Wisconsin Campground Owners Conference is Underway – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
Lori Severson, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of Campground Owners (WACO), told Woodall’s Campground Magazine (WCM), a sister publication of RVBusiness, that the annual convention and trade show has been a busy one so far, with more attendees than the show in 2023.
While the tradeshow ended with a figure slightly below the 2023 total, Severson noted that is because they offered some larger spaces to other vendors.
“We are still very pleased with everyone that is here,” she explained. “There is a wide variety of vendors here and plenty of energy.”
On Thursday (March 14), the conference hosted a wide variety of educational sessions, including an OHI — formerly the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds — update, a legislative session, updates from state officials and more.
One session featuring a panel of experts led by Anders Helquist, a lawyer with CSAW Associates, tackled the issue of employee tipping and how to handle tips so that it doesn’t create dissent among staff members.
One park owner relayed that he got tired of taking the time to split up tips during the day — something he had to do multiple times a day — so he created a system where all tips go into the register and then he counts the register at the end of every day, sees who worked and how long they worked and then divides the tips up accordingly.
“All of the extra money in the register beyond what is owed to me goes to the employees,” he noted. “I divide the tips based on the percentage of time they work and many of my employees are making more money based on this system. It also encourages the employees to get after other people who aren’t picking up their share of the load. The people who work earlier in the day are also more excited because they realize they are going to get a fair share of the tips for the entire day.”
One other owner noted that she looks at customers’ tabs and divvies up the tips based on the people who took care of that customer.
Of course, another hot topic was how owners report tips on their tax forms. One owner noted that you don’t report tips under $20, but that if an employee makes over $20 in tips that it has to be reported and taxed. Another owner said that all tips left on a credit card are then placed on an employee’s paycheck because they have to be reported.
Many people in the room highlighted the fact that tips are more customary and that learning how to handle tips is important since campers want to leave tips.
Another session on Thursday dove into finding new employees. Severson led this session with the help of Kiley Smith, an experienced work camper. Severson led off the session chatting about J1 students and how to get the best out of that program.
Severson highlighted how J1 students can provide some additional help during peak times, are usually at the park most of the day, so they are available quickly and seem to love more hours and even a longer work schedule. Some of the negatives include the short training period they have, the need for housing and potential travel.
“It is important when working with J1 students to think about the positions you want them in and how long it will take to train them,” she said. “Also, when you interview them, make sure you do it over Zoom so that you can understand how well they know English.”
On the work camper side, Smith noted that it is important to understand that the demographics are getting younger, with younger families enjoying the lifestyle more.
Today, the tradeshow kicks off, along with more educational sessions and networking events. The show wraps up on Sunday.
To learn more about the conference, click here.
To see the 2024 WACO conference program, click here.
