Hi all, looking for a bit of advice.
Just taken management of a camping and caravan site. Mainly its gone really well. But too much of my time is taken up by things I didn't expect... Eg
*toilet mess and vandalising
* anti social behaviour after hours
* sadly traveller children's behaviour causing sometimes 20 complaints a day
* ignorance generally of rules despite giving them out and discussing with all bookings
* children being neglected by parents
Can I ask, is this normal? I can't figure out what more I can do to prevent these things?
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Welcome Gemma, you are the manager, manage. If bad practice reigns then it will only get worse. For the benefit of other campers deal with it.
This sounds harsh but it is what it is. Lots of excuses can and will be given but everyone on the site will be suffering.
No this is not normal, and no one wants it to become normal.
I am sure someone will lead you to posts which tell you that rowdy sites do not get repeat bookings.
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If you are brave the best thing is to ask them to leave. Word will soon get around and the site can only improve and bring in a better class of people. If there are travellers on the site, who let them on as we would rather forfeit and move to another site. Once bitten, twice shy!
I think if you put it in writing for them to leave and they refuse, then you can contact the police and ask for their help. Ask the police for advice before doing anything.
Convince the owner of the site to turn it into an Adults Only site.
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As well is two words!
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Sounds like you have a major problem, getting worse as time goes by. For a manager to ask for assistance here.
Here's a few things I would be doing....
1......Assume you have a 28 day rule! therefor must leave after 28 days...call police after that for eviction.
2....Put extra large signs up, at the entrance. NO Commercial vehicles, NO animals, NO exceptions.( state this on your website also).
3... If kids are being neglected, call police, and authorities..( if accident or worse happened whilst on your property, maybe YOU would be liable otherwise).
4.... Visit local police station, inform them you have small problem! Ask if they can drive around the site as often as possible, till Travellers move on.
Once the travellers see the police presence a few times they may feel intimidated and move on!
You could I suppose as a last resort employ a couple of security guards for a few weeks till they have left. ( not very cost effective I know, however it would just be temporary).
5...Re the toilet facilities, well I have been to a few sites, where ass even what we think respectable folks leave a mess....Animal type people. You just got to live with that i'me afraid. Clean regular at set times. e.g 6am - noon - 6pm. ( At the very least your Normal holiday makers will see your doing your best).
If you don't take a firm stance sooner rather than later, you will have a whole site full of the Travellers infiltrating your site...They also have internet and phones don't forget.
Don't let it get to a stage where reviews from Normal campers bring the site down, as we all look at reviews these days.
These are just some of the things I would be implementing, if I was in your shoe's.
I have been on a site in Scotland a good few years ago where the traveller's infiltrated. It was like a war zone within a few days. NOT nice at all. The land lord soon got rid the with the help of local police.
As the others have already mentioned, it is your site now, so you would need to set the rules and manage them.
It may be advisable to put up a big and prominent sign that it is now under new management with new rules etc...
You may also wish to include this on your site listing and on your website if you have one.
I am guessing the site you have taken over used to attract certain type of campers who have very little respect for other people and their properties, or even laws of the land and society in general.
I am also guessing the previous owner might not have mentioned this to you before the sale, for fear that you might not have gone ahead with the sale, no surprise there!
And no, campers are by and large are respectable and nice people, based on my own camping experience since 2007.
Good luck - and please ask the relevant authorities/agencies for help and advice as already mentioned above.
DK
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Keep the site owners well informed, get support from them & your team on site. If something awful happens, the fact that the owners appear to have given you no guidance or training on “dealing with difficult people”, for example, means they are also culpable. And are you managing alone (surely not?) or part of a team (who’ll have experience of the problems). Such things should also have come up at the interview - what would you do if....
If it’s not for you, leave. But say why (eg lack of training & support, owners out of touch & indifferent etc) in your resignation letter.
If kids are miss behaving that is their parents fault, stopping kids is in nobody's interest.
I agree with the others, bring your issues, properly documented, to the owners and any suggestions that you have to tackle them and work through them with them. As stakeholders they should be interesting in adding value and if not they you need to question the relationship and indeed if working with them is right for you.
Hi
Sorry to say this but!!
Welcome to the real world of caravan sites, most sites i am afraid you will get this type of behavior.
Is it acceptable no it is not.
But do you get support to sort it out.
No.
You got to take some of the advice above, and try to implement it, and good luck.
I wish you well.
It seems such a big problem I would suggest that you think about what needs to be done and come up with some solutions and put it to the owner of the site. Without his/her backing it will all be pointless. What are the reviews of the site like? I am not asking you to name the site but if it has a pretty rotten reputation it is going to take a lot to get it back on track. Why I suggest discussing it in detail with the owners is that they might be perfectly happy with the current situation as it brings in the money and any clamping down is likely, at least in the short term to impact on site revenue. You could find yourself between a rock and a hard place? Whe you applied for the job were there any objectives set by the owners?
David
Don't forget to leave a review of the campsites you have visited this year or last!
Quote: Originally posted by Gemmareed on 14/6/2021
Hi all, looking for a bit of advice.
Just taken management of a camping and caravan site. Mainly its gone really well. But too much of my time is taken up by things I didn't expect... Eg
*toilet mess and vandalising
* anti social behaviour after hours
* sadly traveller children's behaviour causing sometimes 20 complaints a day
* ignorance generally of rules despite giving them out and discussing with all bookings
* children being neglected by parents
Can I ask, is this normal? I can't figure out what more I can do to prevent these things?
Probably not what you want to hear but having worked part time on a few sites over the years here are some suggestions that won't be popular with everyone
First problem. toilets par for the course I'm afraid, you can try fitting key pads at adult height to stop kids playing about in the facilities, become adult only or as many sites have found since covid many campers don't need facilities (slightly lower prices to reflect this)
second problem. use the tried and tested method of polite first warning not so polite second warning 3rd leave site by what ever time you choose or the police will be called to remove them.
3rd problem. how did travellers get on the site in the first place you need automatic barriers in place or gates that are locked when site office is closed ie 11pm till 7am except with prior arrangement.
4th There is n excuse for ignorance of rules when they are issued with booking use same method as your second problem
5th problem Adult only site or same method as in your second problem.
None of the above is easy to do and takes strong management and having other people/employees back you up is a must, most people are on holiday and just don't realise their behaviour is unreasonable till politely informed but there is a minority who think they can do just as they please. these are the ones who can turn nasty hence backup and last resort police.
In my experience most people are very reasonable but there are always the few so yes this is part of running a campsite and as others have said once a site has a name for being easy you will be inundated with undesirables as they do speak to each other.
To finish on an up note a well run site brings a great sense of achievement and a lot of good fun and memories so good luck to you hope you work things out
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Topic: New manager caravan site
via mobile 14/6/2021 at 2:15am
