Rates are a key factor in affecting the value and the cash flow of your business.  Rates that are too high can discourage customers from visiting your park.  Rates that are too low result in decreased revenue for your business.  To help you get an understanding of the marketplace in which you operate, we have surveyed the entire contiguous United States for the maximum site rate as reported to Woodall's® compared to the Woodall's® rating (combining the facility rating and the activities rating results in a scale of 1 to 10).  We have broken this information down into twenty-four regions, which are either large states or groups of states.  These surveys are in the photo gallery below.  A bar graph shows rates for 2008 versus the Woodall's® rating.  The table includes the rate variation for each rating number, plus the anticipated 2010 rate environment using an annual increase of 5% per year from the 2008 rates. This is the rate environment your business is operating in.  The maximum potential occupancies that are available for your property, based on the latitude of your park are shown in the Latitude and Maximum Occupancy Chart.  This information is based on research over many years by VDM Consulting Group, Inc.  Use information concerning the rate environment that you are in, plus the information concerning the occupancies in your own park, compared to the maximum potential occupancies available, to set the rates that you charge.  For a specific step by step procedure, read our article, "How Do You Set Your Rates?"  If you would like additional help, contact us to discuss how we can help you.  Go here to get a more detailed Rate vs. Rating Report on your region.

Woodall’s® rates a campground for facilities and for recreational amenities.  Each is rated on a scale of one to five.  When the numbers are added together, this results in a rating of one to ten.  Woodall’s® reports the highest rate that a campground charges.  This rate would generally be for full hook-up sites in prime season.

The United States Summary graph and table on the right present this information from the 2009 Woodall’s® directory for the entire contiguous forty-eight states of the United States.  The 2009 directory is based on information and rates in 2008.  This type of information for your state or region is more useful than the average for the entire country.  There are graphs and tables presenting this information for the entire country, broken down into twenty-four states or regions of the country on the Reports Page. 

You should not be setting rates so that you meet the average.  Rates should be set at a level that maximizes the value and the cash flow of your business.  This means that you have to take into account the occupancy (demand) for your sites.  High demand properties should have rates above these averages.  Low demand properties should have rates near these averages.  Follow the steps in the section on setting overnight rates to take full advantage of this information.  Many parks are charging less or substantially less than what is accepted in the market place.