Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / a41cats
Campground owners and managers … here’s a little secret. Campground guests talk to each other--about your facilities. Yes, while you are in the office, the people in Site #26 are chatting with the nice couple in Site #28. Surprisingly, the subjects of conversation are similar. After the perfunctory “Where are you from?” and “How do you like your rig?” and “Want to see pictures of my adorable grandchildren?” several topics come up time and time again.
As a frequent speaker on customer service at state and national RV conferences, I approach my visits to campgrounds like a middle-aged Nancy Drew. Simply asking, “What bugs you about this campground?” yields a wealth of information unavailable from an online survey. After staying at more than 300 campgrounds across the United States, I have found four areas (and simple solutions) where guests wish campground owners would improve.
1. Look and sound as if you want me to stay at the campground. “Why do people who answer the campground phone sound as if they are bored, or at the other extreme, sound like they are in the middle of a catastrophe?” asked a frequent visitor. The staff person answering replies to questions with one-word answers or “I don’t know.” “When someone sounds apathetic on the phone, I’ll drive a few miles further to another campground just because I don’t want to give my business to a rude person,” said a full-time camper.