A life changing QR code solution for a motorhome area

This is a medium-sized camper area close to the Spanish-Portuguese border. The camper area has 18 pitches, all delimited with low plants. Each pitch has an electric outlet nearby. The camper area has a service area where campers can dispose gray and black water and fill up fresh water.

There is also a small toilet/shower block and a small reception/office where they sell some accessories, bake-off bread, and toilet products. Incoming visitors register and pay here.

There is a website where people can make a reservation, but less than 5% of visitors make a reservation on this motorhome area. The other 95% comes in (sometime after having called a couple of hours before to check if there are free pitches) and registers at the reception.

Even though the area has a reasonable average occupancy rate in all seasons, the business case of the motorhome area is still negative. The main cause is the labor cost. Someone needs to occupy the reception desk 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, which means that at least 2 people are required, and three would be even better. The owner also spends a lot of time answering those phone calls of people asking if there are free pitches.

The labor cost of all that is just too high to be profitable.

The camper area owner considered installing an automated acces system with a physical barrier and a payment system. That turned out to be expensive and the physical structure of the area would make it difficult to integrate in the surrounding. The owner also felt worried that campers would be stuck in front of the barrier when the system would not work for some reason.

The best option for the owner is to lower the running costs and to increase the average occuancy rate. Increasing the average number of nights that people stay would be the fastest way to grow. The bottom line is that lowering his operating costs and increase his revenue is what he needs to achieve.

• The reception desk is still there but it does not have to be open all the time, visitors can register and pay themselves at any time. The owner can now limit the opening hours of the reception to about 4 hours a day without loosing a customer and still be available to people. One person can now easily manage the motorhome area.
• There is no worry that arriving campers would be blocked when the system fails. They open the gate in the morning and it stays open until the evening. Campers drive in, pick a pitch and then register and pay in the Camprea app. The access to the toilet and shower block now requires a code to open the door, visitors receive their access code in the camprea app. In the same way, the camper area could also decide to integrate the opening of the gate if they would want to do so.
• They completely abandoned the reservation possibility, and camper travelers can now see the availability in almost real time on the website of the camper area. The number of calls that the owner needs to answer has decreased.
• In stead the owner has more resources to spend on other things, like being around on the site and chatting with visitors, asking them to leave good reviews, improve facilities and spend some effort in online marketing.
• Using the standard tools of camprea, he can increase his revenue by offering a bread service that doesn’t cost him a minute of his time. Visitors order bread in the camprea app, the order is forwarded to the bakery with whom he has a deal. The bakery delivers every morning and customers have a convenient way to get fresh bread in the morning. This contributes to the customer experience and the positive reviews.
• With the same tools, the owner can also communicate events or other promotions.
• Visitors appreciate that they don’t have to go through a lengthy registration procedure or wait at the reception. They drive in, choose a pitch, register and pay.

The choice for camprea allows the owner to improve customer satisfaction and his connection with his visitors. He also lowered his operating cost, and his efforts make people stay longer on average which in turn increases his revenue. He can spend more effort in customer experience which results in more and better reviews. The investment in camprea is only a fraction of what a traditional automation solution would have costed.