Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, Britt, thanks for your time coming out here. We're at the OHCE conference talking to RV park owners and vendors. And so I appreciate you taking time to come out here. So I'd love to hear about your story. We were talking a little bit before this and how you started your park and maybe share some stories about it.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Okay, awesome. Well, thanks so much for having me.
Not to, you know, belabor the story again, but I am going to go through it for all the viewers.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Yes, yes. 10 or 20 tops.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Yeah, about.
I think it's like eight years ago now.
I was sort of ready for a giant life change.
My husband was a college professor and his department didn't have enough enrollment and they just were like, all right, well we have to let you go. And I was a stay at home mom. I was pregnant with my second son and it was very scary. And really from that point on, we sort of determined and decided we will never work for anyone ever again.
We don't know what we're gonna do, but we're gonna do something.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: So we bought a fifth wheel, we bought a truck, we rented our house out for a year and we just hit the road with our kids. They were one in three at the time.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: It was so incredibly scary.
Yeah. We had to build a cage like crib for my son.
Really was like him in there. Yes. He really was trapped. That one was kind of funny.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: But yeah, I mean, I probably cried every day for a month. Like, what the heck did we just do? I didn't know how to turn on the water heater.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: I don't know what's going on.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you really are like totally displaced from your. Your roots. Right. You have no place, normal life. Yeah.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: You don't go home to something really. You're constantly moving. We were very new to the RV life style, so we left in summer, not knowing everyone who RVs has reservations like six months ago.
And so we were having to constantly move. We probably got like three days in a row somewhere every time because we just couldn't stay somewhere long enough cuz they didn't have places for us. So we were just kind of scrambling and trying to figure it all out. And I think it was probably like two months in, we started to feel like, okay, now I understand why people do this.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: So what, what was that, what was that understanding? Just. Just the familiarity or just just I think living it.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: I think I remember.
I remember.
Yeah. It was like we were, we were in.
Somewhere in Arizona at some campground and I'm stringing my laundry and my kids are playing outside and those are my to do's. I have to hang laundry on the line and that's it, you know, and it was like, wow.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: So it sound like a sense of comfort and happiness was like. Yeah, it's not that.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Like this is why we're doing this. We're like, my husband is home, I'm home. We're together all the time, Our dogs are here. Like it was just.
Yeah. It was really beautiful.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: And we just. Yeah, we. We traveled. We did so many great things together.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: So many awesome memories.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: Lots of experiences.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And learning about how to do it. All right. Like my, like we went into Mexico. My husband learned how to. We popped a tire as we kind of came into Ensenada.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: He went into Mexico, found a tire in Spanish, came back, knew how to change it.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Like story for sure. Yeah.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean those are the stories. Yeah. That you, you look back on and it makes you a better person. You know, it teaches you a lot about life and what you're. What you're capable of physically, mentally, emotionally, all of that.
Because you can get into some really scary places.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Literally. Figures.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Pictures online were not true.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Yes. Yes.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: Know how you have 4.5 stars because this is creepy.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Or the. I mean we use free campsites.net a lot. Okay.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Well.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. Because you know, you want to also travel on the cheap and you just never know what you're getting yourself into. Cuz sometimes it's like down a dirt road and you don't know. Is my truck and my 37 foot fifth wheel going to make it?
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Yeah, it just rains.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So we learned a lot. And we also learned a lot about campgrounds of things that we do not like. And we were really surprised how the industry or the campgrounds we were staying at, we were staying a lot across the country.
Were really old feeling, you know, like, like they just didn't kind of reflect us as a modern family, if you will. Traveling for sure.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: The stat is like 70, 75% of park owners. Our mom and pop owned it for 20 plus years.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: You know, not. Not real estate groups.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Right.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: So there's going to be a natural transition.
[00:05:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Already. So I think this year there's been a lot more parks for sale. So I thought it was a market shifting, but interesting guy yesterday, he was like, if you don't have a succession plan, your kids are going to run it, they got to sell it. Sometimes.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, coming to the show just like hearing how they're like fifth, sixth, seventh generation, like, it's pretty incredible. But they're also seeing that the audience has shifted, especially since COVID Yeah. And I think that's just a really interesting insight into where it is right now and where it's going.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: What are some things you're seeing now that you, you know, spend many, many campgrounds experiences and have your campgrounds. What are some shifts that you're seeing that like, people are asking for? Because WI fi isn't the easy one. It's like, yeah, they want freaking WI Fi. Yeah.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: I think that the most interesting thing, I mean, we opened right in Covid and thinking like, oh my God, like, this is a death sentence. 2020.
August 2020. Yeah.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: We didn't know the aliens were coming.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Or like, we're all gonna die. God. Yeah. Like, we just thought it was gonna be a disaster.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: First year especially, but it was amazing.
Our. The unique thing about our campground is that we are. Our sites are about 75 to 100ft apart. And so everyone has their own essentially backyard, you know, and so getting on
[00:06:31] Speaker A: the trend of social distance. There you go.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Exactly. Social distance to the max.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: Those parking lot ones.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Right. And then we have big community space and fiber optic WI Fi. So lots of people were able to get out with the kids, get out onto our, our community space. Kids and parents were doing homework and work.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: Outside. Yeah.
And I think the, the thing we also realized where people were thinking or experiencing like this refreshingness of the vibe, I guess, of our park because it's, I mean, a family owned. We live there and everyone says we're 28 sites.
And it really is like your own curated neighborhood, you know, Beautiful backdrop. Yeah.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: It looks great.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Right?
[00:07:20] Speaker A: That I looked up.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Thank you. It is, it's. It's really peaceful. It's relaxing.
We really try to. I mean, it kind of has like this undertone of like a spa vibe. But you're RVing. You know, we have spa like bathrooms with heated floors, indoor outdoor showers.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Man, I'm about to come stay.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: People have said that our bathrooms are like nicer than the Ritz Carlton, which is crazy, right?
[00:07:46] Speaker A: I'll take, take.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: We'll take it. Yeah.
So really like creating this just kind of a luxurious vibe. But you are very much nestled in southern Utah.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: All 360 views of red rocks and sagebrush with the Kaibab National Forest to the south of us. I mean, it really.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: And what part of Utah Is it? You said southern.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: Southern Utah. So we're really right above the Arizona border. So you can get to Arizona in like five minutes.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: It's really a unique, so high desert.
We're about five hours from Flagstaff.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: So I think people love that. They feel welcome and taken care of.
So, so much.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: It sounds like you got a good recipe and a good thing going on.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Like we mentioned earlier, a lot of people just kind of treat them like a, a real estate business.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Parking lots and.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: What are the bottom lines and how can we upcharge for this and all that? There's not little touches. I talk to a lot of people like when they're building a park, like, well, I don't want to do this amenity. I don't want to spend money on this. I'm like, for parks, a lot of times you got to put every possible thing that you think people want in there as an amenity to draw them to you. Because a 20, I heard a stat 20% of all parks and pads right now were built in the last five years.
You know, so it's, there's a lot of change. There's a lot going on. So if you're going to build a new park, I think then you put a lot of freaking love into it. Like you, yours is really important. A lot of people overlook that.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: You gotta give them every reason to come to your park.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. But I, I, I believe, I do think there's, that there's certain people, of course, certain get customers that want amenities, lots of amenities.
I think that because what I look for is how I'm, how I'm treated and how does it feel? How do they make me feel from the moment I book?
Because I think a lot of the parks, a lot of parks offer sim. Very, very similar things. And it really does come down to customer service and how you're taken care of from the moment you book, you know. And so I think because we don't have, I mean we do have these beautiful bath houses. We don't, we have a pond that you can dip in with fish and turtles, but we don't have like a pool and we don't have hot tubs and you know, we don't have high dollar items because we are just a mom and pop and you know, we don't have a hundred thousand just to drop in into these high end amenities
[00:10:12] Speaker A: or million dollar view though.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: But we have a million dollar view. Yeah. And we have so much heart and we have such high retention rate of return guests because of the way they feel when they're there with us.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: Well, that's telling you something right there. That's about as much feedback as you need.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: Exactly right. Like, just if they're coming, keep doing what you're doing. Yeah. I mean, I feel like at this point we are very much a destination RV campground for a lot of people. Like, we have two types of guests, the adventurers. Like, we rent off road vehicles and E bikes to explore and get off off road. Yeah. Like, really, really fun. Yeah. So, so much fun to do one.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: I'm buying one.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: They're amazing. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: You like, just cover 20 miles, get a little bit of exercise in.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
But then we have other guests who know what we do. They want to come, they want to just. They don't. They've done. They've checked all the boxes, the national parks and all the trails and they just want to stay and they just want to relax. And we have sound baths and meditation classes. We have goat hikes around the 40 acres.
Yeah. We sell like local goods and people love all the fresh baked stuff and the local eggs and, and just to be a Canabian for a week or so, you know, and be really treated very kindly, that I feel like in the world right now.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Some nice touches. I've seen a lot of campgrounds incorporate like some yoga classes or different things with meditation.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Like you said, like they're, they're a different little type of spa.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
The spa without the spot. Yeah.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: You're not gonna.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, you know, tbd. Yeah. We're, you know, we would, we would consider a sauna, cold plunge.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: Kind of situation. Yeah. I mean, that's what people want to do when they come off of a giant hike.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: Sauna. Because I love saunas. Yeah. It just makes me feel. I feel like I release my sins
[00:12:06] Speaker B: and leave it in the sauna.
[00:12:09] Speaker A: I think that's, that would be a great addition. Yeah. It would be not too difficult to implement.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: That would be cool.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah. We have a lot of fun. It's really great. It's such a, such an honor to be able to own a campground and meet so many great people.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Interesting people.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Very interesting people. Like we were talking about. Yeah.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Well, awesome. Well, I think that's awesome time we have today.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: They're about to release the people, so our guests.
[00:12:35] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Guess. But I appreciate you sharing your story.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Thanks, Jason. Yeah.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Your time and who shared it. I'm going to figure out a way to take my camper and come visit because I think it's.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Please.
Yeah, yeah, let me know.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: Like a little west trip because I got.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: By Joshua National Park.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: I was thinking about making a little trip there.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And you got to hit up the Mighty Five, you know? Yeah. And we're, we're in the, the center of the Mighty Five. Is that a national park? So if you just Google Mighty Five, it's this Zion Bryce Canyonlands Nor Grand Canyon.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: You're close to all of them?
[00:13:09] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. We're sort of like a base camp right in the middle of. Of all of them. About an hour to an hour and a half of all of them. So it is the perfect storm.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Well, thanks again. It's nice to meet you.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
