b'INDUSTRY NEWSSignorelli Company Opens Texas Resort ARVCfrom page 3Accommodation units have also grown in popularity, with 71% of parks reporting After a number of delays, The Sig- velopment whichsites included 128 RV sites and 36 rentalthat they have at least one accommoda-norelli Company, a Woodlands, Texas- turned an antici- units consisting of Athens Park cottages,tion unit (cabin, park modeletc.). based developer, was finally able to openpated quick turn- Conestoga Wagons, retro RVs and bellAgain, every year we see that number the doors to its first RV resort in 2021, Thearoundintoatents. A 136-site second phase of devel- tick upwards, noted Basler. Retreat RV & Camping Resort.m u l t i - y e a ropment is set to break ground in Sep- When looking at the ownership struc-Thecompanyfoundedin1994byprocess.tember.ture of parks, the report noted that 71% of Danny Signorelli has a history of work- WehadthisWe have an 8,000-square-foot club- parksareindividual/independently ing in real estate and developing singlelandandwhenhouse that has two large glass roll-upowned small businesses, with 17% corpo-and multifamily housing units. The com- you drive throughdoors that overlook the swimming pool,rate-owned, 8% franchise-branded, 3% panyalsohasretail,commercialandit you think this ishe explained. All concrete 50-amp full- membership- or member-owned and 1% mixed-use real estate divisions, notedrural,soyouTerry Munoz hookup sites, all concrete roads and RVundersomeothertypeofoperational TerryMunoz,vicepresidentofSig- should be able tosite pads. Thats the type of developmentstructure. norellis recreational properties division,get things hammered out pretty quickly,Signorelli does. Its first-class and thatsI think the increase that were seeing which was launched at the end of 2018.but we found out that this piece of landwhat this turned out to be.of parks being purchased, theyre not all Munoz noted that Signorelli began ex- fell under the jurisdiction of the city ofMunoz said that Signorelli is lookingbeing purchased by big corporations like ploring the idea of developing an RV re- Houston, Munoz said. Permitting wasat plans for future developments andSun Outdoors and ELS, noted Basler. We sortafterrealizingthepotentialinaprobably one of the biggest delays be- maybe even some acquisitions, but thatare seeing a lot of activity from smaller in-40-acre section of land on the shores ofcause it did fall within the citys jurisdic- its main focus is on operating its new re- vestment groups and a lot of those would Lake Houston.tion.sort during what will be its first full sea- still legitimately be classified as independ-This property is located right off aOnce the permitting was taken care of,son in 2022. He noted to WCM that heently-owned because of the way that they major interstate and close to some of theconstruction was then delayed mainlydoesnt expect the industry to experienceare being bought and structured. companys other developments like Thedue to issues caused by the COVID pan- a slowdown anytime soon.Other key facts from the report: CommonsofLakeHoustonandthedemic.The amount of excitement that theSeventy-seven percent of parks have MasterPlanCommunityofValleyStill,thecompanypressedonandindustry is seeing right now is somethingbeen in operation for at least 20 years, with 36% having been in operation for at Ranch,heexplainedtoWoodallsMunoz said that the upscale resort of- I have never seen in my 34 years workingleast 50 years. Campground Magazine (WCM).fers RVers a large number of amenitiesin this industry, Munoz noted.BenA new question that was asked this The park hit some delays during de- and concrete padded sites. The first 164Quiggle WCM year is the impact of government-owned parks that are near privately-owned RV Jellystone Signs Franchise Agreements on 3 New Parksparksandcampgrounds.Thereport notes that 77% of parks are located within Yogi Bears Jellystone Park Camp-Re- sort was awarded Park of the Year in 2021chisees, which consist of both independ- 25milesofgovernment-ownedparks. sorts, a family camping and entertain- by the National Association of RV Parksent and multi-park owners, are takingThirty-three percent reported an increase ment brand, recently signed franchise& Campgrounds.their locations to all new heights. Theyinrevenueopportunitiesduetotheir agreements for three new locations toAugusta, MaineNorthgate Holdingsareexpandingandimprovingthem,proximity to a government-owned park. open in 2022, according to a press re- also purchased the Beaver Brook Camp- adding new attractions and increasingWe want to understand how proximity lease.ground and is transforming it into a Jelly- their activities, all of which drive reserva- to these parks hurts or helps privately-Asaresultofthefranchiseagree- stone Park that will operate under thetions and ROI.owned parks, said Basler. We anticipate ments, families will be able to enjoy Jelly- name Augusta Jellystone Park.Schutter noted that several Jellystonethat it will help the businesses, because stoneParkactivities,attractionsandNew Douglas, Ill.BJ and Jenn DavisPark locations have recently been ac- data from other reports show that when characters at these new locations thisare converting their Rustic Acres Camp- quired with new owners planning to ex- you have a popular attraction near your year:ground near St. Louis, Mo., into a Jelly- pand the parks and enhance them withbusiness, whether its a campground or Stark County, OhioNorthgate Hold- stone Park.more attractions and activities. They in- restaurant or anything, the success of that ings acquired the award-winning ClaysWe are seeing unprecedented inter- cludeBremen,Ga.;CaveCity,Ky.;business goes up, because of more foot Park Resort south of Cleveland and isest and investment in the Jellystone ParkColumbus North, Ohio; Estes Park, Colo.;traffic. converting the 600-site campground tobrand, said Rob Schutter, president ofNorthPortHuron,Mich.;andTyler,Theres talk right now after the Great the Jellystone Park brand. Clays Park Re- Jellystone. Our current and new fran- Texas. WCM American Outdoors Act (GAOA) that na-tional parks are going to be renovated and updated, he added. Youre never going to see a water park or a swimming pool, or most of the amenities, if not all of the amenities, that are popular at privately owned RV parks within a national park or state park, just based on the nature of what they are. People who are going to come to an area and are going to go to a national park, if they want those types of amenities, theyre going to stay outside the park at a local privately-owned park. Thats what drives the increase in profits and the success of that business based on their proximity. Another new question looked at em-ployee issues with 78% indicating that their park employed the same number of employees or more than in the previous year. Twenty-one percent employed fewer staff than the previous year. What we found there actually did sur-prise us because we were hearing anecdo-tally that there were a lot of labor shortage issues, said Basler. Twenty-threepercentsaidthatthe labor shortage impacted grounds/main-tenancestaffthemost,withfront desk/welcome staff second in line. As a benefit of membership, the report is available at no cost to ARVC members in their member portal. Non-members can download the re-port for $299 via the ARVC Store.Ben Quiggle WCM6 April 2022 Woodalls Campground Magazine'