As we travel we often stay at KOA Campgrounds. For the most part you can count on them to be clean and well maintained. Certainly you pay somewhat of a premium for the consistency from KOA to KOA but overall the pricing seems to be fair for the amenities (clean bathrooms and hot water showers) that campers crave at the end of a long day on the road.
Overall I'd give KOA a solid B+ so it was a little bit of a shock when we pulled into the KOA in St. Mary on the east side of Glacier National Park. We had no reservation, and it was a Friday afternoon at the height of the tourist season so we had every expectation they were likely full and indeed that was the case. No surprise at all but we thought we'd at least check.
What did come as a shock, and a little bit of a slap in the face of a couple who consider themselves loyal KOA customers was when the young clerk offered to put us up in the overflow vacant field for only $110. Weve stayed at the St. Mary KOA several times throughout the years and candidly have never spent $110 a night let alone to be parked out in a vacant field. For that amount you'd not only expect full hookups (water, electric, and sewer - which as tent campers we never use anyway) but catered breakfast in our sleeping bags as well. So this offer struck us as a classic case of price gouging that we never anticipated from KOA.
My question is, if you were the franchise owner of the St. Mary KOA and you were setting prices what would you do? Charge the highest price you could get away with (short term profit maximization) or price it more fairly (probably in the $25-45 range recognizing this was marginal revenue and it was really a courtesy service extended to tired campers pulling in late without a place to stay? Something tells me Trumpian economics may be at play here but in the long run KOA may have turned off a once loyal customer for one night's gain.
By the way, if you're wondering where we eventually spent the night, the Blackfeet Tribe runs a campground just five miles east of St. Mary that was in essence the equivalent of the KOA field. It was there we spent the night, perfectly content, for a whopping $25...
The days of winging it are long gone. Planning is key for future trips!! Sorry
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is that this has only "a little to do with planning", and a lot to do with being "gouged". If I understand David correctly, "generally" KOA has always been consistent/fair/clean/well maintained for which you pay some premium. And if you asked KOA corporate, they would probably say this is inline with the image and expectations they wish to set for their customers.
ReplyDeleteGouging was noticed in this ONE KOA, and yes it came about because of planning, but it pointed out "irresponsible actions" by ONE KOA. So ask yourself, "what would KOA corporate think of this behavior"? My guess is they would say "this is not acceptable".
So the answer of "what to do is in the eyes of the beholder". If you don't say anything, don't complain if/when it happens the next time. You also give the owner a chance to "explain" this situation, loyal customer, and don't understand why you would get charged this given you were only charged $25 at the Blackfeet Tribe campground. And (this is just me), if his/her answer "smells" like they don't see anything wrong with the "gouging", then I take it to KOA corporate (as in the main man). I'm going to bet $100 that KOA corporate does not condone the gouging. If you have to take this to KOA corporate, I would assume you would want to stay at the Blackfeet Tribe campground next time around, which rewards them for not being a "gouger".