winner”, “congratulations”, “selected”, “limited time”, “click here”, and “$$$”.

Junk Fax

Although the laws have been watered down in recent years and are rarely enforced, junk faxes are illegal. Nobody purchases a fax machine so they can get the latest offer on a “Funtacular Vacation” or “Ticket to Paradise” involving a trip to Cancun or the Bahamas. They also do not need to be contacted about emergency roof repairs after every heavy rainstorm, and, if they are in need of a small business loan, they are probably not going to arrange for one through a junk faxer. Are you going to pay for the recipients’ telephone line, ink or toner cartridges, paper, and electricity? If you send faxes to anyone who has not specifically requested your fax, get a life and stop it!

Telemarketing Calls

After the average person has already gotten calls on any given day from timeshare scammers and people in a boiler room in Bangalore who pretend to be working with either Google or Microsoft, they are already predisposed against receiving your phone call. I already have solar panels on my roof, so why do I get calls from at least 3 solar sales outfits every day? (Trust me … my solar installation did not originate with a telemarketing call!) The only thing certain about an unsolicited phone call is that the person at the receiving end is in the middle of doing something else that has nothing to do with anticipating your call. Disturbing people is not really the best marketing approach. Think of it like eating wild mushrooms. Unless you really know what you are doing, the experience is probably not going to end as well as you had hoped.

Unmonitored E-Mail

If you send somebody an e-mail message, particularly if it is a response to any type of consumer contact form, always ensure that the recipient can reply to your message. It amazes me how often I will contact a business (or a local politician, for that matter), only to get a canned response from an e-mail address that beings with “noreply” or “DoNotReply”. A few months ago, I sent a consumer inquiry to a major supermarket chain where I am a frequent customer. The response, with a “noreply” sender address, was addressed to “Dear Customer”, and continued, “The mailbox you attempted to send your e-mail to is not monitored. However, we do want to hear from you! For questions and comments, please contact us by calling: Consumer Affairs.” If your consumer affairs department has a contact form, and I have taken the time to initiate an e-mail conversation, why is your only response to tell me to call you on the phone – and probably get put on hold for several minutes?

Spell Your Customer’s Name Wrong

Finally, I remember about 10 or 15 years ago when I bought two season’s passes to a nearby summer theatre. I probably spent two or three hundred dollars for the tickets, but from that day forward, the theatre company started sending me mail addressed to “Paul Pillard”. Do you think that I ever renewed my subscription for another season, or even bought tickets for an individual production? No way! The supermarket that addressed me in their e-mail as “Dear Customer” was far better off than the theatre company that continually addressed me by the wrong name.

Speaking of names, never presume the use of a nickname or abbreviated name, and know how to pronounce a person’s name before speaking it. My name is Peter, and I am already predisposed against incoming telemarketing calls. Want to really call the wrong number? Be a total stranger who addresses me as “Pete”, or struggle with the pronunciation of my last name when you call me. If you catch me in a particularly good mood, you will not get an earful!

Okay, now that I have gotten these marketing pet peeves off my chest, I can go enjoy a pleasant dinner … until it gets interrupted by a telemarketing call.