September 13, 2024
Haley Dalian
Setting the right expectations with campers before they arrive helps to deliver an exceptional guest experience and prevent surprises.
Setting the right expectations through proactive guest communications can can make all the difference between a smooth, enjoyable stay and one filled with surprises—some less welcome than others.
What’s more, communicating critical information to your guests up front—without overwhelming them—will go a long way towards avoiding time spent answering questions on the phone or in person later. But what is this critical information and where exactly should you be sharing it to confidently reach and engage with your campers?
In this post, we’ll explore key information to share with your campers ahead of time to help you ensure their experience aligns with your campground’s offerings and prevent common misunderstandings. Keep reading as we address these topics and more!
Below are the main platforms where we recommend you communicate key messages to your guests. Keep in mind, not every message will be appropriate for each platform. You wouldn’t share a gate code on social media, just like you wouldn’t text arriving guests with a last-minute discount to book. The medium, message, and audience must all align.
This is the main source of truth for your business. On your homepage, distill the most important information you would like every camper to know before they arrive and display it here.
Try to answer the following questions:
Social media platforms are a handy place to share quick, social topics that can be generalized to all of your followers. For arriving guests specifically, they may be especially interested in upcoming weekend events and special weather or traffic alerts. The key here is to not share information that’s so specific it becomes irrelevant to a large portion of your online audience.
With Campspot, it’s easy to automate pre-arrival emails to include the core content we cover below in a concise and user-friendly way. Email is also reliable and widely used on a daily basis, so you can rest assured your message will be received.
Campsites integration partners Mailchimp and Hubspot make the process of creating an email funnel for arriving guests that much easier. Stagger your pre-arrival communications one month, one week, and one day out ahead of arrivals with different strategic pieces of information for each message. .
Getting in touch with your campers down to the minutes before they arrive is easiest through text messaging. Thankfully, one-way texting is possible within Campspot and available at no extra cost to all Campspot users. This includes the ability to send batched messages to the following audience segments:
For two-way text messaging, SimpleTexting is a handy solution for several guest arrival scenarios and available through Campspot’s Mailchimp integration. For timely updates that are short in nature, look no further than texting.
Read Next: 5 Ways to Use Text Messaging to Communicate with Campground Guests
These are the catchall documents where your campers have agreed to the nuts and bolts of your operation. While it’s the method of communication that provides the least ability for dialogue, it’s also the place where you have the freedom to include whatever language you want to while being purposefully thorough. Campspot makes it easy for your guests to digitally review and accept these terms by checking a box on the reservation checkout page.
This one is a prime example of conveying the most important information without overwhelming your guests prematurely. Afterall, they are often seeking an escape from the stress and stringency of their day-to-day routines.
Highlight and reiterate the top line rules of your park related to the safety and courtesy of other campers. These might include, “Quiet hours after 10:00PM,” “No more than 2 cars per site,” or “5 MPH speed limit at all times.” For all other pertinent terms and conditions, it’s good measure to remind the guest what they have already signed and agreed to during the Campspot booking workflow without spelling out every detail. If a guest overlooked the terms and conditions at checkout, you can easily send a reminder email for them to manually accept.
Sharing a map of your property ahead of time will likely resolve at least a few outstanding questions for every new guest. Even repeat customers will benefit if you’ve renovated something recently or if it has been some time since they’ve returned.
Depending on who your business usually caters to, you may want to distinguish glamping from camping—or vise versa—so a greener guest isn’t expecting the usual comforts of home only to find a rustic backcountry site. For this reason alone, it’s a best practice to always include site type photos within the Campspot booking workflow so campers have the best mental image of their future accommodations.
Beyond site and site-type specifics, describe what general amenities your campers will be able to access. Even if this information was well-displayed during the reservation process, it will serve as a welcomed reminder to have this information delivered or accessible in many places. Premium amenities should also be noted, such as pay-per-time rentals or spaces. This gives you an easy opportunity to advertise them and ensures your campers won’t assume those amenities are free.
Read Next: 5 Campground Photography Questions Answered
As an employee, manager, or owner, you know your campground better than anyone else. Treat your guests to the insider’s experience. One way to do this is by sharing your knowledge of the community, region, and state.
What attractions are walkable from your property? How about drivable or accessible from public transportation? If your property is moreso the destination itself, share information of the local foliage, wildlife, and history. This can be as simple as a welcome paragraph in an email or pamphlet to contextualize the experience for your guest. Partner with nearby restaurants, shops, and excursion guides to provide exclusive discounts for your guests.
Above all, keep in mind what you love about the area that’s worthy of sharing with friends and family. This is what your campers will care to know, too.
Some aspects of packing for a camping trip are universal, while others may be hyper-specific to and overlooked by someone who’s less familiar with your area. At the same time, your guests are looking to you as their experience expert. Be sure to provide a list of what visitors should (or should not) bring with them to ensure they have an enjoyable stay.
Advise your guests on the typical local climate for your location and time of year. This will help them think through the proper attire, footwear, snacks, and toiletries. One neat way to advertise your camp store would be to draft a sample packing list as a courtesy, while leaving an open checkbox for “souvenir from my favorite campground.” It works because they have to repack when leaving!
Inclimate weather is outside of your control, but there are still critical steps that can be taken and shared ahead of time. Even if you aren’t located in a natural-disaster–prone region, having an emergency preparedness plan and at least alerting your guests to your safety preparations should set their mind at ease, especially if worst comes to worst.
Read Next: Shoulder Season Strategy: Examples for Driving Occupancy
While it may take some up-front time to automate your key messages across particular platforms (while in other cases your communications will have to be spontaneous regardless), it will be well worth it in the long run. By leading with information, you will meet and exceed camper expectations because you first set those expectations appropriately. The exact method and message may change, but the importance of communicating proactively with your arriving guests won’t.
Haley Dalian is a lifelong Michigander who takes advantage of recreation throughout the state’s changing seasons—from snow skiing to scuba diving in the Great Lakes. A former Campspot marketing manager, Haley holds a B.A. degree in public policy from Michigan State University and an M.S. degree in sustainability from the University of Michigan. She is passionate about environmental stewardship, exploring the outdoors, and has never met a potato she didn’t like.
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