Join Today, Eh! – Cara Csizmadia on the Park Pod

Happy New Year. It is 2023 and we are taking new ground in this new year. We have our first Canadian guest, Cara Csizmadia, who wears many different hats, one of which is the Executive Director of The Parks and Campground Owners Association of Alberta. She has some other things that she is involved with which you will hear about in the Hats Off portion of today's podcast. We're always excited to talk to new people, make new friends. You'll want to hear what Cara has to say and the expertise that she brings to the table. She's been a park owner herself in the past, so that's great.

We always have some news for you and you want to look at those things and see what's going on in the industry today. Of course, there is the marketing tip, which is a blast from the past, as we've said this time around, because we are talking about some reputation information and how you can communicate more effectively and improve your reputation. You'll want to see what that's all about as well. Thanks for tuning in with us today. Stay tuned for more.

January 2023 News

It's the news for January 2023. Here we are with Woodall's Campground magazine. We're taking a look at this article about electrical equipment suppliers dealing with supply chain issues. A lot of that has to do with the uptick in demand for electric vehicles. We saw this article and we saw a friend of ours, Mike Sorenson, who we know, and he's got a quote in here. Let's see what he has to say.

"We have large orders with many different supply companies, so we can get products in pretty consistently. But on new orders, it can be four to ten months out depending on the pedestal. Distribution panels and metering equipment are ten months out at the moment."

Industries across all different businesses are dealing with a supply chain, so no different here. Be aware of that if you're looking to upgrade or you're new and getting those things put into place. Wild Energy has been experiencing some good growth, more than what they thought, and so that's good on their end. And he goes on to say:

"With the electric vehicle push and electric RVs coming, consumers are using more and more energy and everybody is conscious of how much is being used. The owners themselves are noticing that bills are getting larger, so they want to recover that you can't afford to just give electricity to campers."

Everybody understands that, right? Things have changed with the technology advancements and we know Wild Energy and Mike are doing a good job with providing ways to handle that.

Over to Modern Campground. Because we had Cara on and she's a part of the Modern Campground family there, we figured it would be a great idea to talk about what's going on with this article. Some Alberta parks are opening camping reservations this month. If you were thinking about going up into Canada, seeing the sights there, you can already get some reservations done. This article details that and gives you some more info about like here, says RD News.

"While our Alberta Parks offer year around online camping reservations for specific campgrounds, some individual, group and Comfort Camping will reopen their bookings this month."

That's just informing us about what's available for that. Go ahead and check out both of these new sites if you want to know more about what's going on in the RV and camping space.

Hats Off to Cara Csizmadia

Mark Rowan: Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Park Pod. And today we're super excited to have Cara Csizmadia with us from the CCRVC. I was going to try to get the whole name out, then I'm like, you know what, I'll let you say all the words and explain all that. So glad to have you on. Tell us who you are and who you are working with.

Cara Csizmadia: Yeah. Thanks, Mark. I appreciate it so much. I know I always come to these with this crazy last name and then all these acronyms and all these things, so no pressure on that front. I technically work for the Canadian Camping & RV Council. We are Canada's National Campground Owners Association. I say technically because I kind of juggle a few different hats too, so it can get confusing and bogged down. I actually initially started there as a member of the Board of Directors back in my days as a campground owner. When that changed, the association offered me a job and I've been working for CCRVC since 2019.

I am also the Executive Director of the Parks and Campground Owners Association of Alberta, which is kind of a bit of a passion project thing for me. I think that's where my park was located and where I live and so I know a lot of campground owners here personally and I know their families and it's been a great experience for me to kind of continue to work alongside their businesses in this way after my own campground ownership journey ended. I'm really grateful for the opportunity.

Mark Rowan: That's great. Well, it's apropos that you're wearing a lot of hats on the Hats Off to part of our show, so that's awesome. You mentioned a little bit you used to be a campground owner, so tell us how you got into doing that in the first place.

Cara Csizmadia: Very unexpectedly, I was at the time fairly early into an interior design career and passionately exploring that. And then unexpectedly, my now ex husband, his grandparents left us their campground business. At first my first instinct was, no, we're not doing that, I have no idea about that. But with a little bit of conversation and all of that, we really began to see it as we're incredibly fortunate to have this successful and kind of pre-built thing handed to us in this way and it had a lot of potential positives that could impact our family.

We had young children at the time and so we were looking at things like childcare and all of that compared to in the campground dynamic where that wouldn't have to be a part of our kids upbringing. We could keep them home with us and have them around the park and all of those things. A lot of those lifestyle perks were a big part of the, okay, we're going to dive into this head first choice that we made and I'm incredibly grateful. That was in 2007. My husband and I were working alongside each other for twelve years.

In 2019, he actually still owns the park. He bought me out when we separated and he's still kind of very involved in the industry. Fortunately, our kids who are teenagers now can still work there and still have that part of their lives, which is really great for all of us, I think.

Mark Rowan: Very cool. Was there like a specific, you have 55 and over and family oriented. Did you have a particular orientation that you guys had?

Cara Csizmadia: Were very family oriented, and in those days, very much still. We had some limitations in our operating permit that required us to be mostly short term stay. That has since changed. The county he's in is doing things a little bit differently now, but back at that time we were really, really reliant on we're very close to the city of Calgary. We were very reliant on big city events and summer things going on. Our annual summer calendar was very much dictated by that. We had shuttle services to the Calgary Stampedes and various things like that to kind of capitalize on those external events that really brought a lot of traffic our way.

Mark Rowan: You mentioned it was kind of like close to your heart. Something that you were a lot involved with was the Parks and Campgrounds Owners Association of Alberta. How did that all come about and you got involved, you were board of directors. Tell us a little bit about that part of your story.

Cara Csizmadia: Fairly early on into my campground experience, so we inherited in 2007 and by about, I would say a handful of years later, five years later, I was beginning to get involved with the Tourism Association and Travel Alberta and some things like that, which is where I came across the national association that I now work for. And at the time they had no representation from Alberta on their board of directors. I was nominated for a position there and started participating nationally.

It was interesting to see we had some provinces in this country who had really robust active campground owners specific associations, and then other areas of the country that didn't and then which Alberta at the time didn't have a dedicated campground owners association, which it used to have. It had a very, very strong association right until the early 2000s. I think some of that core leadership kind of retired out of the industry and that really kind of impacted how the association went. We also had a move, that association made a choice to move towards a joint partnership agreement with the Alberta Hotel Association.

That really kind of brought campgrounds and hotels under one umbrella. But there was some hurdles around campgrounds potentially feeling like their interests weren't very well represented at that level. So there was a bit of disenchantment there, I think. And we really started to feel like by the time I was involved at CCRVC, years later on the board, there was starting to be the sentiment that in Alberta we deserve representation of our own by and for our own members, for campground owners specifically. I think it was just a matter of having limited resources to get anything off the ground that was holding things back.

Then the National Association CCRVC offered essentially said, we will help you to do that, we will help get your legs under, you formulate an association. They kind of lent us the legal resources to get incorporated and all those kinds of things which were really necessary. That was 2017. We started the Parks and Campground Owners Association of Alberta, myself and then some key players at the national level, and then we just kind of quickly started rolling out to potential members here. At that point in time, initially the first year and a half or two years, we had great momentum and then COVID happened and so there was some hurdles came up in our path.

We're now up to, I believe it's, 63 members in Alberta. We have a long way to go. There's about 300 campgrounds, privately owned campgrounds here in this province. So lots of growth ahead of us still, which I'm determined to achieve. But one of the key or vital components is all of the benefits that are available from the national level trickle down to all of those provincial members, and not just in Alberta. All of the provinces have access to those national level benefits. That really enabled the Alberta Association in its infancy to already have a robust and really good member benefits program, which obviously is a great way to get new parks willing to join and jump on board. We've just recently had kind of a structural change, our chairman has changed and so we have some fresh perspective on the board in Alberta too, and some really cool projects coming up that I think will kind of modernize how we're marketing our members and things like that into the future. So, lots of fun, exciting stuff on the plate there for sure.

Mark Rowan: That sounds great. You alluded to it a little bit, but with both of these organizations that you're involved with concurrently at this point, what are some of the main things you help campground park owners with at this time?

Cara Csizmadia: Well, mainly, I would say the top thing on a kind of daily regular basis is just information. We have a great newsletter and things like that that keeps members really informed. We also are running a national level conference essentially the last three years. Well, this year coming up will be our third annual. They have been virtual throughout this past couple of years, obviously. We really focused those events on robust and valuable education and training content that then is available to all of our members in recorded format afterwards. That kind of education stuff is really, really important and vital, I think, to members.

We've got some great discount programs. We actually just announced a fun and really valuable program with Lowe's, which is they've been a really great partner so far. We're excited to see this roll out bigger, but they'll be offering pretty significant discounts to members across the country. Then also a bit of support financially for the association at the national level. Obviously those are key, necessary things in the association world.

I think over and above that probably the level of networking, our ability to blend our team resources at the CCRVC level out to those provincial associations in terms of we do website support and social media support for Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, the Atlantic provinces, and we are working diligently also to start a new association in Saskatchewan.

Several of the provinces really rely on our office to help them in kind of daily communications with their members and exposure to consumers and things like that. We've also got a great partnership with Go RV in Canada. All of our members campgrounds are listed at their site. We work closely with them in partnership to do all kinds of great marketing and RV camping lifestyle strategy stuff throughout the year.

They're really great supporters and great partners to work with Go RVing too. So I feel like I'm blabbing all that to say. There's a big, long list. There's tons of things I'm missing. We've got insurance programs and partners and we have our annual spring and fall camping events that we use to really market member campgrounds who participate, offer discounts and events and things in their properties at those times of the year. We strategically use those to both position us politically in terms of getting exposure to our political representatives, but then also in the media in all formats to keep exposure for the camping and RV lifestyle across the country. Both those events happen one in spring and one in fall, really to showcase the shoulder seasons when things are maybe a little less busy and there's sites available to even be had. It's a small snapshot of the things we've got going on.

Mark Rowan: You've got a lot of free time with all that going on, so we're thankful for you carving out some for us.

Cara Csizmadia: Yeah, my pleasure.

Mark Rowan: We also love to hear about the marketing, of course. That's where our heart lies as well. So glad you guys are getting it done. There shifting gears slightly. You're the Alberta, and we'd like to know, for those of us that are not super familiar with Canada, what's the campground scene like there?

Cara Csizmadia: Oh, gosh. We have a vast number of campgrounds in this province, 700, I believe. Like I mentioned, about 350 or so of those are privately owned. The other half are either federally or provincially owned and managed. They range from small, ten site UN service, drop by 20 in the box when you show up, parks right on up to some incredible resort properties from companies like Park Bridge and Pinnacle and some newer, bigger players coming into the market too: Summer Hill Resorts. Those guys are all doing really great things, both on the seasonal and short term stay models that I think are really we're seeing such a big demographic shift with campers, I think, where they're really wanting more amenities and services in that kind of experiential vacation style camping excursions. Those guys are doing a great job with that. We, of course, still have the guys who like to go out and find a patch of grass and be really in the woods. And Alberta does have ability for that as well. There's a ton of crown lands that are accessible by campers to use and enjoy, so there's a very broad range, I say all the time.

I really love that about Alberta, that every single type of camper has a place to go. There's definitely something for everybody out here. We're super fortunate as well to have great relationships with Alberta parks and parks of Canada. So we actually have some privately owned campgrounds that operate in or near some of those provincial and federal parks, which is obviously a huge draw to those areas and so vital to the overall kind of tourism framework here in Alberta. Yeah, I would say it's incredibly diverse. Alberta has the highest per capita RV ownership in Canada. So we've got a ton of camping folks here. And so the broad range of options I think is really necessary in that kind of dynamic.

Mark Rowan: I'm going to ask you a tough question now. If there is only one place that you could recommend in Alberta that outsiders could visit, what would that be and why?

Cara Csizmadia: Oh, gosh, one place. Well, that is tough. I have a handful of my own favorites. I would say it's super tough because we have some of the world's top outdoor destinations in this province, so narrowing it down is difficult. I think those spots would be at the top of my list just because they're so beautiful. But there is often serious tough. There's huge site inventory issues in those areas. There's a ton of traffic. It can be really difficult to get a site within the national park, specifically in Banff and Jasper. Despite their beauty, I'm going to pull those out of the top couple of spots. I would say, oh gosh, there's a really incredible park that I love in Canada. It's called Sundance Lodges. It's a favorite of my children's. They actually do mostly glamping. You're right in the Rockies. You're surrounded by stunning scenery, but it's a little bit less kind of Disneyland level traffic. That narrow down is really tough. There's been some great additions. That also is only I mean, if we're talking short term stay, if you're looking for a seasonal site or something, obviously my answer is going to be different. There's a couple of really incredible parks here doing seasonal really well. Put me on the spot.

Mark Rowan: I told you it's going to be tough. Obviously if people want to know more, they can go to you guys website and find all the other great places that can visit.

Cara Csizmadia: Absolutely. Https//campingalberta.ca.

Mark Rowan: Definitely check that out. I think I ran into you online because of your involvement with Modern Campground. I believe that's probably where I first saw. Tell us about what's going on with that and your role within that organization or brand.

Cara Csizmadia: I will say modern campground was born out of COVID. A good friend of mine, Brian Sorrell, really kind of he's completely the brains behind Modern Campground. We had actually started a live stream show on Facebook right when COVID started, specifically because Brian and I had been talking lots and I was really busy at that time because the roles was kind of in chaos and nobody knew what was happening in the industry.

Brian and I touched base and he said something about how he's having a lot of his clients. He owns a marketing firm, Insider Perks. He does marketing for lots of campgrounds across North America. He was having a lot of his clients ask him certain questions about COVID. He's having to repeatedly answer the same kind of things over and over. I was having the same experience at the association level where I was having members reach out and ask me something on the phone and then I'd answer the phone 20 minutes later and have the same kind of questions coming up. I think he said something like, wouldn't it be nice if we could just answer the question to everybody in one?

That kind of spawned the idea of this live stream very much to just address kind of this emergency level like what's happening in the industry in different areas of Canada and the states and all of that. At first it started as this very casual kind of scenario and we were doing the show weekly and then, yeah, just kind of got some traction and grooves. During that time, he kind of put together Modern Campground as a really fabulous news resource.

For those who aren't aware, ModernCampground.com really wonderful industry news resource specific to RV, camping, glamping, all things outdoor hospitality, and not just focused on the US and Canada anymore either. There's muse from across the globe specific to the industry and it's become grown into this really robust resource. But Modern Campground essentially sponsored the idea for this podcast and now since 2020, we've been weekly meeting on Wednesdays. Actually, I think in the early days we're on on Mondays, but anyway, the time and things are irrelevant. Weekly we meet and chat about various issues plaguing the industry and great things happening within it. We talk about all kinds of events and networking and stuff that the associations are doing.

It's been a great experience for me to meet so many more operators and get a picture of how the industry looks and functions in different areas of the world and really is eye opening and gives a ton of perspective about, like I said, those varying demographics and how we don't all necessarily want to camp the same, and how broad our ability this industry's ability is to address those multiple demographics and really find the niche and do that really, really well. There's some incredible operators out there. We have so many great guests on the show. I'll say I can't take much credit for being involved with Modern Campground. Besides showing up for the show once a week and contributing to those conversations. Brian Searle and his team do a fabulous job. His editor Akari is so, so great. She's very knowledgeable and yeah, a great addition to his team and the industry as a whole. They're really great. I strongly recommend if you aren't a subscriber at Modern Campground, haven't checked out our podcast. Definitely do that.

Mark Rowan: I mentioned to you when we chatted previously, I do use Modern Campground as a resource when I share news on our podcast. Those of you watching this, you probably would have already seen the news that we shared for this month. Thanks for being a resource for us as well. Obviously we've touched on COVID in different ways and how that was shifting and changing things. One of the things was even more than already was happening, a lot of new people getting into the industry because it kind of went to the next level with people getting into the RV park ownership. What would be one big piece of advice you would give to a new owner?

Cara Csizmadia: I would say well, and given now that I work for an association, this probably sounds biased, but I promise that long before I did so I was shocked and struck by the impact association membership had on my business when I first started to get involved. I really was not prepared or aware of the level of not only just the networking, but the supportive industry players that I was about to encounter through that via that association membership. There's just so much to learn and find out from your counterparts.

I will also say I think this industry specifically is one of the least competitive I've ever seen specific to businesses who are members in these associations and technically can sometimes see each other as competitors. They are still incredibly supportive and I love that about it. Association membership is vital in a lot of ways and I think in Canada specifically, my part specifically, we've seen that in recent years. The advocacy work that the National Association has done has really helped on a couple of big issues. We had Canada's National Revenue Agency coming after campgrounds as specified investment businesses instead of small businesses and that was resulting in like three times the tax rates they were doing running reassessments on parks across the country.

The advocacy work from the National Association and the board of directors was really vital. I think in halting that change at the CRA level, there's still little few steps to go to get us to the finish line on that battle. But in my business alone, if I had faced the possibility of triple the tax bill, that would have been a huge blow to my bottom line. Those things for sure, that advocacy effort stuff is supportive of the industry whether you're a member or not. But awareness around the types of work that your association does for you makes membership incredibly logical and valuable to those who participate.

That's my answer. Get involved with your industry, even if it's just at the smaller kind of more micro level in your municipality or your province or your state to kind of know what's going on. I was able to meet my own political representatives via the advocacy strategies of the association and establish personal relationships with them. Then when my business was having issues or my county was making expectations of me in an operating permit, I had his cell phone number. I called him and was like, hey, this is going on, and this is going to be really detrimental not only to my business, but the surrounding businesses who all my guests get guests over there and groceries here and all of those things. Can you help me to convey this to the right people? And he fully had my back and supported me through that. I never would have had that opportunity if I hadn't been involved with the association.

Mark Rowan: Amazing. Good info there. So join today.

Cara Csizmadia: Join today. Yes.

Mark Rowan: Like I said, we're big marketing people. That's what we do as well. We'd like to get a little marketing tip from yourself. What would be something that you could, say, a part could implement that maybe they're not doing that can be helpful for them?

Cara Csizmadia: I'll speak to my own kind of valuable thing that I didn't expect to have as much impact on my business as it did. We really found a niche specific to our family. They were from Germany originally, and we had several German speaking family members. We were able to kind of strategize that into the business model that really put us into a niche position because we offered service in both of Canada's national languages, English and French, but also German. We had kind of a leg up over most of our local regional competitors with certain specific markets.

We were able to establish great partnerships both with our international rental agencies who see a ton of traffic from those Dutch speaking countries, but also travel agencies and tourism organizations based in Germany who were then advertising. Our packages and our offerings directly to their members in their language, knowing that when they get here, they have full service in German speaking languages so that they can kind of have this fail safe. We had lots of folks fly into Calgary International Airport, pick up their rental and not really be able to speak much English.

They get the rental and bring it to our park, and then we'd have our concierge go over, like, here's how the sewer connection works, and all of those things in their language. That was a really valuable way for us to bring in guests that we otherwise wouldn't have had the same level of access to. So all that to say, I don't think everybody needs to offer service in German, but my point is find a strength or a niche spot that kind of sets you apart and then really leverage it. Find a way to partner with the right. Folks to access segments of the market that potentially wouldn't be available to you otherwise. I think every park that I've ever visited has some kind of unique, cool feature, and really capitalizing on that, for lack of a better word, I think is probably your top marketing strategy to be set apart. There are a lot of campgrounds to choose from. You need to be noticeable and visible and accessible as much as possible, for sure.

Mark Rowan: Great. Yeah. You don't have to "Sprechen sie Deutsche." The only reason I know that is because my dad took German, and that's literally the only thing he ever told me that he knew. Yes, you don't have to do that, but 100% finding your niche, right. You don't have to speak another language, but you better know your language. What is that, and how can you communicate that? You want to find what you have to offer. 

We're wrapping things up, but before we officially close out our time together, we want to get your favorite camping story, and if you could share that with us, that'd be great.

Cara Csizmadia: I just always joke that we could have a reality show at my park, but I won't go into too many of those fun stories, my own fun camping story. So I do love to camp, which is funny. It's kind of a joke among some campground owners that spend so much time in campground. It's the last thing we want to do. But I do really love it. I would have to say probably my best camping memory, and I didn't really find out how valuable it was to me until later.

We have this really wonderful park here in Alberta called Old McDonald's Resort. They have a lake on site, and they've really found their niche in a lot of ways. They have this really great petting zoo and things like that, but they've got their owner, Jean. She makes these, like, dinner plate sized cinnamon buns in their cafeteria. They're just the best. If you think you've had a good cinnamon bun, you haven't yet until you've had Jean cinnamon. Anyway, so we are out camping, and my kids are out. They're all dirty and sandy, and they're just chowing down on these tin rain buns, and I remember asking them if they're having fun and how they like their trip.

My son told me that his weekend at Old McDonald's Resort was better than when we took him to Disney World. That was my favorite memory. I think it speaks a lot to how kids like to travel and what they want to do when they're gone. Disney sounds fun and no shade to Disney, but I think that level of freedom and you have no schedule, and you're able to just swim and then go to the petting zoo, and you're all dirty and muddy and all of those things. I mean, to me, that's everything that camping should be when you're a kid. Yeah, I missed those days. My teenagers now are not going to camping with me anymore.

Mark Rowan: I hear you. Well, I guess we found something that Old McDonald's could use to market. "Better than Disney."

Cara Csizmadia: Better than Disney. I'll tell Jean. I'll tell her I got to run with it.

Mark Rowan: I don't know if there's going to be a copyright problem.

Cara Csizmadia: I take no responsibility for that.

Mark Rowan: Well, if you put it in quotes, you can't do anything about it. It's like I said, it yeah, done. Very good. Well, Kara, we really appreciate you spending some time with us today and so much great knowledge that you share with us. The websites. Tell us once again where people can find that. Will also put that in description.

Cara Csizmadia: The National Campground Association in Canada, our site is https://CCRVC.ca, and then in Alberta, it is https://campingalberta.ca. We've got all kinds of the other provinces all have their own websites as well, so we won't go over all of those. You can find them from the national site as well. They're easily accessible there and tons of other resources and list of benefits and all those things are available there too.

Mark Rowan: Great. If you're in Canada, definitely take advantage of that. Of course, if you're a US viewer, still tune in to what Kara and the folks are talking about on modern campground as well. Lots of great information that we try to share when we get a chance. Thanks again for being with us everyone and until next time, happy trails.

R&R ROI Marketing Tip

We are jumping off 2023 with a blast from the past. Our webinar reputation, where we talk about websites and how you can communicate more easily by upgrading that. There's a few different ways you can do that. Your reputation, some type of people just think about reviews and those type of things, but it's all your online presence and how that is easily accessible and how quickly people can get in contact with you.

The contact form right here is a way that users can get email you without having an email address just listed on your site. Make sure that you're doing that. Your phone number. Beyond just having your phone number, you can take it to the next level by having a recorded and tracked number. That would be useful if you want to make sure that your front desk, when they answer the phone, they're doing the things they need to to ensure success. Of course, just reports on how the phone calls are coming in and what that looks like. That's a possibility to upgrade social account links. There is the reality that it can help you in just your overall online presence with SEO juice, I should say.

Make sure that the links are actually correct too many times. I've seen people with social media icons that go nowhere or go to the wrong place. If you're going to put them on there, make sure they're right. Lastly, probably the one that maybe you haven't had an opportunity to do, but we only recommend is a web chat. It is the fastest growing way to have people respond to your guests, to your team members. We use it a lot of it ourselves and see great results from it. It's just another way that you can make yourself available to guests so they can enjoy their interaction with you and eventually their stay. It's just another piece of a reputation that can be super helpful for your park.

Thanks for tuning into the Park Pod. Don't forget, subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform. We really need your attention and validation. Seriously, we can't go on without it. For additional episodes and more, visit restrelaxroi.com. Join us next time. Until then, happy trails.