Campers at Akeley, Minnesota’s city campground protest conversion of daily and weekly campsites to seasonals at a meeting of the city council, reports the Park Rapids Enterprise.
This action is likely to raise concerns far beyond Minnesota because of the decreasing number of campsites available nationally due to robust RV sales and few new campgrounds being added to the supply. Some fear that officials will take the easy and more predictable route of renting campsites for an entire season.
Removable of shorter term campsite rentals from the supply satisfies many officials with a steady income and lower operational costs. But campers in Akeley say this has prevented many families from taking their annual vacation at the campground.
The city council listened to complaints from locals that said they had to make reservations a year in advance now that more campsites were converted to seasonal rentals, and that the city could charge more for daily and weekly campsites than seasonals, making more income for the city.
“If you look at $45 a night you could be getting instead of going seasonal for $2,500 for the summer, you’re losing $2,000 to $4,000 per site,” camper Gary Gutenkauf told the council.
The council has not made a decision yet on whether to limit converting campsites to seasonal rentals.
Regarding converting campsites to seasonal rentals Thousand Trails did this a number of years ago. Supposedly there is a specific number of sites that are allowed to be seasonal. Of course the seasonal campsites are generally the best sites (wouldn’t you want the best site if you were paying for seasonal) which means at some parks if you have a somewhat larger RV there are “slim pickens.” We rarely use our TT membership anymore due to this.