Business View Magazine - July 2023

113 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 7 KAMPGROUNDS OF AMERICA Rewards campers, the importance of honoring our best guests is important work that certainly pays off for us as a brand. Over half of all KOA camper nights are driven by that Rewards camper. Over 60 percent will drive over 25 miles out of the way to camp at a KOA. I think that is a great testimony to the loyalty that we have been able to earn. Last and most importantly, the KOA App and the www.koa.com Website really help with easy searching over the Internet. We drive over 70 percent of our short-term reservations through www.koa.com , which obviously eases the pressure at the front desk, from the operator’s perspective, and it certainly makes that marketing very easy for our franchisees.” Are you a traditionalist? Do you still like to find things the old-fashioned way? Don’t fret, says Uselman. The KOA still has physical maps and directories for the traditional camper. “We still print 650,000 KOA Directories,” he said, “where we put the physical documentation in the camper’s hands. Still today, we do that!” Franchising for the long (camper) haul Franchising is a long-term partnership, says Uselman, in that the investment focuses on the campground. “Our initial costs are $10,000 for a re-sale,” he said, “so that would be buying an existing campground, an existing KOA. It’s $11,250 for a conversion, which is taking an independent park and bringing it into the KOA system. And lastly, there is a $35,000 initial franchise fee for new construction, built from the ground up. Whether a single owner or a corporate entity, we take pride in franchising people, not properties. We seek franchisees who really reflect our mission: connecting people to the outdoors and each other and to really see that through the lens of our values, which means being family-focused, being passionate about outdoor hospitality, being entrepreneurial, being customer-focused and looking around the corners for what’s next in the guest experience and obviously being progressive. We’re not a 61-year- old company by accident. We didn’t rest on our laurels to get where we are. We take pride in