First 25k of improvements at a 20 site park, and only one thing gets done

Question

Family friend inherited a 20 site campground and I've been helping read the numbers, which is how I ended up with an opinion I can't defend. There's about 25k available for improvements before next season and three things want it.

The bathhouse. It works. It's ugly, the fixtures are 1980s, and it shows up in every review that mentions it, positively or negatively depending on the guest's expectations. A refresh is maybe 20 to 25k done properly.

The power. Twelve sites are 30 amp only. Upgrading a portion to 50 amp is roughly 1,400 to 2,000 a site here depending on the run, so 25k gets most of the way through. Bigger rigs won't book a 30 amp site in July heat because they can't run air conditioning, so those twelve sites lose the guest with the most money.

WiFi and signage. Cheap by comparison, maybe 6k total, and reviewers mention them constantly. I keep leaning toward power, because it changes who can book and what you can charge rather than how people feel about what they got. The counter I keep hearing is that a bad bathhouse loses you the repeat guest, and repeat guests are the whole business at a park this small.

For people who've actually spent this money, which one earned it back?

nicole_adeyemi · Answer

Before you pick, find out whether the electrical upgrade needs a permit and what the service capacity at the transformer actually is. Twelve sites from 30 to 50 amp is a real load increase and I've seen that stop at the utility rather than at the pedestal. If the answer is a service upgrade, your 25k is a deposit rather than a project. Requirements differ by state and utility, so ask the utility directly and get the answer in writing.

tashaford30 · Answer

Power. Rate follows capability, and a 30 amp site in a hot market is a discount site forever.

ehernandez74 · Answer

I'd do the 6k of wifi and signage first regardless, because it's small and it addresses something guests are already telling you about, then put the remaining 19k toward whichever of the other two has a hard constraint. parcel's transformer question decides that.

One more thing worth pulling. If the park has any booking history by site, look at whether the twelve 30 amp sites actually sit empty in July or whether they fill last at a lower rate. Empty is a revenue problem you can fix with amperage. Filling last at a lower rate is a smaller problem than it looks, because those sites are still producing.

laurenkim53 · Answer

At low price points I've watched the ugly bathhouse be the reason a place gets a 3.6 average instead of a 4.4, and the rating is what people sort by. Twenty sites can't absorb bad reviews the way a hundred can.

priya_n21 · Answer

Can you do a partial bathhouse? Fixtures, paint, lighting, and leave the layout alone. Feels like most of what people are reacting to is surfaces rather than plumbing.

renee_dubois · Answer

marlow's version is what I'd do. In small buildings I've found that lighting, paint, and new fixtures get you 80 percent of the perception for maybe a third of the cost, and the plumbing rough in can wait until a year when it's the only thing on the list.

thicket, that would leave you room to do the wifi and signage plus a handful of the 50 amp conversions, and then you'd have real data on whether the upgraded sites actually outbook the 30 amp ones at a higher rate. Do six, not twelve. Next year you'll know instead of arguing.

First 25k of improvements at a 20 site park, and only one thing gets done

6 replies