On today’s episode of MC Fireside Chats, sponsored by Fireside Accounting, industry experts talked about the latest news and trends in the camping and RV industry.
We were joined by Casey Cochran, Director of Business Development at Campspot Software; Randy Hendrickson, Founder & CEO of United Park Brokers; Sandy Ellingson, an RV Industry Consultant; Ruben Martinez from the American Glamping Association and Mark Koep, Founder, and CEO of CampgroundViews.com
The open discussion started with the reaction to the formation of National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds’ (National ARVC) Campground Standards Task Force, which according to a release, aims to focus on the pursuit of building a voluntary baseline and advanced standards for the private campground industry.
Koep said that more than a task force, it is now, more than ever, needed to have a strong national association.
“The release claims that they [ARVC] represented 13,000 park owners in the United States, and that’s just factually untrue…So where my first issue comes in is that we need a strong national association of campgrounds and RV parks in the United States to represent the interest of the owners and the industry at that level,” Koep said.
He also added that small park and campground owners do not have time, energy, or money to follow certain standards that the recently formed task force would impose.
“Why do we need this task force? What is the purpose of it?”
Ellingson reiterated the need for a strong representation and how standardization will impact owners and operators.
“I am a firm believer that if we’re going to talk about standardization, let’s just say it’s about safety and security. So if there should be a task force, it should be a task force at the state level, run by the states, and that information possibly shared with the national organization,” Ellingson said.
Martinez also shared how the glamping industry went on the same path in the past but went towards resources, tools, and education instead of policing and standardizing.
“It’s going to be a very hard pathway forward to be a policing agency versus tools, resources, education, and assistance,” Martinez said.
The guest experts also highlighted the importance of dialogue with stakeholders, listening, relooking, and asking what would be the outcome following the forming of a task force.
Hendrickson said the absence of information and methodology of the task force is what makes it questionable to park owners and operators.
Meanwhile, Cochran hopes that the names in the task force who built their campground from the ground up would have the best interests of smaller parks
Pivoting away from the topic of standardization, Koep said that the high gas prices, inflation, and other economic challenges that impacted travel had changed the consumers.
“The consumers have changed significantly, people are still traveling, they’re still camping. The campgrounds, in general, are doing well. It’s nice to see that the resiliency of our industry is showing forth right now in face of all the noise that is out there,” he said.