When looking to add ancillary revenue streams, one often overlooked avenue is the business community.  There are many companies looking for great places to hold company retreats that allow their employees to bond together and learn valuable information at the same time.  This could involve Companies bringing employees in for a day retreat, or it could involve overnight use of your campground.   This is a great way to help keep your campground staff busy during some of the slower months of the year.  Here are a few simple ways you can make your campground more appealing to businesses looking for a place to hold their next company retreat.

Create a Conference Area at Your Campground

When businesses go on a company retreat, they need to be able to have a place to hold group meetings.   Having a conference area available for them to use is important.   The area needs to offer the Company some degree of privacy away from other guests.

This can be an indoor facility or even a large picnic pavilion.  The area should be covered so that the guests can sit under shade and be protected from the elements if it starts to rain. It’s also a good idea to have ample tables and seating available for people to use when they take notes during the meetings. Depending on the venue, you may want to install a sound system if there is any chance that it may be difficult for speakers to be heard during the conferences.  Your Wi-Fi signal strength may also be a consideration.

Create Cabins for Businesses at your Campground

Cabins can be a great asset to have when advertising for corporate retreats. Most businesses will have employees who do not want to sleep in tents or do not have RVs available for them to use. The cabins provide everyone with a comfortable place to sleep and give them the comforts of home without having to actually be home.

Create Team Building Exercises around your Campground

The entire premise behind a company retreat is for people to be able to bond, relax, and build trust with one another. A great way for this to happen is to do team building exercises.

Develop a book filled with team building exercises they can do that require little to no equipment. You can purchase the minimal equipment that is needed and have everything put together in one place for the groups to use.  If you have a recreation staff, you may want to utilize them to run the exercises/games.   The more hands on you and your staff are with these team building exercises, the more you will be able to charge for the services. (P.S. Hold your own team building event to create and test these exercises!)

You can also create an obstacle course on the ground for companies to use to challenge their employees. The employees can split into teams to try to beat each other at completing the obstacle course. Be sure that the challenges are not too tough, because there will be some people on the retreat who may have limited mobility. Many obstacles can be affordably built out of wood and old tires to make the minimal expense when creating the course.

Creating a massive scavenger hunt for the groups to do can be a great team building exercise to offer businesses. You can have the items the groups hunt for strategically placed throughout the campground and they can be used again and again for different groups allowing you to only have to invest in the items that are hunted one time.  An added bonus of adding a scavenger hunt is that you can use it during your busy season with regular park guests.

It’s important to provide guests with comment cards that they can use to let you know what they think of the experience that they have had. Ensure that there is a place for them to include any suggestions for things that they think could be improved upon, so that you can take the suggestions into consideration for future company retreats.

Market your Campground for Team Building

• Visit your local Chambers of Commerce and introduce the ideas there.  It may even be worth joining to promote your ideas to their membership or hold a Chamber event at your Campground to introduce the events to other business owners.
• If you are within 60 miles from a larger area where many employers are located, consider doing direct mail to these companies or calling them.  You could even attend Chamber events in those cities to promote your campground.
• Companies who employ millennials should be great targets as their employees love to get out into nature and experience the outdoor settings that your campground provides.
• Promote Team Building events on your Facebook page and near your guest Check In areas.  You never know where your audience works.
• Offer incentive for your employees to spread the word.  If they refer someone who books a team building event at your campground, offer a reward.

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