Hi to all,
Recently I've noticed, across many forums, a lot of negativity about caravan parks raising fees dramatically, frequently coupled with "resort" style facilities being added.
Hands up all you who've had a "dummy spit" about this issue and the fact you would prefer basic but clean facilities and the extra cash in your pocket, over say putt putt and waterslides?
Well a few weeks ago, as an assistant manager of Touring Oz
forum, I decided to "test the waters" so to speak, by seeking comment from those members, to an idea that may be a worthwhile resolution to this issue. Here's what I wrote then.................
I made a point
about us caravan park users getting together as a consortium to buy parks to protect our lifestyle under the thread "Today Tonight-Caravan Park Resorts". I also suggested there was (IMHO) no chance of such an idea making it into the starting blocks (let alone out of them) and since then I've rolled a few figures around in my head and have decided to ask a hypothetical question - Who'd be in it?
One of our members made the point that we as CP users are being hearded like sheep into parks that may not necessarily suit our wants nor needs at the whim of the park owners (typically investors looking to maximise their profits) so the answer to me seems to be simple - we need to be the landlord and not the tenant!
A figure (and I'm not sure how accurate it is), is approx 300 000 RVers on the roads. Let's assume everyone put $100 into the investment. That's a slush fund of $30 million to start a buy up of parks to create our own chain. Let's face it, most of us have many thousands of dollars tied up in our rigs, so what's $100 to protect our lifestyle? Let's also say a typical "no frills" park sells for about $3 million, thats a start with 10 parks in the chain. Lets go further and say we managed to get everyone to contribute $1000. Still not much considering what could be achieved. Now we're talking 100 parks in the chain! Not only is this now becoming a larger number but it would give us a formidable voice in the Gov't lobbying stakes.
The benefits - Let's start with park fees. Maybe a 100 van park with 25% occupancy charging on average $15 per night (of coarse scaled so singles pay less than families) gives over $2600 per week to pay overheads and still have the park available to non-investors at full market rates. At these lower rates (a couple for instance may pay $8 - $10 /night) it wouldn't take long to return your initial investment as
well as still retaining a share of the ever increasing land value! Peak periods of high occupancy is just the cream on top!
I realise my senario is very simple and requires a far more accurate and researched business model but even if I'm only close to right the figures does seem to make some sense! And of course the amount invested could be varied depending upon the personal circumstances of the investor. The investment could even be willed on to our respective families for their use in maybe 50 years time!!!!!!
Ok as said earlier - who'd be interested?
To my amazement, almost 15% of the
membership replied to the post (which made the thread the second most popular in Touring Oz history). More amazing than this though, is the fact not one respondant replied negatively! In fact the vast majority was along the lines of "count me in" and "I'll have 5 shares" etc.
So why then am I telling you all this..............
well the response has taken me a little by surprise. If the same positive percentage revealed by the initial survey is replicated across the wider caravanning/camping/motorhoming/treking communities (in fact anyone who uses caravan parks including cabins and sales reps etc), then the idea shows significant promise!
Of course for it to become anything like reality, many more interested persons are required then would be found on any one
forum, or in fact on all the forums combined. With this in mind, I'm taking the idea to as many forums as I can, to further gauge reaction. If a resounding positive result is forthcoming from the forums polled, then perhaps another step can be taken to making this a reality.
Please bear in mind this is, as I've said, purely "testing the water". I realise much more work is needed and in fact the thought may not even make "first base". There would be many variations of this very simplistic model needed to be canvassed and debated, but a start has to be somewhere! Also be aware that I am not collecting any money! If the idea was to reach that point (sometime in the future) that would be handled by a reputable firm of solicitors with appropriate trust account facilities in place, not me.
Many of you will see this thread pop up on other forums. This is so I can reach as many travellers as possible. If you know of a
forum that I've missed please let me know.
Well as said previously - WHO'D BE INTERESTED? Over to you...........................................
Ian