Advertise on podcast: RV Park Boss

Rylan Blowers is the founder and CEO of Park With Us, a reservation software built to help RV park owners simplify operations. After starting the company from a Texas camper to solve his own travel headaches, he created the human-centric platform he wished existed for independent operators. He breaks down why technology must balance digital convenience with personal service, how AI is crowding the market with over-complicated software, and why keeping tools simple protects the guest experience. Park with Us at: https://www.parkwith.us/ Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction and Sponsor Message(00:00:46) - Meet Rylan Blowers and Park With Us Origin Story(00:02:43) - Software Simplicity, Support, and Human Touch(00:05:12) - Balancing Phone Bookings vs Online Booking Preferences(00:07:11) - Trends in Consumer and Operator Behavior(00:09:27) - Red Flags When Choosing Software and Support Issues(00:11:18) - Risks of AI-Built Software and Payment Reliability(00:12:29) - Future Direction: Keeping Guest Experience Simple(00:14:40) - Jason's Experience Using Park With Us(00:16:20) - Attracting Customers and Building Community(00:17:51) - Park Versatility and Growth Opportunities(00:19:46) - Closing Remarks and Conference Plans

Cameron Tope is an investor and the founder of Emerson Property Management, managing over 300 homes in Houston. After getting frustrated by unlicensed managers and massive corporate firms, he built the company he wished existed. He breaks down why investors must embrace the learning curve, how market shifts are creating accidental landlords, and how to properly vet a property manager. Chapters (00:00:02) - Intro and sponsor message(00:00:48) - Meet Cameron Tope(00:01:46) - Why Cameron built his own property management company(00:03:13) - Lessons from grinding through early years(00:06:02) - The importance of local knowledge and personal touch(00:09:28) - Market shifts: from COVID boom to market reality(00:10:19) - Parallels between RV parks and residential rentals post-COVID(00:11:21) - Consistency, marketing, and the long game in real estate(00:12:36) - Questions to ask before hiring a property manager(00:15:32) - Avoiding bad operators and seminar hype(00:17:03) - Staying focused: Houston-only operations and niche expertise(00:18:27) - Experience matters most for new investors(00:19:23) - How to reach Cameron and free resources(00:20:23) - Closing remarks and thanks

Justin Boren is a traveling minister and former teacher based in Bandera County, Texas who has lived full time in an RV for years. He talks about what separates a park that feels like a community from one that just feels like a parking lot. His answer is simple: leadership sets the temperature, and guests feel it the moment they pull in. He also gets into selling his house, ditching the mortgage, and never looking back, and opens up about a serious health battle that included three heart failure diagnoses, a late MS discovery, and a three-month prognosis he beat. A different kind of episode, but worth it. Chapters (00:00:02) - Intro and Sponsor Message(00:00:19) - Welcoming Justin Bourne(00:02:50) - What Makes an RV Park Feel Like Community(00:04:17) - Justin's Journey to RV Living(00:06:29) - Life at Alvord Oaks RV Park(00:10:35) - Choosing Freedom Over Debt and Materialism(00:13:10) - How to Connect with Justin's Ministry(00:16:41) - Justin's Health Battle and Healing Journey(00:18:21) - Living in the Valleys and Trusting God(00:22:01) - Serving Others and Living Out Faith Daily(00:24:42) - Closing Thoughts and Farewell

A conversation with Kevin Faulkner, founder of 3B Credit Health out of Waco, Texas. Jason opens up about a real situation where poor credit timing cost him 10% equity in a park refinance, roughly $150,000, because his utilization was tied up during construction and hard pulls had been stacking up. Kevin breaks down why most business owners treat credit like a nagging health problem they ignore until it bites them. We get into the five factors that make up a credit score, why the commonly cited 30% utilization target is not good enough if you want to be in the 800 club, and what people with 800 scores actually do differently. The number that stood out: people with 800 credit scores carry an average of 5.9% utilization on their cards. Kevin also touches on why closing a credit card before a deal is one of the more expensive mistakes investors make, and why three cards is the sweet spot for most people. Short but practical if you are trying to get a commercial loan, refinance a park, or just understand why the bank keeps saying no. Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction and Sponsor Message(00:00:51) - Kevin Faulkner's Background and 3B Credit Health(00:01:22) - Costly Lesson: Credit Utilization and Park Refinancing(00:03:10) - Understanding Banks' Perspective on Lending(00:05:11) - Breaking Down Credit Score Factors(00:06:06) - Utilization Strategy for 800+ Credit Scores(00:09:08) - Smart Credit Card Habits and Closing Cards(00:10:45) - Business Credit and Company Culture(00:12:53) - Company Growth Plans and Referrals(00:13:24) - Market Shifts, Rates, and Refinancing Outlook(00:16:39) - How to Connect with Kevin Faulkner(00:17:44) - Karma, Networking, and Bringing Value(00:18:32) - Story Behind the Name 3B(00:19:55) - Closing Remarks

A conversation with Lance Riggen, an East Texas based investor who went all in on RV parks after years of flipping houses, running a granite and tile business, and trying just about every other real estate strategy. Lance talks about how he uses bird dogs to find off-market deals, including a retired guy named Bob who recently tracked down a 35-pad park sitting on top of the only hill in East Texas with 30-mile views, currently running as a long-term monthly park with zero marketing and no signage on the road. The deal is close to contract and Lance's plan is to convert the premium view sites to nightly transient stays and move long-term tenants to the less desirable spots. We also get into a deal in East Tennessee that fell apart at the funding stage, why getting under contract does not mean you have the park, and how he eventually solved the net worth problem by bringing in a key partner. Lance is honest about what he is good at, finding and negotiating deals, and what he is not, operating them day to day. Worth a listen if you are building a portfolio and trying to figure out how to put the right team around you. Chapters (00:00:00) - RV Parks on the Market(00:05:28) - RV Parks: An Investment in Real Estate(00:07:18) - How to Sell a Million-Dollar Park Property(00:10:59) - How I managed to save my marriage by going all in on real(00:16:46) - Deals don't make it.(00:19:43) - Lance Riggin on Real Estate Investing

A quick conversation with Duncan Waterman from Roomstay, a booking engine out of Australia and New Zealand, at the OHCI conference. Roomstay's focus is narrow on purpose: clean, fast, mobile-friendly checkout that converts browsers into bookings without the complexity of a full property management system. They integrate with RMS Cloud and New Book on the backend. Duncan also touches on SEO basics that still matter more than most park owners realize, specifically content marketing, blog posts, linking to local partners and tourist destinations, and building backlinks. His point is that the same fundamentals that drove Google rankings 10 to 15 years ago are now feeding the AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity that guests use to find places to stay. Short episode, but useful if you are trying to get more direct bookings or figure out where to start with your digital presence. Chapters (00:00:00) - RV Park Business: Roomstay, SEO(00:01:26) - How to Use AI in the Camping Industry(00:03:21) - Biking at Campsites

A conversation with Trenton Hinsley at the OHCI conference. Trenton started as a general contractor doing bathroom and kitchen remodels, got tired of the variety, and narrowed his focus entirely to decking for campgrounds. The product is modular, levels up to 4 feet to handle uneven pads, and comes pre-manufactured so a 400 square foot deck installs in about an hour and a half. The rental model is where it gets interesting for park owners: $100 a month for a 10 by 10 deck, no maintenance responsibility on the park side, free repairs if something gets damaged, annual cleaning and restaining included, and full replacement every three years. Parks that upcharge for premium sites with decks are getting anywhere from $10 to $20 extra per night, which makes the $3 a day cost easy to absorb or pass along entirely. It is also a 100% tax write-off since it is a rental rather than a capital improvement. Worth a look if you have pull-throughs or back-in sites you want to monetize a little harder. Chapters (00:00:00) - OHCI Conference 2017: A Taste of Business(00:00:16) - Park Owners Need a Deck System(00:03:05) - Do You Need Outdoor Decking? Here!(00:06:41) - Jimmy Kimmel on Meeting Guests

A conversation with Alex from a campground Wi-Fi provider at the OHCI conference. Alex's model is straightforward: no upfront cost, no maintenance fees, no service call charges. Instead, parks pay a daily rate tied to active reservations, somewhere between $1 and $3 per day per site. Guests effectively cover the cost through their stay, and the park never writes a check for the infrastructure. We talk about why most Wi-Fi installs fail at the access point count, how his team puts units inside individual cabins instead of cutting corners with fewer nodes, and why having a 24/7 call center that handles guest troubleshooting directly takes a real operational headache off the park owner's plate. If Wi-Fi complaints are showing up in your reviews or your staff is spending time resetting routers, this one is worth a listen. Chapters (00:00:00) - OHCI Conference 2017(00:00:11) - RV Camping: Wi-Fi(00:02:14) - RV Wi Fi: How to Install and manage it(00:05:01) - RV Camp Wi-Fi: Basic Need, Cost(00:06:48) - Park Owners talk to the media

A conversation with Brian from InsiderPerks.com at the OHCI conference. Brian started in the industry by cold calling KOA's VP of PR back in 2011, talked his way into filming 90 corporate parks up and down the East Coast, and ended up building a marketing agency that now works with 400 to 500 campgrounds. These days he is hard pivoting into AI, specifically phone agents and chatbots that integrate directly with reservation software like CampSpot. The pitch is simple: most parks miss a huge volume of calls after hours or during busy check-in windows, and an AI agent that can answer questions, check availability, and take reservations is better than sending guests to the park next door. We also talk about why the real moat is not the AI itself but the reservation software integrations, which take real time and relationships to build. Brian also runs two podcasts, MC Fireside Chats and Outwired, if you want more of his take on where the industry is headed. Chapters (00:00:00) - RV Park Podcast Hosting(00:00:12) - How AI Went From RV Parks to Travel Videos(00:04:13) - Camp Spot on AI for RVers(00:06:51) - Facebook, Oculus demo at E3(00:07:19) - Covid: Talking Tech, Fireside Chats

A conversation with Britt Ralph, co-owner of a 28-site campground in southern Utah, right in the middle of the Mighty 5 national parks. Britt and her husband started their RV journey after he lost his college teaching job and they decided they were done working for anyone else. They sold the stability, bought a fifth wheel, rented out their house, and hit the road with two kids under three. That year on the road taught them what was missing in most parks they stayed at, and they eventually built their own. Their park sits on 40 acres with sites 75 to 100 feet apart, spa-quality bathhouses with heated floors and indoor-outdoor showers, fiber optic Wi-Fi, goat hikes, sound baths, e-bike rentals, and fresh baked goods. No pool, no hot tubs, no massive amenity budget. Just an unusually high return guest rate and reviews comparing their bathrooms to the Ritz-Carlton. Worth a listen if you are thinking about what actually drives loyalty in this business and why how guests feel matters more than what your amenity list looks like. Chapters (00:00:00) - RV Camping: A True Story(00:04:00) - Traveling the Country With a 5-Runner(00:05:42) - Enjoying a campground in the high desert?(00:09:05) - RV Campground: A High-End Amenities(00:12:32) - The Mighty Five: A trip to All of Them

A conversation with Colin Miller, Director of Sales at Pacific Yurts, at the OHCI conference. Colin's pitch is straightforward: almost every RV park has a few underperforming sites, the ones by the dumpster, the entrance, or wherever nobody wants to park. Instead of leaving those sites dragging your occupancy numbers down, you drop a yurt on the existing pad, tie into the utilities already there, and suddenly you are charging anywhere from $100 to $600 a night for a glamping unit that opens your park up to a whole new audience. We talk about sizing, all-in costs, the shift toward turnkey installations with bathrooms and kitchenettes included, and some creative use cases like giving long-term residents a place to host visiting family. We also get into hot tubs inside yurts, which apparently is more common than you would think. Chapters (00:00:00) - RV Park Talk: Yurts(00:03:15) - RV Parks: What to Do About Long Term Rentals(00:04:24) - Renting Yurts: Monthly or Long Term?(00:06:03) - Do Yurts Need Bathrooms?(00:08:02) - RV Camping: Yurts Vacation Page

A quick conversation with Daryl Jensen, founder of RV Wheelier, at the OHCI conference. Daryl runs what he describes as a real estate brokerage for RVs. He qualifies buyers, handles the advertising, and structures deals around fair retail value. His pitch is simple: private sellers walk away with up to 50% more than they would get from a dealer, and his fee comes from the buyer side, so the seller pays nothing. We also get into the current state of the RV market, which is not great. Depending on the state, up to 50% of RV owners are underwater on their units right now, manufacturers are dropping new prices and pushing used values down further, and dealer lots are sitting full with no appetite to buy more inventory. Daryl thinks it will turn around, but the shakeout is not over yet. Short episode, but useful context if you own a park and have guests or tenants trying to move units. Chapters (00:00:00) - In the Elevator With Realtor(00:00:15) - What Is a Real Estate Company Selling RVs?(00:03:34) - Interviewing RV Businessmen

A conversation with Declan Mimna, who runs a booking engine built originally for the Australia and New Zealand outdoor hospitality market and is now making a push into the US. Declan comes from an Expedia background, and his whole focus is on what happens before a guest completes a reservation, not after. We talk about why most park management software ignores the checkout funnel entirely, what it actually looks like when you can see where potential guests are dropping off, and how small fixes at that stage can move occupancy without spending more on ads. We also get into something most buyers and sellers never think about: the digital footprint of a park. Email lists, Google presence, SEO history. Declan makes the case that this data has real monetary value and should be part of any sale conversation. Worth a listen if you are building, buying, or trying to squeeze more revenue out of what you already have.

A conversation with Dylan from Campfire Capital Group out of Greenville, South Carolina. Dylan runs two sides of the same business: brokering campground deals and buying parks himself. His take is that being an owner makes him a better broker, and being a broker makes him a better owner. We get into where he sees real opportunity right now (the Carolinas and Southeast, not just Texas and Florida), why the portfolio play of buying 10 to 15 parks and selling at a 7 cap is more of a theory than a reality in this market, and what sellers consistently get wrong about how parks are valued. He also shares a story about an appraiser who basically copy-pasted his own report back to him, which says a lot about how that process works. Good conversation for anyone thinking about buying, selling, or building a portfolio in the outdoor hospitality space. Chapters (00:00:00) - RV Camping Conference(00:00:10) - RV Park Broker: Campfire Capital Group(00:01:10) - RV Camping: East of the Mississippi(00:03:19) - Should We Buy More Construction Companies?(00:05:05) - Dividing the RV Park Business(00:08:24) - Do Private Equity Investors Need 7-Cap Portfolios?(00:11:31) - Real Estate Lessons from Building a Property(00:12:07) - RV Park Focus: South vs. North Carolina(00:15:25) - Are Campground Owners Ready to Sell Their Homes?(00:17:57) - How To Get Your Property Appraised

A conversation with Jason Olson, founder of Conestoga Wagon Company, at the OHCI conference. Jason started building glamping wagons in 2015 for his own park in Wyoming and has since sold over 700 across the country. We get into why his wagons use a double-canopy air insulation system instead of fabric (mold and smell, mainly), how the design holds up in 100 mph winds, and the high-end shower pods that snap into any wagon setup. We also talk about his modular shower house units, classified as equipment rather than property improvements, which give park owners a way to expand bathroom capacity without a full construction permit headache. Good listen if you're thinking about glamping additions or just want to hear how a small idea turned into a real business. Chapters (00:00:00) - OHCI 2017: Conestoga Wagon Company(00:01:31) - What's Going to Attract Glamping Campers?(00:04:41) - What You Need to Know About Wilderness Wagons(00:07:48) - RV Showers: Another Option for Campers(00:11:08) - How To Clean Your Bathroom!(00:13:08) - "Thank You!"(00:13:39) - RV Park Pros: Thanks for reaching out!