Dealing with Difficult Situations as a Campground Owner?¶

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The job of a Campground Owner can be very difficult and challenging. You can always encounter situations that can be very challenging, so it’s important to have a lot of patience and find the best solutions.

But what can you do when it comes to specific situations that appear out of nowhere on your campground?

Here are some tips and tricks you can focus on when dealing with difficult situations.¶

Drunk Clients and Minors Under the Influence¶

Dealing with drunk clients or minors under the influence can be extremely challenging. It’s not simple to have intoxicated patrons, regardless of their age. But there are a few simple things that you can do here.

You can bring up food and encourage them to eat rather than drink. Offering some tea, coffee or water will help a lot and always be respectful and polite while interacting them.
However, if it’s possible, talk with the one person in the group that’s not under the influence and encourage them to take their friends/colleagues to rest for a little bit.
Some people under the influence will try and start an argument or a fight, discourage that and instead try to encourage them to rest, all while talking with the person that’s not under the influence.
With minors is slightly different and your first resource should be to talk with their parent if they are present.

Speeding on Site¶

Campground speeding can happen, which is why you need to be as strict as possible. Normally you should have a “2 strikes, you’re out” rule. This will bring in more control over your campground and you will find things to be a lot easier to handle. You can also add drinking, fighting and noise under this rule as well.

Add cones on each side of the rode in trouble areas, this will make it a lot harder for people to speed up.
It’s also a good idea to include some speed bumps and signage showing that people are not supposed to go faster than a certain speed.
Some campgrounds have express a high success rate with radar speed signs.

Vandalism¶

The best approach you can have here is to immediately make those persons pay for the items that were damaged. The idea is to show how such a situation is not tolerable and no one should be allowed to do something like this. Moreover, you want to kick out any person or group that vandalizes the campground and red flag their account so you can reference the infraction if they try to return to your campground in the future. It might sound strict, but it will help you prevent problems in the long run.

Using a campground management software (PitchCamp) can be extremely useful in these situations. It will help you keep a list with people that damaged the campground or which were caught speeding/stealing, among many others. Plus, the software can also be used to automate a variety of different tasks, and that alone can be even better.

Theft¶

Theft in any situation is never a pleasant experience and should never be tolerated on your campground. You want and need your campers to feel safe knowing that you as the campground owner have the situation under control and set a precedent.

You should also encourage people to store valuable items away at night time especially.
Make sure all your clients have appropriate insurance coverage on their RV. It's a good ideal especially for seasonal clients to have a copy of their insurance policy before they stay on your campground for the entire season.
In any theft circumstances you should always involve the local authorities to offload the intricacies of documenting the current situation.
Have a theft and damage clause on your waivers that are signed by the campers on their arrival. For an example of a legal waiver please visit PitchCamp's waiver section where you can use the pre build waivers to have your client sign them.

Loud Music & Complaints¶

Not everyone is always going to stick to the rules. In fact, they might end up playing loud music or do all kinds of things that are outside of the campground rules. If you receive any loud music complaints, then you need to take action as quickly as possible.

The best thing you can do is to have a sign which clearly says that playing loud music is prohibited and give them a copy of the rules and regulations upon their arrival.
At first, it’s a good idea to go to those persons that are playing music loudly and let them know that this is not allowed. If they break the rules repeatedly, then you will be forced to kick them out of the campground. However, the first approach is to always share a notice to let them know this is not ok. Only after that you should try to enforce any other rules. It’s the best system you can use, and people will most likely understand it from the start.
There’s the option to call the police for repeat offenders, but most of the time that’s not something you will need to do. Instead, you want to focus a lot more on bringing a safe and great experience for everyone on the campground. Penalizing people is not something necessary, but it might end up being enforced from time to time, and that’s exactly what you need to keep in mind.

Unpaid Balance¶

Having a proper campground management software such as (PitchCamp) will make this area a lot easier as a campground owner, because this is the best tool you can use to track who paid their balance and who has a unpaid balance on their account.

What we recommend you to do is to approach those persons with the unpaid balance and let them know how much they have to pay. You can send them an email, call them or even visit them on-site if they are still there.
A good way to prevent any problems is to require the credit card number from every client same thing as when you book a hotel room.
There’s no need to go to the authorities most of the time, as this situation will most likely resolve it self if you just contact the client and let them know.

Campground Rules Violations¶

As we mentioned earlier, the best approach you can have here is a 2-strike rule, if a person violates any rules you can offer a warning first, and then you will be forced to remove them from the campground.

Showcasing the rules on designated signs and even offering a piece of paper with the rules when they enter the campground is a very good idea. It’s important to enforce your rules, otherwise people won’t really care and just do whatever they want. So having the right rules can really make a huge difference.

Sneaking in Unregistered Clients¶

Campers might believe it’s easy to sneak someone in, but if you use a campground management software (PitchCamp), you can easily track what they paid for and how many people are registered.

Relying on software is always a good idea, and in this particular situation it can help you save a lot of time without any hassle.
If someone sneaks in unregistered people, then you will need to warn them the next time they invite unregistered people they will be kicked out and make them pay the additional fees for their visitors.

Coping with COVID-19 on your Campground¶

The right thing to do is to enforce social distancing.

People need to stay far from one another on the campground.
They also need to avoid situations when there can be multiple groups, to prevent any possible downsides that can arise.
We also recommend the use of facemasks in most locations on the campground, especially where there are a lot of people for example in bingo halls or any other actives inside or in close proximity.
If you know one of your clients are having a social gathering simply asking them the measure they will impose during the event will eliminate a lot of stress for you and your clients.

Conclusion¶

If you want to deal with problems like this more efficiently and manage your campground without any hassle and stress, don’t hesitate and use PitchCamp. This is a free campground management software and it will help you do the heavy lifting when it comes to handling reservations, online bookings, payments and many other tasks. This is the best way to avoid any unpaid balances, and it delivers a very professional, comprehensive system that can make a huge difference for any campground manager. Don’t hesitate and start using PitchCamp today, it will make campground management a lot easier than ever before!

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