Donna Bordeaux of Campground Accounting advises owners on surviving early COVID lockdowns. Some parks like St. Marys, GA stayed full by offering boondocking. Priorities: notify past guests, upgrade Wi‑Fi for remote work, promote outdoor space, and switch to phone check‑ins and text ordering.
I am Donna Bordeaux with Campground Accounting, and I wanted to give you a little bit of an update on what we're seeing going on. I know there's a lot of confusion out there and a lot of things are happening that are extremely out of the ordinary for campground owners.
But I want you to know I'm on the road traveling and last week.
I was at a campground in St.
Mary's Georgia, filled to the rim.
They were making accommodations to fit other people in boondocking and taking every ounce of space they could find because travelers have different plans than they did before.
Especially if you were anywhere near the.
East coast with spring break and Disney's closed, there's a lot of people doing different things than they thought they were going to do over the next couple of weeks.
So take a look at your park. Make sure that people know if you do have availability. Email all of your previous guests who've ever been to your park. Tell them what you're doing. Remind them that you're open. They are probably going to have some.
Rough times ahead and they may need to get out of the house for a while, especially if they've got a lot of young children at home. And camping is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of this situation that we have today.
Also, make sure that your WI fi.
Is working well and optimized. This is a great time to test it out.
Those people who are traveling on the.
Road are going to need to make.
Sure that they have good WI fi.
Access to get to kids schools and.
Also their work that they may not be able to go to right now. So take a look. Let people know that you're open. Let them know the steps that you're.
Taking to make sure that your campground is a safe place for them to be.
Also, if you're in a warmer destination.
Remind people there is nothing like being outside. The sunshine is there to help and the ultraviolet light is going to naturally help disinfect.
So keep that progress going.
Make sure that you're doing everything you.
Can for your campground. We're also seeing that a lot of campgrounds have gone to phone check in or phone purchases so you can take.
Orders from people if they need firewood. If they need supplies from your camp.
Store, all they have to do is phone in or maybe even text.
Take advantage of your operations system with your reservations.
Most all of them have a lot.
Of this capability built in even if you're not using it. So take advantage of that.
I wish you all well. Please let me know if there's anything at all that we can do to.
Help make this tough time a little.
Bit easier for you.
I'm Donna Bordeaux with campgroundaccounting.com.
