Continued Page 2 In support of “Great Outdoors Month,” the Pennsylvania Campground Owners Association is teaming up with Cabela’s in Hamburg, Pa. to promote the camping lifestyle on June 10 & 11, 2011. “Get Outdoors and Go Camping...It’s Easy” is the theme that the association has chosen to use for its two-day promotion. Members of the Association will be on hand to greet the guests and give them a 2011 Campground Directory of privately owned parks. The guests will be encouraged to check out the RVs and tents supplied by Maiden Creek Marine and RV in Berks County. They will
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In support of “Great Outdoors Month,” the Pennsylvania Campground Owners Association is teaming up with Cabela’s in Hamburg, Pa. to promote the camping lifestyle on June 10 & 11, 2011. “Get Outdoors and Go
Camping...It’s Easy” is the theme that the association has chosen to use for its two-day promotion.
Members of the Association will be on hand to greet the guests and give them a 2011
Campground Directory of privately owned parks. The guests will be encouraged to check out the RVs and tents supplied by Maiden Creek Marine and RV in Berks County. They will
experience what camping is really like by making mini-s’more around the campfire and singing a few campfire songs. Coloring books will be given to the children and there will be photo opportunities. Expert outfitters from Cabela’s will be demonstrating the newest camping products available and helping campers gear up for their next trip.
“Camping is not only the most affordable vacation around, it also is fun and memorable. In Pennsylvania you have over 230 campgrounds to choose from to make that memory,” said Beverly Gruber, the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Campground Owners Association.
She adds, “Time spent camping or RVing allows you to slow down and gives
you the flexibility to pursue what you want and where you want to be. It gives you a chance to rediscover your family and lets you choose the activities your family enjoys. So stop in at Cabela’s and get acquainted with camping and RVing.”
This promotion ties in with the “Great Outdoors Month” in June, being promoted by the American Recreation Coalition (ARC) and proclaimed nationwide by President Obama and nearly every state governor in the United States.Camping is a family activity which is a great memory-maker. At this Cabela’s event, young families will be encouraged to go camping during the month of June. A coupon is being issued from the Go Camping America website, www.gocampingamerica.com, that gives a 20% discount on your campground stay.
The downloadable coupons are valid only between June 1 and June 25 at participating parks, so when you call to make your reservations, be sure to ask if they will accept the GCA coupon.
MN: A legal battle is brewing between the City of Elk River and a campground that's been around forty years.
Attorneys for the Wapiti Campground are preparing a lawsuit to fight city hall. The Elk River winds right through the middle of Wapiti Campground.
Nita Glenn's family has owned Wapiti for more than three decades. The city has a long list of things it wants done before it renews her permit to run the campground another ten years.
Glenn is not sure why the city is all of the sudden putting pressure on the campground. Some think it may be because the campground sits on 58 acres of prime real estate along the Elk River.
Among other things, the city does not want permanent residents on the property. It also wants the septic system functional year-round and wild birds on the property penned up.
Neighbors think the city wants Wapiti sold to a developer.Article: http://kstp.com
Camp-California.com previously posted only letter grades for campgrounds, RV parks and resorts based on the GuestRated online review program.
AUBURN, Calif., May 31, 2011 – Camp-California.com now offers consumers the ability to post letter grades and detailed written reviews of campgrounds, RV parks and resorts.
“We think this is the right thing to do to make Camp-California.com an essential resource for consumers planning to visit privately owned and operated campgrounds in California,” said Debbie Sipe, executive director of the California Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, which hosts the travel planning website.
“Now when consumers plan a camping trip, they can check Camp-California.com to see what others have said about campgrounds, RV parks and resorts that are of interest to them before they make their reservation. We think this information will prove to be invaluable to them.”
Camp-California.com had previously offered consumers the ability to assign letter grades to
campgrounds in online reviews, with each park receiving an overall grade based on an average of all the reviews received. Now, consumers who visit Camp-California.com will see not only the overall grade for each park, but also a miniature report card for each individual consumer review submitted for the park during the past year.
“Consumers also have the ability to sort the reviews for each park, from newest to oldest as well as highest grades to lowest grades and vice versa,” Sipe said, adding that park operators also have the ability to offer their comments in response to consumer accolades and criticisms.
Sipe added that the online review process, and the resulting guest comments and grades are provided by Murrieta, Calif.-based GuestRated.com and not by the California Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds. “The fact that we outsource the review function gives a much higher level of credibility to these ratings,” she said.
Camp-California.com provides detailed information and online booking capabilities for more than 350 California campgrounds. The website also offers special deals, such as a statewide RVing
rewards program for campers who visit multiple parks throughout the year as well as information on upcoming festivals and other special events.
“We’ve tried make Camp-California.com quick and easy to use, so consumers can find what they’re looking for in one place without having to visit multiple websites,” Sipe said, adding that the website has also been equipped with a search function that enables consumers to search the entire website for any information relating to a topic of interest to them.
Campgrounds have also been sorted based on their proximity to shopping malls, lighthouses, historical landmarks, caves and other points of interest.
Camp-California.com staff members have also included their own blogs and Twitter postings on the website to keep consumers informed of the latest Camp-California website postings, as well as fun things to see and do as well as the latest campground and RV park trends.
In a bid to increase attendance at its upcoming 2011 Outdoor Hospitality Conference & Expo, the National Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds (ARVC) recently launched “The Battle for Savannah” — a contest to determine which states can draw the greatest percentage of full registrations to the expo compared to last year’s program.
The 2011 event will be held Nov. 30 – Dec. 2 at
the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, Savannah, Ga.
To be eligible, a state’s registration growth of 20% year-over-year must be achieved. Four association categories — large, medium, small and non-affiliated — will be tracked based on the current number of member parks within each state. The winning state in each category will be awarded a check rebating 50% of all
the registration fees collected for that state by ARVC.
Additionally, a grand prize of $5,000 will be awarded among the three affiliated categories — large, medium and small — to the state with the greatest overall growth percentage.
The promotion is being held in conjunction with newly adjusted pre-registration fees providing a discount of up to 40% for those parks registering for
the expo no later than Aug. 31. The new fee structure offers newly reduced rates based upon park size plus an additional 10% off for recurring attendees from the same park.
ARVC will post running Battle for Savannah results on www.arvc.org every other week. Those interested in registering for the 2011 Outdoor Hospitality Conference & Expo may do online at www.arvc.org.
HARRISBURG (KMTR) If you’re in the market for an RV resort and conference center with a 19 room hotel, you’re in luck. The Riverbend RV resort in Harrisburg about to go up for auction. After the original owners went bankrupt, Citizens Bank took over the resort early this year.
Now the 14 acre RV destination is on the auction block. Riverbend RV park first broke ground in 2004, when RV sales were strong. They set up shop by major RV manufacturers in Junction City and Harrisburg.
The idea was to siphon business from RV owners in town for repairs or upgrades. Resort managers say when it was opened in 2009 RV sales had dipped, and the resort's guests had gone with it.
After seizing the property, the bank kept the park open and managed by a hospitality group from Portland. "They understand that this is a huge asset for Harrisburg
and Junction City,” says Mark Keller, the current manager of the resort. “They want to keep it continuously open to retain that value and also to keep everyone employed."
Citizens Bank says with the hotel and conference center attached, the resort is still profitable. They say it's unlikely that someone would buy the resort to liquefy its assets. "In a property like this, a resort, there's much more value in an operating entity,” says Vice President Bill Hubel. “As opposed to a closed, just a vacant piece of property."
As the asset holder, the bank will put up a starting bid of nearly 3 million dollars. The resort was said to have cost around 5.3 million when it opened. Hubel would like to see the resort go back into private ownership, but don't break out the checkbook just yet. The winning bid in the auction has to be paid that day in full. That mean you'll have to have at least a cool few million in your account to buy the property outright.www.kmtr.com
MURRIETA, Calif., May 31, 2011 – Over the years, several websites have popped up that allow consumers to post anonymous reviews.
The problem, of course, is that no one knows if the reviews are legitimate, regardless of whether the consumer’s opinion is positive or negative.
To make matters worse, these kinds of postings can take place without the park operator’s knowledge, so he or she can’t respond if there’s a problem, or thank the consumer if the information is positive.
Fortunately, GuestReviews.com is working to change this scenario, and it’s building up a growing following of consumers, park operators and campground associations.
Since 2008, the Murrieta, Calif.-based customer satisfaction survey program has compiled over 85,000 consumer reviews and supplies
ratings and guest comments to its partner websites that display information on more than 12,000 campgrounds, RV parks and resorts.
And unlike other review websites that allow consumers to post information anonymously, the GuestReviews process requires consumers to provide a valid email address before they can post a review.
“This increases the level of accountability, since we know that the reviews are coming from real campers,” said Bob MacKinnon, president and CEO of GuestReviews.
GuestReviews has recently expanded the amount of information it makes available to consumers and park operators – both directly, and through its partnership with Leisure Interactive, LLC and their marketing network of industry websites.
GuestReviews previously offered consumers the ability to assign letter grades to campgrounds in online reviews, with each park receiving letter grades based on an average of the total number of reviews received. The overall results have been displayed on partner
websites in the form of a mini-report card. “We now are able to provide an enhanced review experience for guests”, says MacKinnon, “by displaying individual grades and public comments submitted in each consumer survey.
We’ve also added an new tool for park operators to make an online public response to any guest’s posting.”
“This capability has not been widely available in the campground industry before,” MacKinnon said, adding that GuestReviews also offers enhanced services that can alert the appropriate managers when reviews with negative ratings are received.
Parks that participate in the GuestReviews program thus have the ability to not only identify problems that need attention, but they can use the review process to strengthen the relationship they have with the guest who reported a problem.
“With this approach, we can turn a potential PR problem into an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the park and their guest, so everybody wins,” MacKinnon said.
He also noted that parks participating in the GuestReviews program can develop a powerful marketing tool over time, since consumer reviews are more trusted – and are more likely to have an impact on future bookings – than advertising alone.
In fact, the majority of parks that participate in the GuestReviews survey program receive favorable letter scores. “It’s relatively rare when consumers assign D or F letter grades to parks. But, again, when it happens, that should be seen as an opportunity to be embraced, and not as a problem to be hidden or ignored,” MacKinnon said.
The GuestReviews national online customer satisfaction program was launched in February 2008 in collaboration with the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds and has since been expanded to include 20
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Bob McKinnon
additional associations and campground industry websites viewed by more than 100,000 visitors per month.
GuestReviews also compiles an annual listing of campgrounds, RV parks and resorts that earned all around “A” ratings from consumer reviews. Thirty-three parks earned all around “A” grades in GuestRated’s 2010 surveys. They include:
Ashland Resort, Northfork, W.V., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.atvresort.com
Buffalo Lake Camping Resort, Montello, Wis., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.buffalolakecamping.com
Buttonwood Campground, Mexico, Penn., a three-time “A” grade winner, www.buttonwoodcamp.com
Chalk Creek Campground & RV Park, Nathrop, Colo. a two-time “A” grade winner,www.chalkcreek-campground.com
Cherry Hill Park, College Park, Md., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.cherryhillpark.com
D & W Lake Camping and RV Park, Champaign, Ill., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.dwlake.com
Kozy Rest Kampground, Harrisville, Penn., a three-time “A” grade winner, www.kozyrestcampground.com Lake George RV Park, Lake George, N.Y., a three-time “A” grade winner, www.lakegeorgervpark.com
Las Vegas RV Resort, Las Vegas, Nev., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.lasvegasrvresort.com
Magnolia RV Park & Campground, Kinards, S.C., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.magnoliarvparksc.com
The Springs at Borrego RV Resort and Golf Course, Borrego Springs, Calif., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.springsatborrego.com
The Vineyards Campground & Cabins, Grapevine, Texas, a three-time “A” grade winner, www.vineyardscampground.com
Tiger Run Resort, Breckenridge, Colo., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.tigerrunresort.com
West Canada Creek Campsites, Poland, N.Y., a two-time “A” grade winner, www.westcanadacreekcampsites.com
Willow Tree Resort, Longs, S.C., a two-time “A” grade winner, www.willowtreerv.com
Wishon Village RV Park, Shaver Lake, Calif., a first-time “A” grade winner, www.wishonvillage.com
For more information about the GuestReviews program, please contact Bob MacKinnon at [email protected] or at (877) 707-7080 and visit www.guestreviews.com.
As full time RVers, my husband and I enjoy taking breaks and staying at a Bed and Breakfast for a quick getaway. We spent close to a year at one RV Park and found a B&B that was perfect for us. Over that year, we spent three separate weekends at the B&B.
I just received an email from the B&B that recognized us as loyal guests and wanted to reward our loyalty by a free membership in a frequent stayer’s club. The email came with the required link to be able to opt out of receiving any new emails from this B&B. I did opt out but it was because the B&B happens to be in a state that we wouldn’t be
going back to for at least a year if not longer.
However, the email did make me wonder how many RV parks reward their frequent guests? I know we give discounts to attract new guests but rarely have I seen a park do anything special for their repeat guests.
How often have you questioned the logic of your cell phone provider giving people who are first time customers a great deal on a phone? Or how about those people who give great deal with first time buyer’s plan? Don’t you feel a bit left out and ignored? We all tend to shrug our shoulders and say, “That’s just the way it
is” but that doesn’t change the fact that we feel unappreciated for being a long term customer.
A guest feeling unappreciated or even under appreciated is something that every RV Park should avoid at all costs. It takes surprisingly little to change from unappreciated to a valued guest. Simple things like a thank you email when a guest has replied to a guest survey, a note to say we have a special coming up or even a thank you note on the door of the rig on the day that the guest is leaving will go a long way towards creating a community of RVer’s.
There are lots of ways that you can start rewarding your frequent guests and making them feel important to you and the park.
Here are a few ideas for you.
1.) Create a club for your repeat visitors that rewards them with a free night after staying with you for 7 nights. The trick here will be in your rules. For instance, you can’t redeem your free night during the stay when you earned the free night. The offer is
only good for a certain time period (I usually recommend a 1 year time period.)
2.) When a repeat guest checks in, recognize them at the front desk and reward them with a free bundle of firewood, a free bag of ice, or no charge for extra people for that night.
3.) Create a forum for your repeat guests where they can stay in touch with each other when they aren’t in the park. You have now recognized them as being members of a unique community and as we all know, we love belonging to an elite club.
4.) Have an end of year weekend event and invite your repeat guests to join you. Have a BBQ, Luau, or plain old picnic to thank them for being such loyal guests.
5.) Give away bumper stickers that identify the person in the car as being a loyal guest of your park. These should only go to
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Continuedpeople who stay with you more than once a year.
6.) Not everyone will stay with you more than once in a year, but they may stay for two consecutive weeks in a year. These guests also need to be recognized and rewarded.
7.) Send holiday cards to your loyal guests with a coupon for their next stay with you. Give them an extra 5% off their stay.
8.) Create a database for your frequent guests that has their special dates, birthdays, anniversaries, children’s graduations, etc. Take the time to send out a birthday note or an anniversary congratulations.
9.) Set up a club where each visit will entitle the guest to a certain number of dollars off of their stay. Allow the guests to accumulate the dollars until they have enough to stay for free for one night. Repeat guests are one of your best marketing programs. They will share your name with the people they work with, other family members and friends and neighbors giving you great Word of Mouth advertising. They will also share the fact that you value their business and recognize that they have choices out there for their camping/RVing outings.
When the next conversation turns to the latest deal that the phone company is offering to new customers, your loyal
visitor will likely mention that they received a special offer from your park because they had visited it often. Rewarding your loyal guests shouldn’t cost a great deal and the return on that investment is going to be much larger than you expect. Plan your program out. Identify the rules for becoming a loyal guest member, create a calendar to schedule your mailings, and tweak your system until you find the right mix for your park.
What works for you in bringing people back after their first visit?
Pamela and her company, FocusedWords, are dedicated to helping you promote and market your RV Park /Resort/ Campground to RVer’s everywhere. Be sure to follow her on Twitter: @RVStops and @FocusedWords. Check out her blog at www.FocusedWords.com/blog.Pamela has redesigned her website, FocusedWords.com, to provide a place for you to tell Rally groups what your park has to offer for their next rally. Be sure to fill out your park form with your facilities information.
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MOSSLEIGH, — The caboose on Jason Thornhill's property is no ordinary rail car.
Fitted out with a queen-size bed, shower and natural gas fireplace, the former Canadian Pacific caboose serves as a cabin that can be rented by the night or week.
"It's awesome," says Thornhill, a self-described longtime rail buff who also runs a garden centre on the property, called Aspen Crossing. He has a total of six rail cars on the site, including a former dining car now in use as a restaurant.
"There's a full bathroom in the caboose, a nice little kitchenette with an induction cook top stove, and a DVD player hooked up to a flat-screen TV. . . . There's also a sofa that folds out to a double bed and a twin mattress up in the cupola."
Situated in a campground, the caboose sleeps up to five and has been available to guests since April. Rates range from $185 to $279 a night.
Thornhill, 36, says he acquired it in 2008 at no charge from a Calgary firm that had been using it as an office and wanted it gone.
The caboose had been in service with Canadian Pacific for about 40 years until the early 1990s.
"We're trying to rebrand into a historical railway destination," says Thornhill. Another caboose in the campground is slated to be ready for guests in September.
Aspen Crossing is a 40-minute drive southeast of Calgary.www.aspencrossing.comArticle: Canadian press
The forecast for the summer driving season: Hit the road early. Not to beat the traffic, but to beat the higher gas prices expected in mid-July.
Goldman Sachs' crystal ball is proclaiming that oil will soon soar to $135 a barrel, and likely have service stations jacking up fuel prices to $5 a gallon in New York just like the summer of 2008 that preceded the recession.
Indeed, analysts say Goldman and the other oil trading giant that also has the might to move prices, JPMorgan Chase, have already placed their energy bets for the summer. JPMorgan predicts oil hitting $130 a barrel in the coming weeks.
Despite all the turmoil in the Middle East associated with the Arab Spring rioting, oil has fallen to the $100 level, closing out May with a stunning 12 percent drop.
But before the storm, the calm. There appears to be a backlash by some oil-pit analysts.
"Whoever would buy into these rising prices is just paying homage (to Wall Street firms) and helping the speculative positions," said one oil trading source familiar with energy bets of Wall Street trading desks. Gas prices, meanwhile, should benefit from the
brief respite in oil prices. "We should be seeing some big declines at the gas pumps after Memorial Day," said energy analyst Peter Beutel of Cameron Hanover.
"Wholesale prices have been dropping, and that could cause some serious revisions downward at the pumps," he said.
"The competition is fierce among the retailers, and whoever lowers his price first gets a big jump on everyone else and a lot of new business."
Pump prices have dropped about 10 cents a gallon this week, while wholesale prices at the Nymex have steadily skidded 50 cents a gallon in the past two weeks.
Those declines came despite upward pressure on wholesale prices here in the past two days due to speculation that Mississippi River flooding could disrupt Gulf Coast refineries.
At the start of the Memorial Day holiday, the national average for gas was $3.80 a gallon.
Tom Kloza, an analyst at Oil Price Information Services, expects gas to fall to between $3.50 and $3.60 between now and the July 4 holiday.
Consumers could use the help.
Economists say households spent an average of $369 on gas during April, or about $168 more than the $201 they spent during April 2009, when gas was averaging around $2.76 a gallon.
Every 50-cent jump in the cost of gasoline takes $70 billion out of the US economy over the course of a year, economists say.
The tourism industry expects a drop in travel because consumers intend to stay closer to home and take more day trips. AAA predicts the typical family will spend $692 on its vacation, down 14 percent from $809 last year.
Meanwhile, demand for gasoline has fallen for eight straight weeks as drivers try
to cut back with mixed results.
"Drivers try to do what they can, but they have to go almost all the places they go," says energy researcher David Greene of the Department of Energy Web site fueleconomy.gov. "There's no magic gizmo that will drastically change someone's gasoline use."
And for that reason, as well as global uncertainty, Goldman and JP analysts see a return to high oil and gas prices in the coming months. Without a significant decrease in American demand -- or a sudden desire not to commute or drive to the shore -- $5 a gallon is likely on the horizon.www.nypost.com
PHOENIX, Ariz., May 2011 – Phillip Harison has been coming to Desert’s Edge RV Village almost every winter for 15 years.
Harison loves the Arizona sunshine and the park’s amenities, which include a heated swimming pool and spa and exercise room. But he has also been lobbying park owner Saundra Bryn for years to put in a putting green.
“Every time when I arrived in the fall, I would whine, ‘Where’s my putting green?’ “ Harison said.
Bryn finally relented and hired Atlanta, Ga.-based Southwest Greens to install a putting course, which was completed a couple of weeks ago. But she did it her way.
“It’s purple!” Bryn exclaimed with a smile. “It’s a putting purple!”
Tom Stuckenschneider, a 16-year sales veteran for Southwest Greens, says Bryn’s putting course is likely the only “putting purple” in Arizona, and possibly North America, for that matter, which suits Bryn just fine.
In addition to being her favorite color, the “putting purple” nicely complements her park’s purple fences as well as its purple table legs and tablecloths. It also echoes the colorful grandeur of Arizona’s mountains and skyline at sunrise and sunset. It also affords numerous marketing opportunities.
“I’m going to have T-shirts and visors made that say, ‘Have you played the putting purple at the purple park?” Bryn said, adding that she is also planning to host putting tournaments.
Harison, for his part, is
quick to assert he had nothing to do with the color selection for Bryn’s putting course. But he says he’ll be the first to try it out.
“I do expect one thing,” Harison said, “The hole will stand out more because of the color. I’ll be interested to see if this helps me concentrate better on distance.”“I think it will be a wonderful addition to the park,” said Inge Gosnell, a snowbird
from Illinois who spends the winter at an RV site right next to the putting purple. “People will definitely notice it when they come into the park.”
Gosnell added that Bryn can develop a side business supplying golf clubs for RVers who don’t have their clubs with them or would simply like to try their luck on a putting purple.
New Berlin, PA – The Producers of the Virtual Expo have had some exciting news in the past week or so. Perhaps the most exciting involves an extreme modification to the software that runs the show and will directly benefit both exhibitors and attendees alike.
VCopious, the software provider is now stating that every booth will have its own URL. This means that a direct link to every booth will be provided to sponsors and exhibitors and they may use that link to advertise their participation in the Expo and to directly connect attendees to their booth.
The link may be put into their websites or sent in e-mails to prospective or repeat customers of their service or goods. This shortcut will bypass the Expo Lobby and other booths but will require the attendee to either log in or register for the Expo. The links will also be used when the Exhibitor’s Souvenir Program is produced by Campground and RV Park E-News to its entire readership.
By simply click on an exhibitor’s name, the reader will be taken directly to the Expo participant’s booth. After viewing a particular booth, the attendee will be able to remain at the Expo and view any other exhibit, conference or chat in the lounge.
Other URLs will similarly direct attendees directly in the Conference Room to view the webinars and Open Forums, creating direct paths to points of interest in the Expo.
Many of last year’s exhibitors and sponsors have joined the Expo at this second go-round. But the producers were particularly pleased that some companies that declined last year have seen fit to exhibit this year.
Campace Corporation and Solar LED Innovation have joined as Silver Sponsors and Bag-O-Loot, LLC and Manning & Nozick are new exhibitors this year. Manning & Nozick are Strategic Partners of Best Parks in America.
Speaking of Best Parks, Platinum Sponsor David Gorin has made the Partners an offer they shouldn’t refuse. Gorin told the Partners that if they became exhibitors prior to the early bird discount date of May 31st. In a letter sent to the Strategic Partners, Gorin said “I can guarantee that you'll recoup your investment and if after the show you don't feel it was worthwhile and you didn't do at least enough business to cover your out of pocket costs, Best Parks will refund 50% of your exhibit cost provided you reserve your booth by May 31.”
How’s that for Chutzpah?
“David Gorin & Associates Presents - The Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo II” is scheduled to take place on 11-11-11 for 2 days and another 60 days in an on-demand status. The producers may be contacted by calling 877-901-EXPO
(3976) or by e-mail at [email protected]. Their website (currently being updated) www.outdoorhospitalityexpo.com.Pelland Advertising maintains the Expo’s Webpage.
Texas Advertising, the leader in quality guest guide production, will begin placing QR codes on ALL guides produced beginning in Summer 2011. QR (short for quick response) codes are unique bar codes that can be scanned by smart phones and direct users to a website, phone call or text message.
“The goal is to get to the RVer as fast as possible. If someone pulls up a guest guide they used or got from a friend, this takes out another step in getting information into their hands,” general manager Michael Moore said.
Texas Advertising currently produces around 100 guest guides around the US and Canada with more jobs expected to be marketed than previous years.
“I’m excited to see this as part of my guide and making it easer to get to my website,” said Don Temple, owner of 2011 TACO Park of the Year Guadalupe River RV Resort in Kerrville, TX.
As an industry leader in marketing services, Texas Advertising offers the finest site map production in the country while maintaining outstanding customer service.
Products range from four-color four-page booklets to 20-page standard-sized directories and include professionally done wallboards for posting in the parks along with links to merchant websites. Please contact Michael Moore at 877-518-1989 for more information.
AUBURN, Calif., May 31, 2011 – Camp-California.com, the marketing website for California campgrounds, has launched a new program that enables visitors to the state’s private campgrounds to rack up points that can be redeemed for cash and prizes.
“We’re trying to get people to camp at multiple parks to see the diversity of parks that are affiliated with Camp-California.com,” said Verna Wiseman, Camp-California’s communication director, adding that nearly 50 campgrounds are participating in the RVing Rewards program.
Here’s how the RVing Rewards program works:
Stay overnight at any participating park and you’ll receive an RVing Rewards card with 10 points. “It
doesn’t matter how long you stay,” Wiseman said. “You can get 10 points from each park you visit that participates in the RVing Rewards program.”
Stay in two parks and you’ll accumulate 20 points, which you can use for a $14.95 discount on your next night of camping at any campground that’s involved in the RVing Rewards program.
And if you stay at six different parks, you can accumulate enough points for a free night of camping. “The number of points needed for a free night of camping varies, depending on the park, but clearly the more you camp, the more you save. And when you consider that camping is already the most affordable vacation option, this program makes it that much more enticing,” Wiseman said.
Camp-California.com’s RVing Rewards program will continue through the remainder of 2011.
Florida and Alabama camping reservations were solid this winter and reservations keep coming this spring with an excellent forecast for the summer months, reports the Florida/Alabama Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, which staged its Annual Conference and Expo May 18-19.
The mood was positive and upbeat.“Most reports were that the winter season was a good one. Some parks were above average, some a little below in part because of severe weather up north which may have delayed
some campers from traveling south,” said Bobby Cornwell, association president/CEO/executive director. “Overall it’s been a good year so far and campgrounds in the Panhandle region are excited and preparing for a very good summer season, which is greatly needed following last year’s oil spill. Reservations are up over last year and hopes are high.”
The conference and expo was held at the Mission Inn Resort and Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, with 98 people representing 45 campgrounds and 32 vendors.
There is a shift happening in how to manage stormwater. The simplest strategies are those that diminish or eliminate excess runoff from structures and paved areas. Wherever you see water gushing from downspouts or pouring into ditches and culverts think about how to absorb that water.
green roofs: by putting soil and vegetation on roofs much of the rainfall can be absorbed. Just make sure not to put more weight on the roof than it can bear, including water and snow. Alternatively, run that water into holding ponds, thereby reducing the rush of water off your land.
porous paving: porous paving allows the water to go down below the paved surface instead of flowing off the surface. Tanks can be installed to hold this water for use in irrigation, or gravel and stone can be used under the paved area to hold the water until it seeps into the groundwater.
detention basins and swales: these can be used
to trap runoff and allow it time to soak into the ground.
rain gardens: these act much like detention basins and swales, absorbing the runoff.
native grasses: these require less watering and at the same time absorb runoff. This can be useful along stream, pond, ditch and lakeshore areas because they slow the water and help prevent erosion.
constructed or preserved wetlands: these are nature’s way of holding excess moisture.
The whole idea is to treat rainwater and snowmelt as resources instead of a nuisance to be gotten rid of.
The net effect is multiple: protection against flooding and silting while at the same time building up groundwater. Get ahead of the curve: do what is possible now before you are forced to do it later or fined for not having done it sooner.
As readers of this column have become painfully aware, credit card security is a major issue in the US. Nearly 70% of all crime in the US involves theft of data. Campground owners should realize that most data theft occurs where people congregate, such as hospitals, government offices, colleges and hospitality businesses. Another thing which seems to be a factor is that data is often stolen by unscrupulous disgruntled employees – some whom are temporary and are using their employment to conduct criminal activities. So far, few campgrounds have been victims although they surely qualify under the above stated guidelines.
Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting yet another instance of data theft where the scammers had stolen “names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, phone numbers, bank account numbers,
driver’s license information, birth dates, email addresses PIN numbers, mother’s maiden names and account balances” from banking giant Bank of America.
The theft was by an insider, a “disgruntled employee” who became involved with outsiders who used the information to commit the fraud.
It is estimated that the theft will cost Bank of America $10 million. But so what? B of A can afford that trifling sum.
Smaller businesses, of course, cannot afford the $50,000 fine PER OCCURANCE that the theft of data will incur. Additionally, a quarterly forensic audit by the authorities will inevitably follow a breach of data security.
Almost all credit card processors are charging a
“PCI Compliance Fee” to merchants whether yearly or on a monthly basis. This fee covers the bank’s behind but does little for the merchant. The processor may, however, assist the merchant in completing the PCI Questionnaire and Attestation of Compliance required yearly by the Processing Card Industry.
Merchant Choice Payment Solutions, however, has gone several steps beyond. For a $6.95 monthly fee, the processor, will help a
merchant fill out the necessary forms RIGHT ON THEIR WEBSITE: www.mcpscorp.com; and after completion of the form, issue a “Certificate of Validation” which the merchant can post in their place of business informing customers that their transactions are guarded against theft. More importantly, MCPS will indemnify the merchant for $50,000 fine and even pay for the forensic audit. Below is a copy of the Certificate.
A SOUTH Australian council, which forked out $300,000 setting up a town's caravan park, has decided to sell it ... for just $30,000.
Now outraged Lameroo locals have organised a petition opposing the sale of the 16-site Lameroo Lakeside Caravan Park, about 210km south-east of Adelaide.
South Mallee District Council chief executive officer Rod Ralph told Caravanning News it had been delivered to him and would be considered by councillors at their next meeting on June 8.
The community had battled for more than 20 years to
get its own caravan park and residents were over the moon when it was opened in 2007.
But the council now wants to offload the park and in a meeting which was closed to the public decided by just one vote to sell it for a tenth of its investment.
"There's a lot of people up in arms over it ... the community wanted a leased arrangement," local Ken Steer told media.
Mr Ralph said the council could not afford "much needed" upgrades to the four-year-old waterside park.
He argued that if the council was able to get
$250,000 for the park it would simply reduce the money a buyer would have available to spend on improvements.
In a report, the council said the timing was right to attract "a business person" willing to carry out cabin upgrades and asset improvements, relieving it and ratepayers of the financial responsibility for capital expenditure.
Operating a commercial enterprise was not seen by many as a core business function of council.
In a business profile of the park, the council had previously said it was prepared to enter into any long term lease up to 21
years provided the parties could agree on minimum expectations for improvements.
This included accommodation options and the availability of amenities "for the enjoyment and pleasure of those using the park's facilities".
The council also said the primary reason for shedding its responsibility for the park was "to allow private enterprise the opportunity to show council that it can manage or own the caravan park and provide outcomes which may well be better than what council can do under the current management regime".
Director’s and Officer’s Liability Insurance (D&O) provides financial protection for the directors and officers of your company in the event they are sued in conjunction with the performance of their duties as they relate to the company. Frequently, the plaintiffs are stockholders of the corporation, who may feel they have been harmed financially by negligent management of the corporation. In other cases
the suit may be brought by employees, customers, competitors, regulators or clients.
Anytime you assemble a board of directors, claims can be made against the company and against the directors of the company. Since a director can be held personally responsible for acts of the company, most directors and officers will actually demand to be protected rather than put their personal assets at stake.
There is no single standard form for D & O coverage and they vary from insurance company to insurance company. The typical D & O insurance policy is subject to a deductible and a percentage-based insured’s participation in each loss, however the Evergreen policy does not impose such deductibles.
Covered persons under the Evergreen D & O policy include the named insured, present and past employees, officers, directors, trustees, volunteers, or staff members of the organization or any “subsidiaries, those acting on behalf of the organization and any legal representatives of
deceased directors and officers.”
Evergreen will pay on behalf of the insured, up to the policy limits, for losses that the insured becomes legally liable for as a result of a claim arising out of the wrongful acts committed by the insured during the conduct of the insured business. Evergreen will also provide supplementary payments in respect to any claim we investigate, settle or defend for the insured which includes: All the expenses we incur, up to $500 for the cost of bonds and up to $200 per day for loss of earnings due to time off from work for depositions or trials.
Continued
November 6-9, 2011 (Expo on Nov. 9)South Point Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NVContact: (406) 248-7444
November 11-12, 2011 On the InternetContact: (877) 901-3976
November 14-17, 2011Embassy Suites, Covington, KYContact: (513) 831-2100
November 28 – December 2, 2011Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort Spa & Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, Savannah, GAContact: (303) 681-0401
Some of the exclusions present in the Evergreen D & O policy include: dishonest, fraudulent, criminal or malicious acts, assault or battery; libel and slander, failure to maintain insurance, pollution incidents, responsibilities under ERISA, any claim arising out of any lawsuits between the insured, willful violations of law, bodily injury, sickness, disease,
death, emotional distress and loss of use of tangible property or property damage.
It is important to review your organization’s D & O policy in its entirety to understand who is an insured, the coverage provided, the conditions present for the insured and the insurer and the exclusions that apply.
Continued
RV wholesale shipments are continuing their rise in 2011 with total shipments reaching 89,700 units through April, an increase of six percent over the April 2010 total of 84,500 units.
RVIA’s monthly survey of manufacturers shows that the motorhome market continues to post significant gains with motorhome shipments growing by nearly 17% from 8,300 units in April 2010 to 9,700 units in April 2011. Deliveries to retailers of towable RVs also showed growth with a five percent increase from 76,200 units in April 2010 to 80,000 units in April 2011.
RV shipments are tracking closely along with year-end projections from Dr. Richard Curtin, director of the Survey of Consumes at the University of Michigan. In
the Summer issue of RV Roadsigns, RVIA’s quarterly shipment forecasting newsletter, Dr. Curtin projects year-end shipments to reach 260,200 units, a solid 7.4% gain over the 242,300 units in 2010.
The positive RV outlook is based on favorable economic factors that outweigh the negative. On the positive side, RV demand will benefit from improving credit conditions, employment gains, stabilization of the housing market, and a continued strong preference for the RV lifestyle. These factors are expected to trump rising food and fuel prices, minimal wage increases, unemployment, and the threat of higher taxes.
