Regarding the campground marketplace options. For those of us who are veteran travelers, we’ve all learned our travel lessons the hard way. One of the first lessons every traveler should learn is “always book directly.” No truer words were ever spoken. Sure, there are great sites for comparing travel options such as Hopper, Kayak, Expedia, Google Flights, Hotels.com, etc. And we have some of the same types of sites and services in the RV campground world as well. But, what many travelers and RV campers don’t fully appreciate is that these sites don’t always list ALL available options. They’re selective. For example, many travel booking sites don’t even list Southwest Airlines. And, it’s the same with many campground reservation sites that list multiple sites. Guests may think they’re seeing all your available options, but in reality, they’re not. Many campground reservation sites only list sites that are part of THEIR network, but they give the impression that they’re seeing all the campgrounds in your target search area. Guests may actually be missing out on a less expensive space, or perhaps a better space with a lake view, or may be missing out on offers that the campground makes to those who book directly. The result is you’re not maximizing your revenue.
But, these reservation services are not free. They have overhead themselves. As my father always said to me, “there’s no free lunch.” Someone is always paying for the service. And in this case, it’s always the guest. Therefore, in addition to the campground fees, guests are paying a markup on the space or a booking fee, or a cleaning fee, or some extra fee to support the services of the reservation site. Don’t think they’re not paying… nothing is free. This may make your space “uncompetitive” in the space marketplace in your area, which means – lost revenue!
Also, a camper may find that the published price for their stay is not the price at the online checkout. All of a sudden, just like with AirBnB, they’re hit with extra fees, and they’re disillusioned, and disappointed, and they click away – never to return. When they book directly with you, they’re assured that the price they see, is the price they pay. Additionally, many campgrounds have extras which they would have loved to reserve such as BBQs, firewood, a boat slip, etc., but these may not be shown on the reservation site and they only become aware of them at check-in, which may be too late because they’re now sold out.
They also may not have flexibility to change their reservations, arrival times, etc. without going through the booking site. Just like when YOU book directly with Hilton or American Airlines and you’re talking directly to one of THEIR employees, you get real results, not a chat bot. We’ve all heard of horror stories of cancelled flights, overbooked hotels, etc. When travelers book through an OTA, On-Line Travel Agent, such as Expedia, they’re no longer the customer of the airline or the hotel, they’re the customer of Expedia. Refunds, etc. all have to run through the OTA, not the airline or hotel. The same situation exists with RV campground reservation systems.
MySites.com is the RV campground industry alternative to poor guest service, fractured relationships, and “unhappy campers!” MySites.com is a different business model. We’re a family run business, which has been dedicated to the RV industry since our founding. We DON’T own campgrounds, we don’t lease RVs, and we don’t take reservations. What we do, however, is help you the campground owner and operator, run a more cost efficient campground, increase your revenue, and offer superior guest satisfaction. Here’s how we do it.
First, as we said, we don’t own any campgrounds, so we’re NEVER your competitor with campgrounds near or next to your campground. Second, we provide a professionally designed website tailored to your campground. Third, we offer a secure and professionally managed operations and reliability with our own servers running YOUR reservation system. Fourth, we create great content for your site so YOU can interact directly with your customer, your guest. They’ll be able to reserve the spot of their choice and select and pay for extras all online. Fifth, your site, thanks to our SEO (Search Engine Optimized) content creators, will organically and naturally surface to the top of most internet searches. This organic reach gives shoppers, customers, and guests enhanced confidence in the search results because the results are sourced from many users doing exactly the same search— bam!… crowd-sourced results. Sixth, we provide you with the management tools every campground should have to manage inventory and staff, handle reservations and payments, and communicate with guests via email and SMS.
Guests that receive positive and rapid communications reflecting their recent online activity on a website are much less likely to cancel a transaction. We’re experts in that and provide immediate online confirmations such as “Done! – Subscribed! – Confirmed! – Reserved! – etc.” These immediate confirmations are then followed up by emails and SMS text messages that provide additional details, information, etc. that can be saved, shared, and even printed and folded up and put in a coat pocket as a backup! Fewer canceled reservations equal more revenue.
So, allying your campground with us at MySites.com translates into more revenue, reduced operating costs, and a more professional guest-facing image. We’d love to provide you with a demonstration of our RV Campground System, and show you how we can improve your bottom line. Please contact Brian at 800.832.3292 for your personalized demonstration of our capabilities. You’ll be glad you did!
