I for one favor menu-pricing; ie. a base price for a site, then add-ons for electric, water, sewer, etc. Most times all I want is an overnite, not a pool, game room, free cookies or other amenities. Then when I need/want the extras, I'd be happy to pay for them.
npenn wrote: We are also encountering cancellation fees of $10
I understand cancellation fees. I don't like them, but I understand them because it is a pain for the facility when someone cancels on you, especially at the last minute. But I am baffled at reservation fees that are over and above the nightly fee - particularly when you do honor the reservation and show up.
Mike, Michele, Hannah (13) and Elijah (10)
2002 Dodge Ram 1500 QuadCab
2003 KZ Coyote 23CT Family Travel Photo Album
My name is Erin Reilly and I am the manager of Natures Hideaway Family Campground. I read the post and understand your concerns. I would love to be able to offer free dump stations and not charge for reservations fees and other charges, but the Septic company comes once a week and I can assure everyone that we are not making any money on the charges or the dump station....Further, A full service site that includes Septic is 40.00 a night, but a site with only power and water is 35.00 a night......So, if you stay 3 to four nights and pay a dump fee you are actually saving money......
I do apologise for having to charge a non-refundable reservation fee, but if we do not then we get overbooked and there are no sites available for customers that want to camp here.......Further, there is an administration component to the booking and reservations and this does not cover our costs, but sort of makes up for it......
I hope you can understand the costs of running a campground and appreciate that as our costs rise we do have to put those into our prices to customers........
Please feel free to e-mail your comments or concerns to myself or any of my staff at :
So if I stay for one night (because I am on a long trip to somewhere) and get a full service site for $40, then it is only costing me $5 to dump my tanks when you compare it to the cost of a water/electric site? Even if I stay at the water/electric site for two days, the overall cost is the same but at the full service site I have the luxury of dumping the tanks whenever I want. Why do I have to, in essence, pay extra because your facility does not have sewer connections at all the sites? That makes absolutely no sense to me.
In my 12+ years of rving, I have never heard of anyone charging extra to dump the tanks when one uses the water/electric site! Pumping the septic tank is part of your cost of doing business. People don't like being nickel and dimed for something that should be included in the nightly fee. As someone else pointed out earlier, are you going to charge extra because someone plugged into your electricity or water? Of course not because that is part of your cost of doing business.
If charging a non-refundable booking fee prevents you from overbooking your sites, I suggest you review the way you book your sites. Again, people don't like being nickel and dimed. Having someone answer the phone and take a reservation is....you guessed it....part of your cost of doing business. It sounds like poor management on your part.
2004 Keystone Sprinter 307BHW
2006 GMC Sierra Crew Cab D/A
Engine Upgrades?? Don't need 'em!!
The queen bee, 3 kids, and me.
"a road fee of $5/day for use of the roads in the cg"...
This is no joke. We used to have a seasonal campsite at a capground that boardered a large inland lake here in our state. Nearest the lake were mobile homes and 3 or four stick homes. These were all sitting on deeded lots. The campground was built between the houses/mobile homes and the road. A co-worker/close friend and his parents owned two houses side-by-side in the "deeded" area. The campground owner charged them a "road fee" to use the campground roads to get to the main road.
I am sure that there was prolly some kind of "right of way" that was in effect, but this particular CG owner was a horses butt, and it was just easier for them to pay the yearly "road fee" then to fight the fight.
Post deleted since the OP did post the name of the CG and I posted before I read the whole thread.
This is total guess, but I might see the logic in this if say the CG is not hooked up to an actual sewer system but on maybe a pump out type system or they have seen a very high sewer costs relative to what they can charge for a full Hook up site and have seen most just using the dump station vice getting a full hook up site. They need to break even and if folks are going cheap by not getting sewer, but using the dump station they might have a case. Of course this is all just a total guess on my part.
My name is Erin Reilly and I am the manager of Natures Hideaway Family Campground. I read the post and understand your concerns. I would love to be able to offer free dump stations and not charge for reservations fees and other charges, but the Septic company comes once a week and I can assure everyone that we are not making any money on the charges or the dump station....Further, A full service site that includes Septic is 40.00 a night, but a site with only power and water is 35.00 a night......So, if you stay 3 to four nights and pay a dump fee you are actually saving money......
I do apologise for having to charge a non-refundable reservation fee, but if we do not then we get overbooked and there are no sites available for customers that want to camp here.......Further, there is an administration component to the booking and reservations and this does not cover our costs, but sort of makes up for it......
I hope you can understand the costs of running a campground and appreciate that as our costs rise we do have to put those into our prices to customers........
Please feel free to e-mail your comments or concerns to myself or any of my staff at :
I missed your post before I posted my assumptions and if what you say is true and I have no doubt that it is everything makes what you are doing perfectly logical and I congratulate you.
jester1525 wrote: Just got off the phone with a campsite here in Southern Alberta.
They have a $10 non-refundable booking fee.
The website says:
Quote: To make a Reservation, a deposit of the first night amount is required; this is non-refundable unless cancellation is made 7 days prior to your booking.
Seems standard to me...doesn't say anything about $10 booking fee...
And how did Miss Erin Reilly find this thread so quickly?
Scott B.
1986 Fleetwood Wilderness 23S
2004 Chevy Silverado 1500 - Cowboy Cadillac
I appreciate a business owner who replys. Basically she is stating that those are the fees to stay at her park and use her services. She has every right to charge whatever fees she wants. WHile I respect the owner's rights to price their service at whatever rate they want it doesn't mean I need to agree or visit.
In this case I feel a 20amp(no AC)/water site at $45 ($35 site + $10 booking fee) to be above and beyond what I consider normal rates.
As mentioned, if you don't like the fee then just don't visit and go to the next park.
Michael 2 DD's and my DW 6 Acre's in Southern Maine 2009 Crossroads Cruiser CF31SB 2008 Chevy 2500HD LT 4X4 Camping Pictures
I want to be charged ine fee...if you have to bury all this other******in that fee then do so. Why don't they just have you camp for free and charge for the reservations, phone fee, parking fee, grass cutting fee, water fee, sewer fee, electric fee, dump fee, checkout fee, air fee, smog fee,....you get the message. It used to be a selling feature to include stuff like dumping and internet.
Offline
