Buying a caravan park

[Orks]

So, we have just had an offer accepted on a fairly decent sized caravan park and take over in 3 months time.



Has anyone here had any experience in managing or owning a caravan park? The park has quite a few existing staff in place like 2 receptionists that split the weekend shifts, cleaners, a maintenance guy and a lawn mowing/gardening guy, so as owner/managers our main responsibilities will be overseeing these staff, meeting and greeting customers and keeping them happy/resolving their problems, doing the bookwork/banking/staff rostering, and covering any staff when they have sickies/quit unexpectedly etc, and keep an eye on the cabins to make sure any maintenance issues are quickly fixed and broken things replaced.

We are in the retirement industry at the moment but have a pretty good business model that doesn't require a lot of day to day owner involvement, so the thinking is that this caravan park will be a good bolt on business which provides good cash generation with potential for improvement via new cabins and slight price increases.

Would be interested in any advice/tips/experiences anyone who has owned a similar business has had, or even those who stay in caravan parks as to what they expect when they stay at a park.

Cheers

 

[travelbug]

We used to go to one regularly in Huskisson for scuba diving. It was always full and was a thriving business (so it seemed). After a few years the place changed hands. Apparently the owner had a nice side business going. He had 2 sets of books and would put a certain amount (cash walk in the door people) in his own pocket. He was hauled off to jail.

So don't do it that way.

We did toy with the idea of buying a caravan park or a boutique hotel (in Bali). We werre looking with another couple as we figured we didn't want to be tied down 24 hours a day, 7 days a week all year. By sharing it you could at least have some time off.

How hands on do you want to be? I think it could be a good business but not a set and forget one.
Good luck with it.

 

[INVSTOR]

My old friends purchased this a few years ago and are loving it. They are very hands on. http://www.queenmaryfallscaravanpark.com.au/

 

[Orks]

We will be fairly hands on but won't be living on site, so will be relying on night/weekend staff etc to sort out issues that happen when I'm not there. Also have some trustworthy staff from our existing business that I might put in there if the existing ones leave or aren't up to scratch.

Did that owner you mentioned go to the slammer for not paying tax? Must have pocketed a fair bit!