Sometimes I think that the
Internet was invented by P.T. Barnum, the circus promoter and showman from New
Haven, Connecticut. A century and a half after his heyday, modern-day hucksters
seem intent on capitalizing upon the phrase “there’s a sucker born every
minute” that is commonly attributed to the great Barnum. So-called phishing
scams arriving via email are becoming more prevalent than ever. Phishing is an
attempt to steal personal information or hack online accounts through the use
of deception. Some are easy to spot, while others are more sophisticated in
appearance and subsequently more difficult to detect. The people behind these
schemes prey upon our fears and try to convey a sense of urgency to their bogus
messages. My main words of advice are to step back, take a deep breath, and
avoid the urge to panic.
Learn to detect
and comfortably ignore the lion’s share of these scams by using an effective
spam blocker on your email accounts. When a few slip past the filters and
appear in your inbox, take a close look. Learn to hover and not to click. Is
the actual sending address what it appears to be? One of the latest phishing
scams to be making the rounds is the “Best Buy / Geek Squad Service Renewal”
invoice. I will refer to three specific emails below, all alleging to be sent
from Geek Squad (or in one instance “Geeks Squad Inc.). The first came from edfg0823@gmail.com,
the second indicated that it came from messenger@messaging.squareup.com (and
included an option for payment through Square), with a 160-character cryptic reply-to
address, and the third came from dayaguena@gmail.com.
Although it is easy
to attach any corporate logo to an email, in an effort to make the message
appear to be authentic, would that familiar company really send out a message
with spelling mistakes and sloppy formatting? Just because a message implies
that your bank account, credit card, or PayPal account has been charged for a
product or service that you never ordered does NOT mean that the sender
actually has access to your account. What they are generally hoping is that you
will fall for their scheme, want that alleged charge to be reversed, and
unwittingly provide them with your account information in order to confirm the
“refund”. By doing so, you will have then provided the scammer with the means
to run up fraudulent charges on your account far in excess of the bogus charge
that caught your attention.
The perpetrators
behind the “Best Buy / Geek Squad Service Renewal” scams could possibly have
access to Best Buy customer emails harvested during a 2017 data breach that
exploited a vulnerability in the company’s online chat software; however, it is
more likely that the senders use random email accounts under the presumption
that a significant percentage of recipients will be recent or past Best Buy
customers. (They could also be pretending to represent Walmart, Costco, Target,
or any other well-known brand with an extensive customer base.) I have received
several of these emails recently. One lists an “Order ID”, “Product Code”, and
renewal fee of $417.00 that is ready to be charged to my account, telling me
that “YOUR SERVICE HAS BEEN RENEWED”. The email (which consisted of a JPEG
image) also reads, “According to our contact with you. Your plan will be auto
renewed with in 24hrs and you will be charged $417.00”. The punctuation errors
alone in that message should raise several red flags. Of course, they are
hoping that I will call the “Customer Support Team” using the toll-free number
included.
Another alleged
“Geek Squad Subscription Renewal” was convincingly professional in its
appearance, including a PDF invoice for a “Geek Squad Advanced Protection –
Annual Plan” renewal at $229.99. It claimed that my “account” had just been
charged, and included a toll-free number to call “if you want to cancel the
Renewal and claim the refund.” The telltale signs on this invoice were the
salutation of “Dear Dear”, my name listed as “Dear Customer”, and a random
return address that is a residential home in Mississippi according to Google
Maps. A third email followed the same modus operandi, had my name as “Existing
User”, a random return address in a residential neighborhood of Brooklyn, and
an alleged renewal fee of $299.87 for 3 years and up to 5 devices (the best
deal yet.) It, of course, included a toll-free phone number “in case you wish
to stop this transaction or stop auto-renewal”.
In the first two
of these three instances, the toll-free numbers (which I called from a
randomized phone number) were already disabled. The perpetrators hope that
recipients will panic and call them immediately while their temporary phone
numbers are still enabled. The third number was busy with other callers and
asked me to leave a return phone number. Of course, they will then ask for a
credit card or other account number in order to process the alleged “refund”.
Fight Back!
First of all,
pay close attention to unsafe content warnings in your email software. Then
never respond to requests for your private information, beware of messages that
convey a sense of urgency, and never click on unknown links. If you are one of
the millions of people who use Gmail as your email service provider, you can
report a phishing email that may have made its way to the inbox on your
computer by opening the message, clicking on the three vertical dots next to
the “Reply” icon, then clicking on “Report phishing.” If a phishing email asks
you to make a payment via PayPal, forward the entire email to phishing@paypal.com.
You may also
forward phishing emails to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org. This organization includes ISPs, banks, online security
companies, and law enforcement agencies. You can also report phishing attempts
to the Federal Trade Commission at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/. In the event that you have actually been a victim of a phishing
scam, first contact your bank or credit card company, where you will probably
want to change passwords and cancel your credit card. Then file a report with
the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at https://www.ic3.gov/. In most instances, you may also file a complaint with the office
of your state attorney general.
Nobody
likes being a victim of what is essentially online crime, but it is good to
know how to protect yourself and how to take responsive measures when
necessary.
When it comes to promoting
your business, there is always a challenge in choosing between taking a
conventional or a more original approach. The choices are not necessarily
mutually exclusive, and it is more likely that you need to find a balance
between the two. For most small businesses, the bulk of their advertising
budgets are split among online resources, broadcast media, and to an ever-declining
degree, print. Campgrounds are somewhat unique in that, unlike other typical
small businesses, their customer base is generally regional, national (and even
international) rather than local. While the local automobile dealership, law
firm or home improvement contractor will spend a significant amount of money on
local radio, television and newspaper, these outlets would almost totally miss
the mark in attempting to reach a campground’s less localized customer base.
With campgrounds, the primary means of marketing will be a mix of online (which
will likely include their own websites, third-party websites, social media, and
a supplement of online advertising) and print (which will likely include
collateral advertising such as brochures or rack cards, directory advertising,
and occasionally direct mail.) Many campgrounds will also participate in
off-season RV and travel shows.
The objective will always be
the same, and that is to reach a base of both new and repeat customers in a
manner where the messaging is consistent, distinctive, and cost-effective in
terms of return on investment. There are decisions to be made, and one of your
key decisions will be whether to take a familiar marketing posture or a more
original approach. An original approach will catch attention and likely allow
your business to stand out from its competition, but it must be done in a
manner that nonetheless clearly identifies your business as an outdoor
hospitality offering. It must work within the usual distribution channels and fit
within your budget. Taking collateral advertising as an example, a rack card or
brochure with an unconventional format might stand out on its own; however, a
taller, wider, or die-cut piece might fail to fit within literature
distribution racks, as well as being more costly to produce. The nicest piece
of literature that will not work within the usual distribution channels will
amount to a total failure, as will a piece of literature that leaves
prospective customers confused regarding the actual identity of your business.
The online components of
your marketing campaign can be even more challenging. Not only does your
message need to appeal and be clear in the eyes of prospective customers, but
it needs to be equally clear to search engine robots or it will never reach its
intended audience – unless you want to throw a significant sum of money against
the wind in online advertising. With digital marketing – websites in particular – there is that choice between the tried
and true and going out on a creative limb. Let me point out that there is a
difference – a big difference –
between proven familiarity and a humdrum approach that comes with
template-driven content and do-it-yourself website builders from companies such
as Wix and GoDaddy. Unless you have the knowledge and capability to customize
that content, templates provide a “one size fits all” approach at best. Yes, a
template can be chosen that broadly applies to any general business
classification, but just think how many diverse types of businesses all fall
within the “travel” or “leisure” categories.
A proven layout and design
will be both user-friendly and highly intuitive, where the key to customization
lies much more within its content than the basic layout itself. Your message
needs to “wow” people with high quality photography (where image quality is far
more important than the quantity of images thrown onto a page), professionally
produced video (that is ADA compliant and not in violation of any creative
copyrights) if it is available, outstanding graphic design (that includes a
distinctive logo and a coordinated color palette and carefully selected fonts
that are based upon that logo), and text that is written like a Hallmark®
greeting card. When everything works together, your website should be designed
to fulfill a need or desire – in this case to get away from it all and spend a
weekend or longer, not only in the outdoors, but at your particular park. Your
website should provide your prospective guests with the type of validation that
assures them that they are in the process of making the right decision by
choosing your park. Elements such as those quality photos or videos and
credible testimonials help to provide that validation, while spelling mistakes
and unanswered questions can encourage the same guest to seek out alternative
options. There may be only a single opportunity to reach that first-time guest
or to persuade a return guest to look no further, and you need to make that
opportunity as persuasive as possible.
Human beings are highly
social creatures, and therein lies much of the appeal of the camping and
outdoor hospitality experience. Just think of all of the social environments
that we have created for ourselves over time. These range from the communes of
the 1960s to the gated communities that might be populated today by those same
people in their retirement years. Other examples include fraternal
organizations, veterans’ groups, alumni clubs, church congregations, social
media groups on sites such as Facebook and Meetup, and even the local tavern.
We have all seen automobile rallies and cruises that are populated by proud
Corvette® owners or drivers of Mazda® Miatas®,
and how often have you seen a single Harley-Davidson® motorcycle
riding down the highway? Familiarity ensures that we will be within our own
comfort zones whenever we leave the ultimate comfort zone – home. HINT: Particularly if your campground offers
pavilions and a group camping area, why not reach out directly to these types
of groups and rallies?
If carefully
executed, your tightly coordinated marketing campaign should present your
campground as just such a community, where new members feel welcome and a
desire to belong. Are you meeting that objective?
My company builds websites
for the campground industry. A few years ago I reached out to the manager of a
campground in a Northern state whose website would appear to be in desperate
need of replacement. Its 14 year old website (nearly a century in either
website or dog years!) was not mobile-friendly, had zero in terms of SEO
(search engine optimization), was not ADA compliant (really an unknown issue at
that time), had nothing but a phone number to call for reservations, did not
even list the campground’s address, and had not been updated since it was built
(still promoting that the park was the “newest” in its area.) After being asked
to quote on a new website, the manager responded that my company’s services
were “to rich” (sic) for his campground that was only open for a 5 month
season.
I explained that most
campgrounds in the Northern states were only open from late spring through
early fall, hardly an operating calendar that was unique to his park. Based
upon the weekly rates that are published on his website, if a new
professionally designed website brought in only 15 new campers who would not
have otherwise chosen to stay at his campground, he would have fully recovered
his investment during a single season. That investment recovery would not even
include the additional income generated by those guests’ purchases in his
store, laundromat, game room, or fee-based added services. I went on to ask if
his park was at full occupancy throughout its 5 month season, pointing out how the
satellite image on Google Earth showed that his park had 48 sites – 35
pull-thrus and 13 back-ins – only 16 of which were occupied at the moment when
that most recent image was captured.
I am referencing this
campground’s website as simply an example of short-sighted thinking. The
campground manager could have been dismissing the cost of Wi-Fi service,
reservation software, upgraded electrical service, energy efficiency upgrades,
a new line of store merchandise, a new dumping station or honey wagon, new
rental boats, cabin or park model rentals, yurts or teepees, branded apparel, or
replacements for the worn out and inefficient washers and dryers in his
laundromat. Translated from the original Latin, the adage that “you have to
spend money to make money” is nothing new, originally credited to the Roman
playwright Titus Maccius Plautus a little over two millennia ago.
I can understand a short
season factoring into a decision to purchase a motorcycle, snowmobile,
speedboat, convertible automobile, or any other consumer good that represents
an emotional want rather than a physical need. Those decisions all involve the
purchase of personal goods, whereas an entirely different set of standards
should apply when making well-informed business decisions.
I have always found it
useful to make business decisions based upon the measurement of projected
return on investment. This can apply to almost any purchase. Let me use Wi-Fi
as an example, along with a few rounded numbers to simplify calculations. Let’s
presume that you run a campground with 100 sites, that your average nightly
site fee is $50.00, that the average guest stays two nights, you have an
average occupancy rate of 50%, your season runs 150 days, and that 50% of your
prospective campers demand Wi-Fi and will not stay at a park that does not
offer high-speed Internet at sites. Let’s also presume that the cost of a new
Wi-Fi installation at this small- to medium-sized park would be $7,500.00
(admittedly on the high side.) Although some parks charge for the service, and
others offer tiered service levels, let’s presume that your park is going to
treat Wi-Fi service as a utility that will be provided to its guests at no
added charge as part of its overnight fee.
If the added service
increases occupancy from 50% to just 60%, that means filling 10 otherwise empty
campsites at $50.00 per night. Over the course of a 150 day season, this
represents $7,500.00 in income, fully recovering the investment in the new
Wi-Fi system, or an investment that is recouped in a single season. If your
park is in a competitive market that allows it to charge for Wi-Fi service, the
payback period may be even shorter. The same sort of calculations can be
applied to an investment in upgraded electrical services, when your prospective
guests are seeking out reliable 50-amp service when most of your sites are
providing 20- or 30-amp service through rusty power pedestals with circuit
breakers that trip open on a regular basis. In fact, when it comes to park
utilities, problems with Wi-Fi, electrical service, roadways, water pressure
and sewerage are just as likely to lead to an abbreviated stay as an obnoxious
camper or barking dog on an adjacent site. The same claim may be made for
restrooms or playgrounds in dire need of upgrades, a store with too many empty
shelves, or a game room with too many “out of order” signs. Weaknesses in these
areas can actually be driving away business, as well as inflicting harm on
review sites.
When it comes to less
tangible services such as a park’s website, reservation software, planned
activities and advertising, it is still quite easy to calculate return on
investment and to make informed decisions. In fact, these represent some of the
best ways to spread the word about that new Wi-Fi or electrical service,
essentially speeding the return on investment on those infrastructural
improvements.
Think twice – and
perform some calculations – prior to dismissing a business investment out of
hand. That “too costly” investment may be both easily recovered and the key to
running your business more profitably than ever.
We are all feeling a
financial pinch during these days of rampant global inflation. We feel it at
the fuel pumps, the supermarkets, and just about everywhere. The price of a
dozen ears of sweet corn at my local farm stands that cost $6.00 in recent
years has jumped to $9.00 this year. In all probability, you have raised the
prices of your campsites. As prices increase, incomes just cannot seem to keep
up. While you are waiting for corporate buyers to
come knocking at your door with the right offer, here are ten concrete tips for
cutting your expenses and making inflation more bearable, in some instances for
your household and in some instances for your business. Several of these
involve rethinking old habits and finding new ways of doing things.
1) Cut the land lines. Are you still
paying your local phone company for landline telephone service? If so, you are likely
paying a substantial fee each month, when half of your incoming calls are
probably from telemarketers and robocallers. If you have high-speed Internet
service, there are several companies that sell telephone equipment that runs
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), with monthly fees for premium services
that might be as little as $20.00 per month, including unlimited calling
throughout North America. The service is reliable, your existing phone
number(s) will port over to the new service, the sound is crystal clear, and it
generally includes some highly effective call blocking features. Service
providers include Ooma, RingCentral, Nextiva and Vonage, among others.
2) You have a fax machine? The technology
behind the fax machine is as old as the hills, introduced by Western Union in
the late 1940s, then adapted to use telephone lines by Xerox in 1964. During
the 1980s, a fax machine was considered essential office equipment. Since then,
it has become little more than an annoyance that presents unsolicited (and
illegal) advertising from disreputable timeshare companies, cruise agents, and
roofing contractors. If you still have one of these machines cluttering up a
desk in your office, it is way past time to kiss it goodbye, saving the expense
of paper, ink or toner, and perhaps a dedicated phone line. The same companies
that provide VoIP telephone service include easy-to-use virtual fax features.
If you receive a fax, it comes in as a PDF file that you can preview, then
decide whether to print or delete.
3) Are you overpaying for mobile service? Like everybody these days, you probably have mobile phone service
from one of the major carriers such as AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile. Check
your next billing statement to see if you are paying for services that are
either unused or that exceed your needs. For example, you might be paying for a
plan that includes 20GB of monthly data transfer when you never use more than
2GB. Call your carrier and speak with a sales associate, explaining that you
need to reduce your monthly billing, perhaps citing prices from a competitive
company. They will reduce your monthly billing, but not without you taking the
initiative to ask. For example, AT&T offers a 10% monthly discount if you
are a military veteran.
4) Are you paying for satellite radio? When you buy a new vehicle, it generally comes with at least a
month of trial service with Sirius XM. The company hopes that you will grow
accustomed to its service and continue as a paid subscriber. I personally have
thumb drives in my vehicles that I have pre-loaded with about 12,000 songs that
play randomly and only include music and artists that I want to hear. If you
are really hooked on satellite radio, let your service expire for two or three
days without renewing. Then contact the service provider for a renewal discount.
You will pay half price, but may have to repeat this routine every six months.
5) Do you ask for discounts? If you
are over 50, you are no doubt an AARP member. When you make a purchase, ask if
there is a discount associated with your membership. Five years ago, when
buying a new vehicle (and already negotiating a serious discount), I asked the
sales associate if there was an AARP discount. Much to my surprise (and his
surprise!), there was an additional $3,000.00 taken off the price of that
vehicle. There are also discounts associated with memberships in auto clubs,
fraternal organizations, and your national and state campground associations
such as ARVC.
6) Go solar! Although the incentives will vary from state to state, and the savings and cost-effectiveness will vary with your local utility rates, installing rooftop or ground-mounted solar panels is a no-brainer, even in northern latitudes. Lacking a really good southern exposure, surrounded by tall trees and in a region where the panels get covered with snow during the winter months, the 47 panels on the roofs of my own home save us approximately $1,200.00 per year by feeding power back into the grid through net metering. You can purchase your system outright, or there are companies that will install a system at no charge to you. In the latter instance, you are essentially leasing your roof space, with an agreement to purchase the power that is generated at a fraction of the fees that would be charged by your local utility, over the course of the 20-25 year lifespan of the system. The installer reaps the tax incentives and is also responsible for service and maintenance. In some instances, your system can tie into battery storage with a Tesla Powerwall® or similar system that will also serve as a short-term substitute for an expensive backup power generator.
7) Cut the cable. If you are paying your local cable services provider for TV, phone and high-speed Internet, even a bundled service might be highly overpriced. In most areas, cable service providers have a localized monopoly, with no incentive to be competitively priced. There are options. For example, T-Mobile has recently introduced 5G broadband Internet service for only $50.00 per month, which could represent quite a savings.
8) Go paperless. If you have
monthly recurring payments, almost all companies will offer you a discount if
you agree to paperless billing, saving them the expense of mailing paper
statements. There will usually be an additional discount if you set up
automatic payments.
9) Lower your interest rates. If you
use a credit card, and particularly if you carry a balance from month to month,
call the company and ask them to reduce the interest rate, lower any annual
fee, or convert you to a more affordable card. Once again, they are not going
to reduce their profit margins on your account unless you ask.
10) Lower your credit card processing fees. Your small business is probably running an ever-increasing volume of transactions through a credit card merchant services provider. Be sure that the fees are competitive or be willing to switch to another provider. There are companies such as Pennsylvania-based MCPS for Campgrounds that specialize in working with the campground industry and offer highly competitive rates.
Yes, times are a bit tough, but that is when it is time to think smart, break a few old habits, and consider new ways of doing things.
It is no secret that, in
general, campgrounds weathered the recent COVID-19 pandemic quite nicely. In
fact, many park owners were able to raise prices in response to the combination
of the low supply and higher than ever demand for campsites. While most of those customers, including many first-time
campers, would like to continue their pursuit of the camping experience,
another potential roadblock is now in play.
With the global
economy teetering on recession, the biggest consumer headaches are skyrocketing
mortgage rates, food costs and fuel costs, with fuel costs most directly
impacting the desire to camp. According to a late June 2022 CBS News report,
the people who purchased new RVs during the pandemic are not yet being
dissuaded from engaging in their camping pursuits, though they are likely to seek
refuges that are closer to home in order to trim their travel expenses. Another
recent Associated Press report indicates that consumers are now facing what is
referred to as “demand destruction” when it comes to filling their vehicles
with gasoline or diesel at what are now all-time record high prices per gallon.
Particularly for
campground owners with parks that have historically offered overnight stops for
cross-country travelers, or parks that are adjacent to off-the-beaten-path
tourist destinations, now might be a good time to consider taking preemptive
actions to ensure a steady flow of business. According to Forbes Magazine, many
companies are offering fuel incentives to their employees as they return to
their office commutes after months of working from home. Why not rethink that
strategy and offer minor subsidies to your customers who cannot reach you
without filling their tanks? One of my suggestions is to look into the use of
prepaid fuel cards as a customer incentive that will help campers to justify
traveling that extra mile.
Gift Card Rewards
We are all
familiar with gift cards, probably purchasing them as last-minute gifts for
friends and relatives. Most are purchased for retail merchants at gift card
kiosks in supermarkets, convenience stores, and shopping malls. What I am
suggesting is the use of cards that are purchased in bulk, perhaps even
customized with your business name or logo, that are specifically for use at
the fuel pumps of a major oil company that has a station near your place of
business.
Everybody
responds to incentives, and there is no incentive as effective as a perceived
rebate. Let’s say you have a Shell Oil station down the road. Depending upon
your available inventory — and this ties in directly to dynamic pricing — you
could offer a $20.00 Shell gift card to people who camp mid-week, camp on a
historically slow weekend, or arrive on a Thursday night for an extended
weekend. To be effective, the card must have a significant perceived value (I
suggest $20.00), but that incentive can be much more effective than a
corresponding drop in dynamic pricing. We all know that it costs much more than
$20.00 to fill a vehicle with gasoline or diesel these days, but that incentive
can go a long way toward having a camper choose your park over another, even if
it means traveling that extra mile.
There are two
types of bulk gift cards that may be purchased. So-called “open loop” gift
cards are prepaid Visa or MasterCard cards that may be used anywhere. These,
for a significant one-time fee, are the cards that can be customized with your
business name or logo. What I am suggesting are “closed loop” gift cards that
are specifically used at one business. There are also both digital and plastic
gift cards, and my recommendation is the use of the plastic cards. Their
tangibility gives them greater perceived value. Of course, you need to keep
these stored in a secure location within your office, treating a stack of
$20.00 gift cards the same way you would treat a stack of $20.00 bills.
How to Purchase Bulk Gift Cards
The companies
that specialize in selling bulk gift cards earn their income from fees that are
paid by the merchants. Merchants can afford to absorb their fees because cards
that are either unused or only partially redeemed can represent a major source
of income. They also realize that somebody redeeming a $20.00 gift card is
likely to make an additional purchase, another source of income. Most cards
will also have an expiration date, so be sure to be aware of that timeframe
both when purchasing bulk cards and when distributing them to your customers.
The advantage to buying these cards in bulk is to circumvent the usual 20 card
limit when purchasing gift cards at the retail level. In addition, though most
cards are purchased at face value, some merchants may even provide small
discount incentives, although others may charge a premium (best to be avoided)
and some cards may be on back order due to high demand.
Two online merchants that sell bulk gift cards are PerfectGift.com and BlackhawkNetwork.com. When it comes to oil company gift cards, both of these merchants represent the following companies: 76, ARCO, BP/Amoco, Chevron, Circle K, Conoco, ExxonMobil, Gulf, Sheetz, Shell, Sinclair, Speedway, Sunoco, Texaco, and Wawa. In addition, Blackhawk represents Marathon and Phillips 66. There are other smaller bulk card merchants, such as GiftCardPartners.com which only represents Sheetz, Shell, Speedway, and Wawa.
Take This to the Next Level
If you decide to
pursue this type of incentive program, try to arrange an expanded arrangement
with your local merchant. A smart gas station operator will realize that it
takes more than $20.00 to fill a tank on a motorhome or a big pickup truck, and
that you are essentially sending them business. Your mutual customer is likely
to purchase not only more fuel but items from a full range of convenience and
food items that might be offered. This local merchant whose business you are
promoting should be willing to display your brochures or rack cards on his
counter, and he should be a prime prospect to advertise in your guest guides.
In fact, if there is more than one brand of fuel available within easy reach of
your business, the willingness to participate might dictate which brand you
choose to associate with your business.
You have no doubt heard about Starlink, the satellite-based high-speed Internet service from SpaceX. To say that Starlink is innovative and groundbreaking in every way imaginable would be quite an understatement. Primarily intended to provide broadband Internet to people in remote locations, Starlink differs from other satellite-based Internet service providers such as HughesNet. Unlike conventional satellite networks that use small numbers of enormous satellites in geosynchronous orbits over 22,000 miles into space, Starlink employs a “constellation” of 573 pound refrigerator-sized satellites in low Earth orbit at an operational altitude of only 340 miles. Based upon those orbital heights alone, the improvements in signal latency are tremendous.
At the time of this writing
(late May of 2022), there are currently about 2,400 Starlink satellites in
orbit, mostly operational and some on standby. SpaceX is launching another 50
or so into orbit about once a week, essentially as fast as they can be built. The
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has licensed SpaceX for 12,000
Starlink satellites, and international regulators are expected to license
another 30,000, totaling the 42,000 satellites that SpaceX hopes to eventually
deploy in its “megaconstellation”. Each of the satellites presents the
connecting point between end users and fiber optic gateway ground stations that
provide the Internet data that is being requested. The distance between an end
user and the associated ground station also influences the overall connection
speed and latency, and SpaceX is continually adding new ground stations while
also introducing a new generation of Starlink satellites that will communicate
directly with one another at the speed of light via laser, minimizing the
number of ground stations needed.
In case you haven’t already guessed, I am a Starlink subscriber who is quite enthused with the service. Until recently, people waited up to a year for their Starlink equipment, but the service is readily available now. I am based in a heavily wooded, rural location in Western Massachusetts, and at any given time, I am connecting to one of anywhere from 6 to 12 satellites that are within view of my very carefully mounted antenna. Depending upon which satellite is connecting with my equipment (a fluid process that is constantly changing), my data might be coming from a ground station in Litchfield, CT; Lunenburg, VT; Beekmantown, NY; Lockport, NY; or even Sullivan, ME. It you really want to geek out and monitor your connections in real time, I highly recommend the third-party Starlink Coverage Tracker at starlink.sx.
Back
to My Original Question
Is Starlink right for you?
Maybe. Starlink is primarily designed to provide high-speed Internet service
for people in rural and underserved areas. Until now, my only option was DSL
(which I think is an acronym for “Darned SLow”) or paying Comcast $20,000.00 to
extend the cable to my residence so I would then have the privilege of
subscribing to their service. With Starlink, you are seamlessly connecting to a
satellite within the constellation that is within reach of your antenna, so latency,
download speeds and upload speeds will continually fluctuate but are roughly 20
times the speed of DSL. With our DSL phone lines now ported to Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) through Ooma (for both my business and residential
services), I was able to cancel our services with Verizon, effectively
offsetting the Starlink subscription fee. Every service and device in our
household that requires an Internet connection is running through Starlink,
with bandwidth to spare.
The rule of thumb is that,
if you have fiber optic or cable available, one of those would be your first
choice. If not, Starlink will be your first choice. There are three options
currently available.
Residential
I am subscribing to the
residential service. The equipment consists of a rectangular antenna, a WiFi
router and power supply, a 75 foot cable, and what I would consider a temporary
mount. This equipment will currently cost you $599.00, plus $50.00 shipping. It
is said that this is about a third of what the equipment costs to manufacture,
and one of the things that I really like is that everything is marked “Made in
the USA”. The antenna is really remarkable. It sets itself up, motorized to
track satellites in real time, and it is heated and programmed to automatically
melt snow and ice in the winter. Choosing the antenna location is accomplished
through the Starlink phone app, which will also show
you obstructions in real time, including any resulting loss of signal. I
mentioned that the mount was temporary. There are a variety of heavy-duty
permanent mounts available as accessories that can only be ordered after you
already have your equipment. In my case, a roof pivot mount and flashing mount
were another $101.00. You will probably also want the optional Ethernet
adapter, which is another $25.00. I found that my desktop computer does not
have a very good WiFi adapter, and using the Ethernet adapter (that I have
attached to a gigabyte switch) made a BIG difference in connection speed. The
recurring fee for residential service is $110.00 per month, with no data
limits.
Business
There is a
Starlink option for businesses, with faster Internet speeds and greater
throughput that partially result from an antenna that is twice the size of the
residential unit. It is intended for businesses and storefronts with up to 20
users at any given time, and multiple kits can be run through a single
centralized account to increase that bandwidth. This option comes at a price.
The equipment currently costs $2,500.00, and the monthly subscription fee is
$500.00. Talk to your WiFi network provider to see if this is a viable option
for your campground. As with all Starlink services, a clear view of the sky is
essential.
Starlink for RVs
Starlink for RVs
became available on May 23, 2022. Up until now, subscriptions were for only one
fixed location. This option allows use anywhere you travel where there is
active coverage and an unobstructed view of the sky. Currently, that coverage
is spotty in the Eastern United States, except for Northern New England and
upstate New York. Active coverage is generally available in the Plains States
and most of the interior West, with spotty coverage in parts of Colorado,
California, Oregon and Washington. Keep in mind that Starlink is being rolled
out to first serve remote areas where Internet access options are otherwise
limited. Active coverage is generally available throughout Southern Canada and
all of Mexico. Active coverage is expected throughout the rest of the United
States, including Alaska, by some point in 2023. Starlink for RVs has the same
equipment and cost as Starlink Residential, and the monthly subscription fee is
currently $135.00 per month. The service can be paused and un-paused on a
monthly basis to coincide with individual travel plans. For this to work
effectively, you will want to choose to stay at open grassy campsites whenever
possible rather than heavily wooded sites, since tree coverage will definitely
degrade service. This plan also makes sense for people with a summer home in a
remote location, but without excessive tree coverage. Bear in mind that this
service cannot be used while you are driving down the road in your RV, although
that type of mobile service is in the planning and regulatory approval stages.
In Summary
There are factors other than price and tree coverage to take into account when considering Starlink. Do you want to help make the world’s richest person (Elon Musk) even richer, or reward him for his genius? Other concerns include potentially negative impacts upon astronomy and concerns about orbital collisions and eventual re-entry into the atmosphere, but SpaceX is addressing those concerns. For example, these satellites have an onboard autonomous collision avoidance system and an onboard propulsion system that is designed to safely de-orbit each unit at end of life. Taking all of these factors into consideration, I am pleased with my experience so far.
On a recent trip to
Pennsylvania, when I hope the prices of automotive fuel had reached their peak,
I think everybody in America had become all too familiar with the term “pain at
the pump.” To add insult to injury, all three of the vehicles that my wife and
I own and drive are diesels. These turbo diesels are highly fuel-efficient, and
we drove my car, which gets 45 miles per gallon on the highway. We saw diesel
prices on the side of I-78 as high as $6.099 per gallon, and I considered
myself lucky to fill up at $5.199 on the return trip, using a discount card at
a convenience store chain in Scranton.
Even if the price of fuel
settles a bit, two things are clear: One is that more and more campers will
want to turn to either seasonal camping or incentives where they will be
allowed to leave their campers on-site between weekends. The other is that
campgrounds are going to be seeing more and more electric vehicles (EVs) as
time goes on … and this time will be much sooner than expected. This is a
market that smart campground owners will cater to, not discourage.
Few campgrounds prohibit
pets because that would decimate their potential pool of campers. Instead, they
allow pets and have appropriate rules and associated fees. On the same token,
campgrounds should welcome drivers of EVs. I have seen some campgrounds that
either foolishly prohibit EVs or charge fees that are far in excess of the
actual electric usage costs of charging. On a pre-pandemic vacation in
California, I rented a Tesla and went out of my way to favor restaurants and
other businesses with charging stations.
If you are seeking to
attract new campers, consider the statistics. According to the manufacturer,
Tesla built and delivered nearly 1,000,000 vehicles in 2021, which represented
an 87% increase in numbers over 2020. Compare that with only 726,000 Ford
F-Series pickups, which are the best-selling vehicles in America. The Tesla
Model Y and Model 3 are among the 20 top-selling vehicles in the United States
today. You probably know that Ford will be introducing its 2022 F-150 Lightning
within the coming days, an EV that is designed for towing a camper.
Can
Your Park Handle the Load?
Before you think
that EV charging is going to dim your lights and blow your circuit breakers,
bear in mind that you have probably already upgraded your electrical
infrastructure to accommodate big rigs with multiple air conditioning units
that can draw tens of thousands of watts of power during the course of the day.
When charging, a typical EV will consume a steady amount of power (unless it is
plugged in at a Tesla Supercharger station) of about 7,000 watts and 32 amps. On
the other hand, a single air conditioning unit in a big rig might use 3,200
watts and 27 amps at startup, then settling down to about 1,200 watts and 10
amps. Power hogs such as microwave ovens will consume their power in surges. If
your park has 600-amp service and is already equipped with 50-amp pedestals,
you or your electrician can do the math to determine how many EVs can be
charging at any one time, along with what you can charge their owners for their
use of the service and what they are willing to pay, keeping in mind that Tesla
owners are used to paying 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt hour at conventional
charging stations. Most EVs will charge overnight, when temperatures have
cooled down and air conditioner and appliance usages are lower.
Your customer
will either have the necessary NEMA 14-50 adapter for 240 volt level 2 charging
or could buy one in your store, another potential profit point. Talk with your
electrical products provider, but an EV and an RV can often coexist on a single
50-amp power pedestal. According
to the RVIA, KOA is currently in the process
of installing level 2 chargers at KOA parks across the United States and Canada,
using power pedestals supplied by Jamestown Advanced Products. KOA’s decision
was no doubt based in part upon its most recent study, which found that one out
of five campers owns an EV, significantly higher than the statistics for
non-campers and the general public.
Another option
for getting on board is to see if your business qualifies for one or more free
charging stations (valued at $500.00 each) from Tesla. The primary requirements
are that your business has a significant volume of drive-in traffic and that
you will be willing to provide the electrical work. This could accommodate
customers who are not otherwise occupying a campsite with a 50-amp power
pedestal – tenters, for example. If your park provides non-camping related
services, such as a restaurant, swimming lake or miniature golf course, these
charging stations definitely offer the potential of increasing your business
revenue, both in charging fees and indirect sales. In fact, the navigation
systems in Tesla vehicles will even guide drivers directly to your location. To
see if you qualify, go here: https://www.tesla.com/charging-partners
It’s Time to Get on Board
Electric
vehicles are not the latest pet rock. They are here to stay. The Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in
November 2021, includes $5 billion in funding to add a network of 500,000 new charging
stations along our nation’s highways, with additional funding that is earmarked
for rural locations. This will help to make EVs all the more practical and
affordable to own and operate, with a target that EVs will account for 50% of
new vehicle sales by 2030.
Remember
when some park owners balked at the thought of providing WiFi to their campers?
They suddenly faced the realization that WiFi was the most sought-after amenity
at campgrounds. Take the lead rather than being left behind when it comes to EV
charging stations at your park!
Just about any business has an online presence in order to survive these days. When you are on track with a domain name and a website, the related third rail is inevitably business email. Back in the Internet’s age of innocence, most of the companies that hosted websites (often small, local service providers) also hosted business email accounts that were associated with the website domain names. This allowed the owner of Tallest Oaks Campground to have an email address such as camp@tallestoakscampground.com.
Soon afterward, most small to medium sized website hosting service providers learned that hosting email was not only a headache but an intense migraine. Incoming spam attacks – or outgoing spam attacks, after a customer may have inadvertently installed a virus on his computer – could slow down or crash a server just as effectively as a DDOS (distributed denial of service) attack upon a hosted website. It was time to find an email hosting services provider that was willing and capable of dealing with those risks.
I have always told people
that “real businesses do not have email addresses that end in @yahoo.com,
@hotmail.com, or @aol.com”, just like real businesses have physical addresses
and not just a post office box. Most of the larger companies, such as GoDaddy,
that provide domain name registration and website hosting services will also
host business email – for a price. Oftentimes it will only be offered as part
of a package that includes more profitable components such as website hosting
itself. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the quality and
reliability of service, many small businesses turned to Google for email
hosting. The Gmail interface is intuitive and easy to use, and it is relatively
easy to set up accounts to sync with popular third-party email clients such as
Microsoft Outlook.
Either out of the goodness
of its heart – remember that Google’s
original motto was “Don’t be evil”, later modified to “Do the right thing” –
or to get people accustomed to using its services, Google provided free hosting
of small business email accounts until December of 2012. At that point, Google
started charging for new business email accounts, but any existing accounts
were grandfathered in to the free service. Well, earlier this year, Google
announced that the grandfather arrangement would be ending this summer.
If you have been using this service, you have received email notifications as well as notices on your Gmail interface that read:
Act now and switch to Google Workspace Your access to the G Suite legacy free edition will end soon. As a valued customer, you’re eligible to switch now to a new Google Workspace subscription and enjoy a special discount. Or, in the coming weeks, you’ll be able to join a waitlist for a no-cost option. If you take no action by June 1, 2022, we’ll automatically transition you to the recommended Google Workspace subscription.
Your access to the G Suite legacy free edition will end soon. As a valued customer, you’re eligible to switch now to a new Google Workspace subscription and enjoy a special discount. Or, in the coming weeks, you’ll be able to join a waitlist for a no-cost option. If you take no action by June 1, 2022, we’ll automatically transition you to the recommended Google Workspace subscription.
The Google
Workspace edition that is the most similar to the previously free service is
Business Starter. Other options include Business Standard, Business Plus,
Enterprise editions, and Essentials editions. These all come bundled with added
services that you probably neither need nor want but that help to justify the
new expense. They all allow you to set up email accounts using your own domain,
what they now call professional email.
Unless you make
alternate arrangements or sign up for the less than clearly defined “waitlist”,
you will be billed for the new service beginning on July 1, 2022. (As of this writing, Google is still yet to
define this “waitlist”, but it may allow you to buy a bit of time. Speculation
is that any free account may involve converting email addresses to @gmail
accounts.) The Business Starter edition of Google Workspace will cost $6.00
per user per month; the Business Standard edition will be $12.00 per user per
month; and the Business Plus edition will be $18.00 per user per month. Even if
you transition to the least expensive Business Starter edition and have 6 employees
with their own email accounts, you will be looking at a new expense of $432.00
per year.
All of these
plans are less costly than comparable plans with Microsoft Office 365, but this
is still a bitter pill to swallow. Alternatively, there are optional email
hosting services available that provide everything that you need but without
the added bells and whistles that come with Google Workspace at a fraction of
the cost. One such company is Namecheap, where it’s fairly robust and most popular plan is just over
$25.00 per year for 3 mailboxes, or an even more robust plan is less than
$44.00 per year for 5 mailboxes. Of course, bargain email hosting plans are
probably going to include popup ads, less than 99.99% reliability, and other
compromises. You should also be aware that migrating email from one service
provider to another can be a major task, even though many service providers
claim that they will automate the process. Google is no doubt counting on these
factors to help its subscribers to “grin and bear it” when it comes to the new
expense.
My own company began setting up its new clients’ email hosting to run through the Rackspace mail servers a decade ago, when Google started charging for new accounts. This service is on a par with Google’s offerings and is affordable on a per-user basis under our enterprise contract, allowing us to provide the service at no charge to our website hosting clients. Individual plans with Rackspace Email Plus cost just under $48.00 per user per year, which is significantly less than the roughly equivalent Google Workspace Business Plus. At minimum, now is clearly the time to rethink whether individual employees need their own email accounts. I have previously made the argument against individual employee email accounts in this column, strictly on the basis of security risks, but now there is an additional cost to consider. At one point in time, most of us thought of email as something that was a free service, like over the air television, but somebody was paying the price. Eventually that “somebody” becomes the end users.
What’s next? Google recently announced that it will be discontinuing Universal Analytics and replacing it with Google Analytics 4. Unless you upgrade, the Google Analytics running on your website will stop processing new traffic on July 1, 2023. There will be better cross-platform tracking across web and app platforms, but I am willing to wager that pricing for the previously free service will be announced in the coming months.
Have you ever eaten a
Chinese gooseberry? In their country of origin, the fruit’s original name
translated into ‘macaque fruit’, in reference to the monkeys that found it
particularly appealing. You probably do not recall ever eating one; however,
you have probably eaten kiwifruit, and they are one and the same thing. Widely
planted in New Zealand in the early part of the twentieth century, marketers
adopted the name of the country’s iconic flightless bird with a similar color
and shape to give the fruit a bit more name recognition and appeal. This fruit
is now grown in many countries around the world, including the United States,
and the ones in New Zealand have been distinctively branded as ‘Zespri’ in
order to identify them as the “real thing”.
Here in the United States,
the kiwifruit was popularized by Frieda Rapoport Caplan, the marketing genius
and founder of Frieda’s Specialty Produce who died at the age of 96 in early
2020. Frieda also introduced Americans to such specialty produce items as
spaghetti squash, purple sweet potatoes, brown mushrooms, star fruits, and over
200 other fruits and vegetables that were never previously sold in conventional
supermarkets. Ironically, she was allergic to kiwifruit.
How about Patagonian tooth
fish? Have you dined on that at an upscale seafood restaurant recently? Yes,
you probably have, except that it has been rebranded to appear on menus as
Chilean Sea Bass. Sticking with restaurant analogies, you know that you will
pay more for an order of Boeuf Bourguignon than an order of beef stew, and you
are more likely to consider an appetizer of escargots rather than snails. It is
all about branding and in some cases
rebranding.
Give
Rebranding Careful Thought
There are many reasons for
moving forward with name changes and rebranding. In some instances, it is time
to move away from racial and ethnic stereotypes, the rationale behind the
changes in the names of so many sports teams in recent years. Living in
Massachusetts (admittedly one of the most politically correct states in the
country) most of my life, I have seen the football team at the University of
Massachusetts evolve from the UMass Redmen to the UMass Minutemen. Earlier in
the school’s history, as a Land Grant college that was originally known as the
Massachusetts Agricultural College, the football team was known as the Mass
Aggies, so change is not something that is particularly new.
When you are ready, think
forward. According to Wikipedia, when the Nissan Motor Company decided to
rebrand its line of export automobiles from Datsun to Nissan, the transition
took 3 years (1982-1984) at a cost in excess of $500 million in the United
States alone. That would be about $1.4 billion today. Just changing the signage
at 1,100 dealerships cost $30 million, and 5 years after the name change was
completed, Datsun still had greater name recognition than Nissan. Just think
how much money could have been saved had the Nissan name been used right from
the start.
A
Name Makes a Difference
Many people dreadfully fear
the thought of changing their business name, always dwelling on the risks
involved rather than focusing on the potential benefits. When it comes to
campgrounds, let’s face it: nearly every campground that joins a franchise
system or is purchased under a new corporate umbrella is likely to undergo a
name change and a dramatic rebranding. Of course, those situations involve
influxes of both financial and marketing support, but there are plenty of sound
reasons to jump-start a park’s identity under other circumstances as well.
Particularly in instances of
new ownership, the benefits of rebranding will often far outweigh the risks. In
many instances, a park reflects the name of its original owners but does little
else to create a unique identity. For example, years ago I worked with Len and
Kay DeMerritt, the owners of Len-Kay Camping Area in New Hampshire. When Len
and Kay retired and sold the park, it was wisely rebranded as Barrington
Shores.
There are other instances,
particularly in states like New York with hundreds of campgrounds, where there
are two or more parks with either the same or very similar names. Campers,
particularly first-time guests, can be understandably confused, sometimes
making reservations at one park and showing up at another. Like the story of
the Hatfields and the McCoys, far too often the owners in these situations are
too stubborn to take corrective measures to end the confusion and move forward.
If you are a new owner with little or no attachment to the original name,
making the change definitely involves an easier decision. There might even be
instances where a park’s name either says nothing or can literally scare
business away. For example, who would want to swim in the water at someplace
called “Leach Lake Campsites”?
I have recently helped the
new owners of Camp America in South Dakota to successfully rebrand their park
as Dakota Sunsets RV Park & Campground, the new owners of Whispering Pines
RV Resort in Michigan to successfully rebrand their park as Starlight
Campground & RV Park, and the new owners of “AAA RV Park” in Tennessee to
successfully rebrand their park as Coyote View RV Park. In the first instance,
the original owners probably had grand schemes of becoming the next nationwide
campground franchise, and in the last instance the previous owners probably
thought that their name would get them listed first in the yellow pages of
their local telephone directory.
Due
Diligence
If you are considering a
name change and rebranding, there are a few preliminary steps to take:
Consider potential names that are memorable,
unique, and help to identify your park.
Check to confirm that there is not already a
park or other business with the same name or a similar name in your state or a
nearby state. Use the online corporate identity search tools that can be found
on the website of the office of the Secretary of State in your state.
Rebranding is pointless if it causes confusion or could lead to a trademark
infringement lawsuit.
Confirm that your final name choice followed
by .com is readily available, and then register that domain name and any .com
variations.
Hire a professional logo artist to make that
new name visually distinctive.
Be prepared to budget for marketing, signage,
paint, employee shirts, and other incidental expenses.
Yes, there are costs
involved, but the rewards can be substantial, both in short-term business and
in the long-term value of your park to subsequent buyers.
Back in 2015 I wrote about
the corporatization that had taken place within the U.S. ski industry, with a
not so subtle warning that the same thing could occur within the family
campground industry. My article was inspired by my reading of “Downhill
Slide: Why the Corporate Ski Industry Is Bad for Skiing, Ski Towns, and the
Environment”, a highly compelling 2003 exposé written by
Hal Clifford, a former editor of Ski Magazine. In the book, Clifford documents
the evolution of skiing from its roots in Scandinavia, through a growth spurt
following the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid (New York), through the
development of Sun Valley (Idaho) as the first destination ski resort back in
1935-1938, through the return of World War II’s 10th Mountain
Division veterans, through another growth spurt following the 1960 Winter
Olympics in Squaw Valley (California), through the “industrial tourism” that it
became in the 1990s – when 3 major companies then controlled 24% of ticket
sales from coast to coast. According to the latest (December 2021) report from
the National Ski Areas Association, there are today 10 owners of the bulk of
the ski resorts in the United States. The largest of those, Vail Resorts, Inc.
is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and operates 37 ski resorts in 14
states plus Canada and Australia.
I have been working with the
family camping industry since 1982, although I started my business in the New
England ski industry back in 1980. With an intimate understanding of both industries,
I believe that there are parallels between the downhill skiing and family
camping industries and the corporatization that is taking place within both.
The “golden age” of skiing took
place in the 1950s. In New England alone, there are 605 defunct ski areas (most
operating in the 1950s) that are documented by the New
England Lost Ski Areas Project. Most of these were “mom
and pop” operations run on snowy hills, with rudimentary rope tows run by the
likes of tractors or old Packard automobile engines. In some instances, former
ski areas went on to be reinvented as family campgrounds. Over the next two
decades, destination resorts made it more and more difficult for mom and pop
ski areas to remain competitive. By 1975, there were only 745 ski areas
operating in the entire United States, a number that would drop to 509 by the
year 2000 and leveling off to 470 by the year 2020.
Lift
Tickets Equate to Campsites
It is hard to believe, but
it is a well-documented fact that most of the ski industry is no longer in the
business of selling lift tickets. Currently, the price of a single peak-day
lift ticket purchased at the ticket window at Steamboat (Colorado), one of 14
resorts owned and operated by Alterra Mountain Company, is now $279.00. That
ticket’s counterpart at Big Sky (Montana), one of 10 resorts owned by Boyne USA,
Inc., is $225.00 plus another $45.00 if you want to ride the aerial tram. Even
at these prices that only the super-rich can afford to pay, those tickets do
not begin to cover the expenses of the improvements that customers have grown
to expect.
The costs of operations and
improvements in the ski industry are simply astounding. Back in the year 2000,
a Poma detachable quad chairlift would cost just under $3 million to install,
plus another 15% for site preparation. Then it would cost about $14,000 per
month for the electricity to turn the lift. At the same time, an 8-place
gondola carrying passengers only 2,200 ft. would cost about $6 million, with a
monthly electric bill of approximately $20,000. The newest state-of-the-art
chairlift is the 8-person Kancamagus 8 chairlift that just opened at Loon
Mountain (New Hampshire). Although its cost has not been disclosed, it is
certain to have far surpassed the $8,000,000 cost of the 6-person Bluebird
Express when it was installed at Mount Snow (Vermont) a decade ago.
Then there are snowmaking
costs. The air compressors to run a bank of snow guns cost at least $250,000
each, and basic snow guns cost about $5,000 each. Newer fan-driven snow
machines cost about $35,000 each and have built-in air compressors. Either way,
the electricity to make the snow might cost a large resort $1,000,000 per
season. It is no wonder that many ski resorts have been investing in the
installation of mountain-top wind turbines to offset their energy consumption. In
Downhill Slide, Clifford cites an
interview with the general manager of Sugarbush Resort (Vermont), who said at
the time that his snowmaking costs were $1,000 per acre per inch, with a
monthly electric bill of $300,000 to $400,000. For all of this money, whether skiers
and snowboarders actually demanded the industry improvements, or whether they simply
got caught up in the competitive one-upmanship of corporate skiing, the
industry has changed.
In the ski industry, the
profit center is now real estate development, with million dollar building lots
for second homes, condominiums for every middle-to-upper income level,
fractional ownership, absentee homeowners, and artificial “ski villages” that
are designed to keep all of the dollars spent in the resort’s pockets. People
who were once attracted to authentic ski towns and their ambiance have found
those towns displaced by the new manufactured village concept, with bars,
restaurants, shops and hotels all designed to capitalize upon that now lost
romantic notion of the ski towns of yesteryear.
Yes, there are many
parallels between what is happening in the ski industry and the family camping
industry in North America, both based upon classic outdoor experiences. Any
campground owner is intimately familiar with the costs of improvements, repairs
and maintenance, utilities, mortgage interest, insurance, advertising, wages,
licensing and entertainment. When your campers are expecting something new and
exciting, a new spray park might cost $1,000,000, and a full-sized waterpark
might cost $10,000,000 or more. It takes a lot of camper nights and other
sources of revenue to recoup those costs even when amortized over the expected
lifespan of the improvements.
The bottom line is
that there are forces that are driving up the price of camping and that profits
cannot be based solely upon campsite fees. There is a strong demand for
campgrounds as investment properties these days, with parks being bought and
sold at a lightning pace, and most of those sales going from mom and pop
operations to corporate ownership groups. One such group identifies itself as
an investment firm that generates “long term wealth and cash flow while
protecting investor capital”, a bit of a departure from friendly camping with
mom and pop. Based upon what has taken place in the ski industry, the overall
experience for camping consumers might improve, at the expense of losing its
personal appeal and affordability. Is it a good evolution for the industry? I
doubt it, but time will tell.