Welcome to Park Talk!
Why a blog for caravan parks?
With a growing RV industry the integrity and future for many parks is under enormous threat and pressure. This blog is NOT to dig deeper into all the negativity and issues revolving around the issue of free camps, council and shire pressures and competition etc. We are NOT here to get into the politics of these issues. There is enough going on in this area. These are often EXTERNAL issues that many caravan parks have little control or influence on!
What Park Talk will focus on!
Park Talk aims to focus on the things you can impact - the INTERNAL factors. This is a blog for all caravan parks that have a passion for their customers and their parks. Park Talk will focus on subjects not commonly reviewed in many of the formal publications available. Park Talk is about providing discussion items on how parks can IMPROVE their own business performance through improved customer satisfaction and by improving the way they present their park and deliver services to your guests. This is about taking the elements and resources they can manage and ensuring they are getting the most from them. Our goal is to help caravan parks grow their businesses and increase occupancy by focusing on what really matters. A happy customer is a returning customer.
Join us on a journey of making our parks appreciated, valued and enjoyed by our guests.
We would love to hear your thoughts in this evolving area. We have already established a list of success factors we will focus on in the coming months. To get the ball rolling we will be looking at the following success factors:
- Friendly engagement with customers
- Promote Town and Region to keep guests longer
- Present a well maintained and neat caravan park
- Keep facilities such as amenities, camp kitchen and laundry clean
- Communication by phone, email and face to face
- Offer reasonable rates to guests - ensuring value for money
- Encourage and develop loyalty through customer retention
- Provide added value services to make the experience extra special
- Demonstrate reasonable levels of flexibility and empathy
- Measure their performance by monitoring and measuring occupancy, revenue etc
- Undertake a yearly Business Planning Review to refine business performance
- Aim to make incremental improvements to their parks each year
- Are selective and careful how they use their Marketing $
- Undertake regular Social Media activity
- Build Equity in their reviews
- Networking with other parks - building relationships with other parks
- Being part of a Caravan Park Network
- Ensuring a well managed park
- And more to come…...
Where do these success factors come from?
I am Bert van Spronsen, Founder and Managing Director of Kui Parks, a national network of parks tailored to the needs of travelling nomads around Australia, and focusing on caravan parks that deliver key quality services meeting the needs of the travelling nomad. Our network of parks are committed to delivering on our core values and to ensure our guests get the service they deserve. As a result we have seen significant increases in park occupancy, ensuring these businesses can keep growing as well.
On a personal note, I have caravanned for more than 45 years, having been a keen caravaner in South Africa, Europe and Australia. My career path has also taken me internationally into consulting, sales and marketing effectiveness and training. In addition, in establishing Kui Parks I have spent more than 4 years on the road, done nearly 140,000km and visited hundreds of caravan parks establishing Kui Parks. In my travels I have seen and experienced many things and have seen what makes a park successful and what does not. These are observations made from experiences gained and discussions with many park owners and the years of professional business training I have undertaken. I have identified what I consider to be the some of the most important factors. Not everything is covered here, so I would love your thoughts and feedback on my list.
For more information on Kui Parks, feel free to contact Bert for a no obligation chat on 0438 462 868 or email to bert@parktalk.com.au
