Tuesday, February 2, 2010

California campgrounds are hot in winter

If California’s RV parks are any indication, the worst of the recession may be behind us – at least in terms of the winter snowbird business.

“Many of our members are reporting occupancies and revenue figures that surpass last winter’s business levels, and some park operators say they are now doing as well as they were before the recession hit,” said Debbie Sipe, executive director of the California Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds.

One case in point is Sands RV & Golf Resort in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs, which saw an 11 percent jump in its snowbird business in January.

“Traffic is definitely up,” said Sands RV co-owner Gary Martin. “Typically, we don’t see peak occupancy until the middle of February, but there were a number of days in January when the park was 90 percent full.”

Martin added that his park’s business has returned to pre-recession levels, thanks in part to a strong influx of Canadians who are taking advantage of the strength of their currency against the falling U.S. dollar.Shadow Hills RV Park in Indio has experienced a similar surge in business, said park owner Paula Turner, who noted that her winter business is at its highest level since we purchased the park six years ago.

“Our occupancy last January was only 75 to 80 percent,” she said. “This year, we have been running 97 to 99 percent since January 15th. We are completely booked in February and have been turning people away since the first of January.”

Other snowbird parks across Southern California are also reporting increases in their business levels compared to last winter. Among them:

n Bernardo Shores RV Park in Imperial Beach:
“We’re doing pretty well,” said park manager Ted Smith. “(The surge in business) just started a heck of a lot later. Usually by Thanksgiving we’re full. We were down at least 50 percent back then. But once all these storms over Christmas and the beginning of the year hit across the country, then the people started coming.”

And now, he said, several of his guests are planning to stay longer than normal.

“Usually, March and April are the transition months, when people start to leave. But this year we’ve got reservations for March and April that we haven’t seen before. We’ve also had a couple of people checking their weather back home and they’re already asking to stay another month.”

n Fountain of Youth Spa in Niland:
“We’re doing a little better than last year,” said Jolene Wade, the park’s managing partner.

The Fountain of Youth Spa has about 450 sites that are available for rent each winter season.

n Happy Traveler RV Park in Palm Springs:
“We’re full,” said Diane Marantz, who owns the 130-site park.

n Sam’s Family Spa Hot Water Resort in Desert Hot Springs:
Occupancies at this 173-site park are running “about the same as last year, maybe a little bit more,” according to park manager Debbie Matas.

“We’re getting lots of Canadians,” she said.

n Sunland RV Resorts: This La Jolla-based RV resort company, which owns seven parks in Escondido, El Cajon, La Mesa, San Diego, Hemet and Palm Desert, has seen “a nice increase for the season as a whole,” said Greg Sidoroff, SunLand’s operations manager, adding that company’s Emerald Desert RV Resort property in Palm Desert is nearly sold out this month.

“We have seen a strong surge in new guests and many returns of people that skipped the 2009 season based on economic scares,” Sidoroff said, adding, “Canadian traffic is extremely strong with a strong Canadian dollar and overall great weather in Southern California. Deposits for future (winter) seasons are (also) going very well.”

n The Springs at Borrego RV Resort in Borrego Springs:
Spaces at this 90-site park were sold out in January, February and March of last year and are “essentially sold out” again this winter, said park manager Dan Wright, adding that he regularly has to turn people away for lack of space.

“We have multiple people per day that call and say, ‘I’d like to book a site for the rest of the winter.’ But the waiting list is now so long it’s becoming problematic for them,” he said.

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