We get this question a lot. It happens. People are tired of their old one, or just the fact that it is old and does not contain up to date tools and functions. Maybe the company has stopped supporting their products. Maybe the company went out of business. Maybe the company they were dealing with switched from rv park software to time share or vacation rental software. Maybe they want to upgrade their system for their RV park or campground . There are lots of reasons. For whatever scenario, they have in most cases talked to their friends in the industry and have decided to move to Campground Manager Software@/ BookYourSite™. That is where we get most of our customers.
So what is the process to switch?
First off I always tell people there is going to be some pain here. No question about it. From online bookings to housekeeping cabins, the campground management job has changed. People do not like change. They need the tools to do their job. They will resist it until they believe in the new product and the new level of service they will receive. Even though it will take some time we have the campground software and rv park management software for them to do their job.
Secondly, for that reason in most cases we advise people to wait until their slow season to change. After all you don’t want to experiment with new players during a Super Bowl game do you? Sometimes it cannot be helped. Their system has gone down and they are desperate but in most cases we have time.
Thirdly, we cannot transfer over the reservations. We have tried many times over the years and have had no luck. The file structures of different softwares are so vastly different there is no way it would work. What we can do for the majority of parks, is get into their current system and extract out all the customer info. Information such as names, addresses and phone numbers ( emails included). We then dump that into their new Campground Manager Software@/ BookYourSite™ system. We charge a fee for this ($150) but it is probably the best money you spend all year.
As discussed we can only use the names, addresses and customer info from your current system (if we can import them). You will have to manually enter in your future reservations.
What we recommend is this:
- You get up and running say May 1 with Campground Manager Software@/ BookYourSite™
- You set a drop dead date of about 2 months out say July 1
- You start entering in your reservations to Campground Manager Software@/ BookYourSite™ starting at the farthest point out working backwards
- By entering your reservations in this way, you get great training and we make sure the rates are coming up correctly
- Then any new business that comes into the park that occurs after July 1 you enter into Campground Manager Software@/ BookYourSite™ only
- Any new business that comes in to the park between May 1and July 1 you put into both systems
- July 1 rolls around and you shut the old system off. You will still have that data, you can always go back and check on something but you do not need daily access to it.
That is the process most people go through to upgrade and implement new property management systems in the campground and rv park business. Just as a side note, this will not work if you are dropping your KOA franchise. You will have to start from scratch. Make sure you print out all your future reservations before your franchise termination date.
So I hope that helps. If you have any more questions or concerns please feel free to contact us.
Give us a call! We can help!
As always thanks for reading and feel free to comment.
