By Chuck Woodbury
The giant annual lovefest of the RV industry, called RVX, just ended in Salt Lake City. It’s where RV industry people come to network, gawk at new models, party, and discuss how they can ramp up sales from a half million RVs a year (like in 2017) to 600,000.
KOA’s exhibit this year was about the campground of the future. Check out the screen shots below from the virtual reality tours you can see at campthefuture.com. These ideas rival Walt Disney’s dream of Fantasyland, which he in fact created, while KOA’s vision is wacko fantasy. Do they really believe this? I’m thinking: where’s George Jetson in this picture?
Here’s what KOA’s CEO says
“With the increase in camping popularity comes a greater need to ensure the longevity of camping through smart design and preservation of nature,” said KOA’s CEO Toby O’Rourke. “We believe that thoughtful use of technology and devotion to sustainably growing camping offerings will meet the increased expectations of campers, while further enhancing that connection with nature that camping provides.”
“Connection with nature?” Really?
Understand that very few KOA’s are company owned. Most are franchised operations, run by hard-working small business people — mom, pop and sometimes their kids. After paying a franchise fee, they pay KOA 10% of their sales for the privilege of being listed in the KOA catalog, marketing help, and flying the KOA flag. So you tell me: Could these small-business people ever come up with campgrounds as exotic as these? Could they afford to build them, or even come close?
Okay, the fact is there are some nice KOAs these days: Maybe 10% of the 500 or so of them are really, really nice. But none come close to what KOA is now portraying as the campground of the future.
Here are two examples of future campgrounds as envisioned by KOA. The website mentioned above shows others, equally as unrealistic and economically impossible.
The coastal campground of the future
Next, the urban campground of the future
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Chuck: Your points are SPOT ON! The urban KOA, where is a City that would allow such a development? Who’s gonna drive a 45 foot motorhome or large trailer into an URBAN environment. Then there would be the issue of Security? I guess you could build an URBAN KOA in San Francisco and just throw your sewer house out on the street, since it is an URBAN toilet now days anyway!
Again, you are correct on the COST of something like this. Only a small handful of people are willing to pay more than $75 for a one night stay. I look for discounts at every turn when traveling and usually keep my nightly fees well below $50 per night and even that hurts. For instance, we have a trip planned here shortly that will take us up into Tennessee. We planned on making 2 stops, one being a KOA. At $50 per night, I did some more research and found 2 campgrounds (very nice) one for $18 per night and another 220 miles away for $25. So, for the price of one night in the Crappy KOA, we spent 2 nights for less and broke up the trip a little more. Saved money too.
RVing is about enjoying the scenery and also saving money along the way! I’m guessing I will be LONG GONE, before any of these concepts ever come to fruition.
I’ll name one: Cleveland, Dayton. Oh, that’s two. Any rust belt deserted city. They are already building one in Columbus behind the Hollywood Casino.
Add Detroit to that list. The are vast tracts of land they are practically giving away in some urban centers
Can you just picture this being built off the Coast of Florida? One good Hurricane and it would all be gone!
Being a lifer near the East Coast thats the first thing I thought of . That would not last more than a season. With sea level rise increasing each year its unrealistic.
My thoughts exactly!
What’s wrong with a little dreamscape? The seaside resort looks like some of the conceptual drawings from Dubai 20 years ago….and some came to fruition. Agreed on the urban jungle, but dreamers can dream. I find it refreshing to see interesting ideas even if I prefer a more secluded spot.
Dubai had/has almost unlimited funds for whatever. KOA does not. And as mentioned, there are few (I didn’t know there were ANY!) company owned CG’s. Who has the spare millions to build any of these?
Wow, how much extra presentation time needed to be filled at that annual convention. KOA’s today, can’t even get their act together and properly maintain what they have. I can read their advertising pages now, “KOA now adds a new level of camping to it’s family. Not only do we have Journey, Holiday and Resort we now offer Ridiculous.”
I’m overwhelmingly in favor of the development of these projects…more space for me in ‘real’ campgrounds.
Never stayed in a KOA and have no plans of changing so I really don’t care what they do!
Been in one koa in Wichita,KS thought their price was a little high but when they charged $8 ea for the great grandchildren to swim in their small above ground pool that takes nerve for 1 hr use.
This is just the result of the CEO of KOA wanting to appear as “visionary” in front of the camping industry. I doubt seriously if he really believes it.
Just a comment to park owners. I’ve had my Dutchman 27 for 10 years. I have NEVER checked to see if it is Koa. With all the I internet resources to find campgrounds I see no reason for an owner to pay a franchise fee.
I would think the maintenance alone and the staff would be cost prohibitive. Now if you want to develope this as low income housing where they can rent the RVs already provided , I’m all for it.
The idle rich dont camp.
Actually the idle rich started it all. Rockefeller and Ford out in tents and covered trucks enjoying the outdoors..
That urban camping Fantasia looks awesome. Given that I’ve paid $100/night to be in an urban parking lot with hookups, though…. I’m guessing I can’t afford whatever it’s going to cost
Maybe in Dubai.
I will not be camping like this !!! .But there are already glamping units tent set ups and tent cabins in our provincial and national parks. You rent every thing for this experience and there are lots of tour companies that book blocks of sites. So when we want to go if you have not booked at the beginning of the year your out of luck.
Have to believe you on the cost of use. But things do change and although these are wild ideas it’s fun to see what ideas people can come up with. New people coming into r v ing have or may want something different then what others do.
Dream on!
Are we there yet dad!
Looking at the plans, I don’t see enough parking places to make it possible. I do like the idea of using solar collectors to provide some shade options without the drawbacks of leaves and bird droppings.
Speaking of reality… pie-in-the-sky conceptualizations, such as these, are not meant to be taken seriously as future reality. They represent the starting point of innovation in which very loosely grounded “wouldn’t-it-be-great-if” concepts are visually represented as inspiration for further discussion. Only then does reality enter into plans. If one doesn’t reach for the stars, they’ll never know how high they could’ve gone.
Luckily Steve Jobs didn’t listen to people tethered firmly to ground and the past, when he DREAMED UP” a hand held phone that included a camera, movie camera, recorder, calculator, music storage & player which lead to a computer, email, info and movies on demand… and on and on.
Many to most technological innovations resulted from a dream brought to reality by another person who thought, “Hmmm, I think I could make something like that happen.”
Innovators see the glass as half-full, instead of half-empty.
How about a Hilton/Marriot RV timeshare?
KOA….How about something unique? Something a lot closer to a national park site with some elbow room and trees as opposed to a Wallymart parking lot? I know there are some but….
Yeah, I’m going to pull a 35′-40′ camper through the middle of a heavily urban city to get to that campground. I-85 thru ATL is bad enough, I can imagine making a turn on a city street corner. Due to traffic, check in time is 3 AM folks!
Not that many years ago, a concept for an RV park was on the top of a parking garage. Rest assured, most of these RV’s were popups and small trailers, with a few tents thrown in. Might be fun…
That may be the ideal camping place of millennials, but not mine, when I was still working I had to travel to metropolitan areas to make a living. When the end of shift buzzer sounded i was gone until the the buzzer sounded the next day. I never lived closer than 22 miles from work because I can’t stand being “close” to society. Now I despise closeness even more. If not for my wife I would always be 20 miles from nowhere.
I s’pose it depends on what one’s idea of “camping” is about. I’m of the opinion that RV-park hopping in a 40-ft DP is anything but camping… but if that’s the idea, then a garden-balconied 12-story parking garage with shuffle-board courts, sun loungers, swimming pools, cocktail patio party circles, and moving-belt pedestrian connectors between attractions and one’s elevator-slotted RV is the stuff of future dreams. And what a perfect opportunity for wait staff in perky skirts dashing about on roller-skates to fulfill requests and deliver deli orders. Just like a cruise ship… but no sea-sickness!
What I get a kick out of is how people pay $400,000 for a huge RV and then want to pay $15 a night to camp but still want to have all the electricity and amenities…everybody needs to take a reality check…..Mom and Pop businesses should NOT be subsidizing folks ….charge what it is…..the price of doing business…..maybe solar panels at each sight ……or wind turbines to power the park up…….there is a company out there called EML Associates that makes a product called the Watt Dog…..it helps suppliers monitor electricity consumption….it is used at a lot of yacht clubs and I am sure could be used at RV parks…..then the consumer could be charged for what they actually use…..if anyone is interested contact emlassoc@aol.com…..the units are very reasonably priced
I agree, while our RV was hefty at 80k, we actually use what we purchase, solar, tanks etc. fan if hot out. We have learned to camp without all the bells and whistles afforded at some campground we boondock at lot, all for work.
I call BS. How about a reasonably large pull-through spot with some shade, clean power, reliable wifi clean restrooms and a decent laundry at a fair price?. I don’t expect my campground to entertain me, but to facilitate my personal adventures. KOA is WAY off the mark on this one.
I applaud Graybyrd’s tongue-in-cheek, even humorous, imaginative vision of the future instead of staying safely in the past.
The next great ideas will come from bending, breaking, and blending what surrounds us today… not allowing ‘today’ to prevent wondering, “What if…!”
History is full of things that we didn’t know we wanted, or were even possible… until someone believed they were possible then made them happen. We were shown that we did want them, even needed them. I Imagine that many of you reading this remember when the first home computers came about and some people laughed at them. They guffawed, ‘What would anyone do with a computer in their home… write recipes?” Yet… at this very moment we’re all staring at the screen of one! Many resting in the palm of our hand.
Although we don’t know where flights of creativity and fancy might take us… they’re the groundwork of the future.
Sounds cliche, but I think if you build it, they will come. There’s plenty of high end resorts today to prove the point. Of course, we are on the perverbial beer budget and probably won’t see the inside of those type of RV Parks. Unless of course we win the lottery. Guess I’d better start playing.
If “camping” looks like this in the future, it is not camping. Right now, KOAs are not really camping.
When I heard that Ocracoke Island was getting a new and better campground I thought O wow. Cool. I love those islands off NC. When I found out it was KOA and how much acreage there was I was floored. I remember something like 7800. Maybe I am wrong but from the looks of it. It is going to be huge. I am a KOA fan because some campsites I have been too? Scare me worse then badly built RVs. Good luck.
My my my, whoever dreamed up those scnarios has found something new, there is no alcoholic beverage or drug on this planet that could cause such a strange vision. Even if they funded these projects and brought them online the costs would probably something like $500 a night. That is truly a pipe dream. They should be flogged and made to walk the plank and fall into that beautiful mountainside view. That was totally ridiculous…
Is all this TECHNICALLY feasible? Yes. If not now, certainly in the future. The real question is, is it ECONOMICALLY feasible? As you said, Chuck, not in the current franchise model for KOA. I seriously doubt that corporate KOA could afford to build even one of these ideas. They obviously have not seen or heard how much flak proposed new RV parks get from the people who live near the proposed development. And it won’t just be from the NUMBYs. Environmentalists will jump on many of these ideas because of the purported environmental impact, which there will be some, at least. I look at this as a way for corporate KOA to say they will alwyas be relevant in the industry.
New 25 spot camp places are getting lots of pushback, I can not imagine how much to get all this approved, let alone thumbs up from all agencies involved.
I really hope that before KOA embarks on any of these dream campgrounds they take the time to train staff in the art of communicating with each other. I am attending a rally at a KOA and because of basic lack of communication between office personnel, have been moved 3 times in 4 days. If staff is not trained and does not communicate with each other, you do not have happy campers.
Do I believe the future of camping *could* look like that? Alas, yes, I do. Personally, I think even $75/night is just a fantastically ridiculous number for “camping,” every bit as completely disconnected from reality as a spot on an artificial lagoon. But people do pay that 75 bucks, or more, regularly and apparently happily, so who knows what else they might spring for to be “close to nature” (cue insane derisive laughter).
The future of *some* people’s camping might well look like that. So long as there are public lands, the future of *my* camping will involve long gravel roads and dead silent nights under the stars . . . for *free*.
You might say “Camping” and be a camper. That’s fine. I am not a “camper”. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
I am an RV’er. I like all The accouterments that I have but it’s not for everyone. And that’s ok too.
Judging from the plethora of expensive sun blockers in RV parks now, I think there are a lot of people with more money than sense. Staying in an outlandish park will have the same draw as does Disney World, despite the cost, and Disney is always full.
The term is more dollars than sense.
“if we build it..They will come” quote from Kevin Costner in the movie Field of Dreams.
If you compare the amount of RV’s that are being built vs the number of campsites being built..we are in need of additional spaces. Like it or not at least KOA is trying to provide a long term solution.
Future campgrounds look really nice, they will work well for the wealthy. I can imagine the sites are pricey. Still not my kind of camping. We are full timers, only travel in summer and usually stay in one place all summer. Then again after labor day we slowly work our way back to Tombstone for the winter.
None of these new-fangled ideas aren’t worth much if you can’t find them. What the RV/Camping industry needs is a Trivago/Travelocity/Priceline type app that helps a camper find available spots.
Maybe there is one that I don’t know about but spending days finding a camping spot is not my idea of fun. Right now we are using RVTripWizard and ParkAdvisor, which are helpful, but the responsibility should be shifted to the campground owners to fill up their spots. imho
Urban camping on a spot competing with multi unit businesses wouldn’t fly – unless you had fees approaching a mortgage. We spun up a plan in 2003 to build one from scratch, had to bail as we couldn’t compete with home builders looking for similar land.
Why is this even considered camping? We camp to get closer to the nature experience not to “live” in an manicured amusement park. If people want an amusement park then it should be separate. As others indicated it’s just not financially viable and those of us who just want to get outside and be comfortable wouldn’t be interested anyway. I hope it doesn’t actually come to pass.
Just how much do they think this will cost for a daily or weekly fee? Some people can’t afford a week at a KOA now.
For the urban campground I guess they could take over land in a city that has shrunk. Detroit for instance is 1/3 of its once large size. They have been tearing down empty houses. There was a proposal to sell land for farming so why not a campground. I wouldn’t want to stay in an urban campground unless it showed up crazy like in the picture with a water park or something. I wouldn’t be there for the urban part.
KOA is dreaming big, I love it.
You’re missing the point. The exercise mentions nothing of “this will be done,” but rather looks to say what could be possible with no limits in place. Why not appreciate the creativity and innovation in a space that’s becoming increasingly popular. Will all of this exist? No. Might some of it? Absolutely. I for one appreciate the creativity of it all.
I think, if we keep paying these high prices to camp they will keep raising them. Somethings gotta give. Yes, we can afford the RV but goodness, for some it’s our home and it gets hard shelling out all this money to enjoy the good life. No, we love it too much to ever return to s/b.
KOA lost me as a customer long ago with their increasing prices. Averaging about $65 or more, with nothing to show for it, is not going to get me back.