With the holidays approaching, it’s crucial to start planning for the busy season ahead. This year, holiday season preparation is the perfect opportunity to upskill your team and upgrade your systems. It is an investment that will ease stress during this busy time and set you up for success in the new year.

4 Tips for Holiday Campground Management

To ensure a successful season, you need to make sure your staff is prepared for the fast-paced day-to-day operations that await them. Here are some tips on how to manage a campground during holidays.

1. Train Your Staff 

Whenever you are researching general best practices about how to manage a campground, staff training is sure to be high on the list. The holidays are no exception. 

Continuous training opportunities arise throughout the year, but holiday season preparation is the perfect time for team improvement. Here are a few topics to add to your training agenda.

• Campground rules. Make sure your staff is familiar with all of your guest rules and guidelines.
• General customer service. There are multiple online resources and free customer service training courses available.
• Complaint resolution. Unfortunately, there may be times when your staff needs to deal with unhappy campers. Make sure they have a few techniques for diffusing these situations. 
• Software training. The busy holiday season is no time for staff to fumble around on computers. Schedule time for your team to improve their computer and software skills. 

While you are thinking about training, team-building exercises are a great way to make sure your staff is all on the same page and ready to deliver great service during this busy time!

2. Offer Self-Service Options

Self-service capabilities are becoming more sophisticated as well as gaining in popularity. Campers increasingly expect you to offer an online portal where they can easily manage and make changes to their bookings. 

The best campground management software includes a guest portal that gives your visitors autonomy over their visit. They can track and manage their reservations, make secure payments, and communicate directly with your property. In addition to these valuable benefits, a guest portal allows campers to check in to your property themselves. 

Self-check-in software is a tool you need. Whether your campers are arriving late at night, want to avoid lines and delays, or simply prefer to limit their interactions with others, self-check-in provides your guests with the convenience and flexibility they want. 

3. Use Campground Automation 

Campground automation is one of the easiest ways to reduce stress for your staff and increase camper satisfaction by taking on time-consuming tasks. Guest communications and pricing changes are critical operational activities but can be tedious, making them perfect for automation.

Communications. Sharing information with campers before, during, and after their stay improves their experience and makes guest management easier for your staff, but doing so takes a lot of effort. Campground automation tools enable you to send personalized emails and texts— such as booking confirmation emails with visit details, an arrival day welcome SMS text, or an after-visit campground review request.

Pricing changes. Dynamic pricing occurs when rates are adjusted in response to supply and demand and can help you maximize your profits. However, manual pricing adjustments take time that you probably don’t have. An automated dynamic pricing tool, if available in your reservation management system, automatically adjusts pricing based on your pre-defined occupancy, demand rules, and parameters. 

4. Maintain a Great Camper Experience

A well-trained staff with time to focus on campers instead of repetitive, tedious tasks means they can be focused on maintaining a positive camper experience. 

Holiday camp activities are the perfect enhancement to create memorable stays. For example, you might consider seasonal decoration contests, holiday arts and crafts programs, lighthearted game nights, cookie exchanges, sing-alongs, and festive potlucks.

The one thing that all of these activities have in common is that can translate into great reviews for your campground, Instagram-worthy shares, and ultimately, repeat and new campers!

Operational Excellence Starts With an Efficient System

The holiday season is not the time for mistakes. The best way to ensure operational excellence is with an efficient reservation management system that provides the tools you need for a seamless guest experience. 

Download our Achieving Operational Excellence ebook to learn how to effectively manage your outdoor property with a reservation system that can turn the hectic holiday season into a happy and profitable one.