Donna Genie shares three ways to train campground staff for better service: teach them local routes so they can guide RV drivers, have them memorize answers to common questions and nearby services like grocery stores and vets, and build partnerships with local restaurants to keep guests coming back.
I know you probably have some people working in the busiest season in your campground who may not have a lot of experience as a camper or as what your guests would see. So I want to give you three tips on where you need to train your staff to make sure that they can handle for your guests. The first is knowing directions. You will commonly have people call you from the road on their way in about directions. And if you have someone answering the phone who has no idea how to drive out of their campground and get anywhere, that can be very frustrating for an RVer who is coming into your park when you're driving, towing a trailer with an rv, whatever it may be. That's a stressful enough situation to add on to the fact that somebody in the campground doesn't know the name of the street that the campground is on or how to get there from a nearby highway. So please train your staff. If at all possible, go drive them out and drive the route that most of your guests will come to get to your park. Let them be familiar with it. Notice where there may be some trouble spots, tight turns, over 90 degree turns, all of those things. They should understand how an RV or a trailer has to maneuver. Also, if possible, when someone pulls in, one of your guests pulls in, take them out and show them and let them watch how that camper and that RV has to maneuver, how the tow points turn, how they make wide turns. Give them a little lesson on what it would be like in the shoes of their guest pulling into your campground. Make sure they have a little empathy and understanding of what that guest is going through and how to best help them. Secondly, I was at a large campground this summer and obviously they hired on a lot of summer help. Pulled up to the security gate on our way in after making a harrowing travel in based on some small roads that the campground was on and asked where we should unhook our tow vehicle. Probably 18 year old at the gate had no idea. I'm not even sure he knew what a tow vehicle was. I don't know if this was his first day or if he had little to no experience and they just needed a live warm body there. But make sure that your staff knows the answer to commonly asked questions like where is the best place to unhook my tow vehicle? Should I go to my site? Should I do it up front? Where am I going to run into trouble spots if I don't unhook? First and last nearby places, we seem to have more challenges. We relate to and rely on GPS a lot. These days, but have a list of nearby places that you can give people when they check in. There's standard things that everybody might need to know. Do you have any RV techs on site? Is there a local Walmart? Is there a local Whole Foods? Where are the grocery stores? Are there pet supply places? Is there an emergency vet handy? All of those kinds of things. Urgent care, where are they? Do yourself a favor. Print those all out. Hand them to your guest upon their arrival to your park. Put them on your website as well. That doesn't cost you anything to do. And last, make sure your staff knows about that list, knows the general area, knows where people should go. Also, do some partnerships with your local restaurants. Plug them and have them plug you back. Use those relationships with your community to make life better for both you and your incoming guests. Remember, you want the guests to not only love your campground and your area, but they need to love your community as well. So they plan to come back and bring you more business.
