Donna Genie says campground demand will stay strong even if the economy slows, because RV supply is still tight. She tells park owners to raise prices to cover inflation and improvements, not worry about losing customers once occupancy is solid.
And you touched on it a little bit. But do you see new players and developers, people coming into the space who are going to be buying parks in the future, continuing to have an impact on pricing and how the market lays out? I mean, I know that it's, you know, most park owners are probably feeling that slow a little bit, but maybe you're thinking, well, I don't know that I'm at the point of selling my park yet, but maybe I want to within five years, is the market still going to be, you know, what it was, or somewhat close to that? And will there still be buyers and people, you know, who would consider purchasing my park? Do you see that continuing over the next several years? Yeah, in my great crystal ball. Excuse me, if you hear my dog coughing. In my great crystal ball. I don't see the industry slowing down as quickly as the economy is predicted to with, you know, there's always talk of recession. And you know, honestly I don't put a lot of guidance into what that economic forecast looks like except maybe the next six to eight months year. And I don't see a lot of slowdown in the industry. Now I know we're seeing numbers of RV production slowing down, but we had a huge jump in supply. And this is just kind of the supply and demand balancing, in my opinion. And it will balance itself out. But I'm not hearing people say, oh my gosh, I'm not going camping anymore. Now there are some who will. Instead of maybe taking that 500 mile trip, hey, gasoline's expensive. We may not make that giant trip. Maybe we'll just camp closer to home or we'll head to the beach for the weekend. Those kinds of things may occur. But I really am not seeing in our numbers a slowdown in the occupancy of parks. I'm still seeing that there is still a pretty low supply. Now what people should be reading out of that is looking at their pricing. There are a lot of players who are afraid to raise pricing. They shouldn't be. Inflation is hitting everywhere and that should also include the cost of camping. It's not a necessity as a necessity, as much as we want to think it is still really a luxury item. Right. And it's about setting up the business for success down the road so that you can continue to make those improvements, those changes and keep the experience at your park, you know, what your customers have come to enjoy. And that's something that we've recommended as well as, hey, you know, sometimes the marketing doesn't need to sell the park as much as just support what you're doing. Let's get pricing into a point where you know your park is full, and then we'll let the marketing take care of the rest. Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Please make sure to check out our blog and our website link below. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when we post. You can email me@donnacampgroundaccounting.com Sam.
