Whether you
have a seasonal park that is closed
for the winter or a snowbird park
gearing up for your busy
season or somewhere in between, it’s “Break Time”. The arvc Outdoor Hospitality Conference & Expo is just a few short weeks away and from my
experience attending most of the
conferences over the
past 35 years I have always found them to be rejuvenating.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Ready, Set….Break!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Technology: Who, Me?
In some areas of my life I consider myself to be “old school” by today’s standards. I get up at 4 a.m., put on the coffee pot and then proceed up my driveway to retrieve my morning newspaper which arrives about the same time. This time, however, the newspaper wasn’t there! My immediate solution: I didn’t even hesitate to power up my laptop to access the newspaper online.
Already
12 years into the twenty first century, things sure have changed. Now, no
matter where I’m at, I can read my daily local newspaper online and when I
travel I don’t have to worry about all those newspapers piled up that I wanted
to read but could never find the time. Old news is just that, old news.
I
hate to admit, but in many ways while I was in business I fought technology
kicking and screaming. I always wanted my business to be “personable” and felt like
technology was encroaching on that. After some real soul searching however, I finally
realized that my lack of embracement for technology was due to my resistance to
change. I don’t think I am unlike many people, we are uncomfortable with change.
The problem though was my customer had changed and I’m sure I wasn’t setting
the pace, or even catching up at times with their needs.
When
I finally got honest with myself, I realized that I was intimidated by all the
new technology. That has changed and I can explain it something like this: It’s
a lot like driving a car. You don’t have to know all the workings of an
internal combustion engine to drive a car. You have to learn the rules of the
road, make sure there is fuel in the tank, turn the key on, put it in gear and
away you go. Of course brakes are important as well. Think about when you learned
to drive compared to now and all the things that have just become second nature
to you. Embracing technology works the same way.
To
give you a few examples of how my perspective has changed, I had professional
people design my website, just like it’s better to have a real mechanic work on
my vehicle. That’s not to say I can’t do a few things myself, some things are
better left to professionals. Not updating your website periodically is like
cleaning your restrooms and thinking you don’t have to do that again until next
year.
Another
example of how my technology perspective has evolved is my support for online
reservations. I never wanted to do a reservation system at my park, I wanted to
take each reservation by phone and make it personal. Times have changed. Example:
I had to go out of town and wanted to book a room. I got online and my first
choice hotel didn’t take online reservations. I could have called them but
instead went to the next location and was able to book online and in short order
I had my confirmation number. It was quick & efficient. It probably doesn’t
take many potential guests to make a big difference to your bottom line.
In
an article “The Evolution of Online
Travel,” Feb. 21, 2012, by Lauren Hockenson
states, “this year, there will be 117.6 million online travel researchers in the
U.S. — that’s 61 percent of America’s users. Of these, 98.3 million actually
will book online.” While not industry specific for the RV Park & Campground
industry, it tells me there is some real potential for our industry.
I
was at a meeting recently and relaying a joke about this new all-inclusive
website that you could go to solve all your social media needs called “You Twit
Face” (referencing You Tube, Twitter & Facebook). It was a joke but
somebody started writing it down.
Okay,
social media is not as simple as that but it grieves me when I hear someone
say, “I don’t have the time!” What are you saying? You don’t have time for your
business? Look, times have changed whether we like it or not and the way our customers
communicate have changed as well. The retired segment of our customer base took
to the internet like a duck to water but social media is a staple of the next
generations.
Performance
monitoring service, Pingdom, has done another one of its mammoth social media
studies that shows the average ages of social media users and it
holds no surprises … more than half are between 25 and 44 years old, with only 5
percent under 17 and only 1 percent over 65. The absolute average across all
social networks is 36.9 years old.
Find
a way to develop a presence. There are numerous tools and strategies out there,
including one that arvc provides. We launched the new GoCampingAmerica website
in August and it is very user friendly for consumers. More importantly, it’s
very easy for you to update your profile in real time, add photos and connect
your social media. There are even tutorials available to assist you through the
process. If you have questions please contact Jake Poterbin at jpoterbin@arvc.org.
I
believe each of you will do one of two things. You will either find a reason or
make up an excuse why you are not going to embrace technology or you will
strive to utilize the many opportunities available to you and mold and shape them
to fit your successful business plan. I have visited thousands of parks and
never saw two that were exactly alike. That’s the beauty of technology and the
web: it’s adaptable to a park’s character, showing consumers the character of
the park and making the experience surprisingly personable.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
What is State Net?
arvc employs the services of State
Net through our legal/lobbying firm of McDermott, Will & Emery (MWE) in
Washington, D.C. which provides arvc with State Legislative &
Regulatory Reports on a daily basis. It is my responsibility to review
these reports daily and notify you about potential industry specific
legislation/regulations in your state.
YTD I have reviewed 5,446
pieces of legislation and 1,305 regulations and forwarded 276 of these issues
to the specific state for review.
In an effort to keep all state
leaders as informed as possible, I have included information below about
how this arvc
program works.
What is State Net? State Net
differs from just an automated search engine or information collection
system. State Net gathers information using over 100 legislative experts
who read legislation for relevance and don’t just rely on a “text” search for
specific terms but track relevance to our specific industry interests.
How was the search criteria
developed? arvc requested each affiliated state association to
provide us with specific issues that were important to their state. MWE
compiled that information to develop the search criteria and provided that to
State Net.
Who receives the notification
from arvc
on a specific issue?
- State Associations with an
Executive Director: Executive Director
- State Associations with no
Executive Director: President
- States with no
association: All arvc members in that state.
- All notifications: David
Ransom, MWE.
Our State Association already
employs the services of a lobbyist. That’s great! That means there is two pair
of eyes watching out for your interest. However, most state associations
do not have the resources for a lobbyist to monitor legislation &
regulations in their state. If you have a lobbyist please have them
contact me at jsims@arvc.org to keep me
informed as well.
When you receive a
legislative/regulatory notification from arvc you should review the issue
for relevance and impact on the industry in your state. After your
review, send your comments or questions to me. If an issue comes to your
attention in your state that you would like me to specifically review send that
to me as well.
While I have already sent you
the notifications, I can provide you with a report of the specific bills and
status we are monitoring in your state. I will send you a complete report
at the end of this year and in 2013 I will be sending you a quarterly report.
The State Net program is just
one of the many services and benefits arvc provides our membership.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
NFPA 1194 Proposals
The Technical Committee of the NFPA 1194 meeting was held
in Seattle, WA on May 22 – 24, 2012. arvc
Representative Wade Elliott (Utility Supply Group) delivered arvc’s response to each of the 5
proposals. After compiling the responses from members all across the
country I provided them to Wade along with an official recommendation to reject
Proposals 1, 2, 3 & 4 which were rejected on the First Draft Result.
We did support Proposal 5. 7.8.2 Waste Treatment System. The
waste treatment system design capacity shall be based on a minimum discharge of
35 50 gallons (189.3 L) and a maximum of 60 100 gallons
(378.5 L) per day per site. This First Draft Result was Accept With
Revision.
3. Technical Committee meets to review comments and determine whether to affirm First Draft decision or reverse their decision on the proposal then generates Second Draft.
4. NFPA committees and Board of Directors meet to approve Second Draft and publishes results.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Testing the Assumption: I'm Full Every Weekend!
I'm full every weekend. Have you ever said that? When I hear that phrase, what I interpret it as is "I'm not full on weekdays." Usually it is used as an excuse, a reason why the person speaking doesn't need to belong to an association. The fact is, that by belonging and attending state meetings members can take advantage of the opportunity to network with other park operators and get new ideas.
For example, when I uttered those words to myself, a very interesting solution appeared. It drove me to visit three major hospitals in my area and, working with their Human Resources Department, I worked out a benefit for their employees to provide them a variety of benefits and discounts at my park.
Why did I do that? Think about it, hospitals are usually major employers in an area, they have three shifts of people, and many work weekends. Hospital staff have Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays off. It is a great market to boost low occupancy times while providing valuable R and R to these hard working, high stress professionals.
As an association member, when I attend meetings and seminars my goal is very simple and focused. All I need to do is to come away with one good idea to increase revenues and/or one good idea to curb expenses to make it all worthwhile. Typically, I come away with a whole lot more than just two actionable ideas. Make plans to attend your spring state meetings (review the meetings calendar on www.arvc.org ). Representatives from ARVC will be present at most of the state meetings this year. Bring your challenges and your ideas; we'll see you there.
For example, when I uttered those words to myself, a very interesting solution appeared. It drove me to visit three major hospitals in my area and, working with their Human Resources Department, I worked out a benefit for their employees to provide them a variety of benefits and discounts at my park.
Why did I do that? Think about it, hospitals are usually major employers in an area, they have three shifts of people, and many work weekends. Hospital staff have Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays off. It is a great market to boost low occupancy times while providing valuable R and R to these hard working, high stress professionals.
As an association member, when I attend meetings and seminars my goal is very simple and focused. All I need to do is to come away with one good idea to increase revenues and/or one good idea to curb expenses to make it all worthwhile. Typically, I come away with a whole lot more than just two actionable ideas. Make plans to attend your spring state meetings (review the meetings calendar on www.arvc.org ). Representatives from ARVC will be present at most of the state meetings this year. Bring your challenges and your ideas; we'll see you there.
Friday, January 20, 2012
"Old Tires & Tree Stumps"
A couple of things that seem to accumulate around a park are old tires and tree stumps. The old tires are usually the result of when you change tires on your vehicle there's always that "one" that wasn't totally worn out and you might need it someday. The tree stumps are usually cut off high enough so you won't hit rocks with your chainsaw and believe that someday you will hire someone to come to your park and grind them out. Both are good intentions and poor execution because someday rarely arrives.
One day I got out my Sawzall and cut the tread portion of the tires into the shape of palm leaves about two feet long. The next step was to dry brush them with green paint. If you have never dry brushed, it is very simple. Dab your paint brush in the paint and using an old plastic coffee can lid (or any other surface) wipe most of the paint off. Then lightly brush over the top surface of the tire and not in the grooves. The tread design will give you somewhat of a leaf pattern. Then mount the leaf on top of the stump. It will be virtually indestructible.
Not all tires will work for this because of the steel belts. You don't want to have little steel wires poking out everywhere. If you have a great idea or solution you would like me to share, please send it to me at jsimsarvc.org
One day I got out my Sawzall and cut the tread portion of the tires into the shape of palm leaves about two feet long. The next step was to dry brush them with green paint. If you have never dry brushed, it is very simple. Dab your paint brush in the paint and using an old plastic coffee can lid (or any other surface) wipe most of the paint off. Then lightly brush over the top surface of the tire and not in the grooves. The tread design will give you somewhat of a leaf pattern. Then mount the leaf on top of the stump. It will be virtually indestructible.
Not all tires will work for this because of the steel belts. You don't want to have little steel wires poking out everywhere. If you have a great idea or solution you would like me to share, please send it to me at jsimsarvc.org
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