Wall Street Took Over Your Campground... And Prices May Never Be the Same

Show Notes for Episode #620  of The RV Podcast: Wall Street Took Over Your Campground

This is  Episode #620 of the RV Podcast.

And this week on the podcast:

COLD OPEN SOUNDBITE

MIKE In this episode's conversation, we'll dig into how Wall Street investment firms, REITs, and private equity are buying up America's family-owned campgrounds, and what that quietly means for you: higher rates, stricter rules, resort fees, and a front desk where nobody knows your name anymore.

JENNIFER And we'll hear from a two-generation family campground owner who Keep getting offers, say no, only to see the offers keep Coming, one of the holdouts in a consolidation wave reshaping where and how we camp.

Plus, we’ll share travel tips, answer your RV Questions and much more. This episode is being released on June 24, 2026 

MIKE Hello everybody and Welcome to the RV Podcast. I'm Mike Wendland, and this is my co-host, my lifelong traveling companion and my bride - Jennifer. Hello, My Dear.

JENNIFER Hello, My Michael, and this is the RV Podcast, Stories from the Road edition. You can find complete show notes for this episode at RVPodcast.com.

And remember, we release two episodes every week. This edition, Stories from the Road, focuses on the RV lifestyle, the people, places, and experiences that make life on wheels so special. Then every Monday, we bring you our RV News edition, covering the biggest stories of the week that impact your travels.

chit chat - what we’re up to

RV CONVERSATION OF THE WEEK - Wall Street Took Over Your Campground

INTRO (Read by Mike before the conversation begins)

There's a campground owner we talked to recently - a family operation, his wife, sons, some neighbors run the place - who got a letter in the mail. Not from a neighbor. Not from the county. From a Wall Street investment firm. They already knew what his park earned last year. They knew his property tax assessment. They made him an offer. And then, when he said no, they sent another one. Higher. Then another.

He's still holding on. But a lot of his fellow campground owners aren't. And tonight, Jennifer and I want to talk about what that means for you - every time you pull in somewhere and wonder why it feels different than it used to. Why the rates are higher. Why the rules are stricter. Why the person at the front desk doesn't know your name anymore.

We know of another campground, this one on Florida. Also family owned. We had actually planned an interview with the manager - he and his wife ran the place - to talk about camping etiquette. But when we called back to schedule it we learned they were no longer working there. The campground has been sold, to a big corporation.

And last week, as we camped at Campbell Cove RV Park and Resort in the Hocking Hills, another Mom and Pop run campground where we had our RVCommunity rally, we heard first hand just how much pressure private campground owners are under to sell.

We met the owner and his son. They’re not selling out. But a week doesn't go by that they’re not approached to do so.

It’s happening all over the country.

Wall Street took over your campground. Here's the story.

MIKE: Jen, I want to start with something that kind of stopped me cold when I read it. Right now, there are roughly fifteen to sixteen thousand RV parks and campgrounds in the United States. And what used to be a business dominated by families - mom-and-pop operations, people who lived on the property, knew your name, saved your favorite site - is being systematically bought up. Not by other families. By REITs. Real estate investment trusts. Private equity. Hedge funds that were buying self-storage units and apartment complexes and hotel chains, and then looked at our campgrounds and said, "that's next."

JENNIFER: And they're not wrong about the business case, right? Demand for campsites is through the roof. Over 81 million Americans went camping in 2024. More than half of campers in 2024 reported having trouble finding available sites because parks were already full. So from an investor's standpoint, you have a product with constrained supply and exploding demand. That's a gold mine.

MIKE: It absolutely is. And the two biggest players are companies called Equity LifeStyle Properties - they go by ELS - and Sun Communities, which owns Sun Outdoors. ELS alone has grown to over 450 properties and more than 170,000 sites across 35 states. Sun Communities owns interests in more than 500 properties in the U.S., Canada, and the UK. Five hundred. These are publicly traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange, answerable to shareholders every quarter. And that matters, because that's the thing that changes everything for you as a camper.

JENNIFER: Say more about that, because I think people don't always connect those dots.

MIKE: Here's the thing. When a family owns a campground, their goal is to run a good campground. Happy campers come back. Word of mouth drives the business. The owner might take $10 less a night from a family they know, because that family's been coming for twenty years and that relationship matters. When a REIT owns a campground, the goal is net operating income - NOI in the financial world. It's the profit the property generates divided by what they paid for it. Every decision - every single one - is made through that lens. What's the rate strategy? What's the cancellation policy? How many fees can we layer on? What rules do we enforce to reduce liability? Are there guests we can move out to make room for more profitable ones?

JENNIFER: And we are genuinely seeing all of that play out in real time. The rate increases are staggering. Just five or six years ago, a full-hookup site at a decent private park ran you maybe $35 to $45 a night. Today, the national range for a full-hookup private site is $45 to $85 a night for standard parks. And destination "resort" parks - many of them corporate-owned - are charging $80 to $160 or more. One recent pricing index tracked the 90th percentile hitting $210 a night. Per night. For a campsite.

MIKE: The owners of Campbell Cove in the Hocking Hills - a family-owned operation - described the pressure almost like a siege. They said buyers had approached them multiple times. They come in with offers high enough to make your head turn, because the money is real.

But Roger, the owner, isn't selling. He told us that he called his family and told them one of their more recent offers. He said to his sons, “each of you will get a million dollars. I’ll keep $3 million.” He said they deserve to know what it would mean. But the family decision was firm. No way, they all said. The campground meant too much to them. The campers they have relationships with meant too much to them. They’re not selling.

Here’s a short excerpt of Our interview with Hobie Shaw, one of the sons who manages the Campbell Cove RV Resport and Campground:

PLAY

JENNIFER: We really enjoyed our stay at Campbell Cove and are delighted they aren’t selling. Because once a Mom and Pop campground gets gobbled up by a Wall Street Corporation, the rules change immediately. We've all heard about the ten-year rule by now - the policy at many corporate-owned and upscale parks that bans any RV older than ten years from staying there. If your rig is eleven years old and in perfect shape? Sorry. And the thing about that rule is it's entirely legal. These are private businesses. They can set whatever standards they want. But when a family owned that park, the owner looked at your rig, talked to you for two minutes, and made a human judgment. Now it's a form on a website.

MIKE: And the fees. There's a phenomenon happening that anyone who's booked a campsite recently knows well. Resort fees. Online booking fees. Pet fees. Extra vehicle fees. Holiday surcharges. One site we looked at for research showed a $75 advertised rate that became $96 after a $10 resort fee, a $6 booking fee, and 12 percent lodging tax. That's 28 percent on top of the listed price. And by the way, 64 percent of private parks raised their main-season rates in 2023 over 2022. Sixty-four percent. That's not the parks saying rates were too low - that's the parks saying demand is so high we can charge whatever we want, and you will pay it, because there is nowhere else to go.

JENNIFER: Because there really isn't. Development has not kept pace with demand. Only about five percent of park operators planned to open a new park. Campbell Cove, by the way, is staying family owned but tey ATE opening a second park, just up the road. Theyre the exception. The campground supply is growing at maybe one percent a year. So when corporate buyers outbid family owners - and brokers Who specialize in these campgrtound sales say many parks they sold Go into a "crazy bidding process" with institutional money pushing prices over asking - those parks don't come back into family hands. That inventory is gone.

MIKE: I want to be fair here, because there's a real counterargument. Some of these corporate operators do genuinely upgrade parks that were deteriorating. They put in better WiFi, paved roads, new bathhouses, pools, pickleball courts. And some RVers love that. They want the resort experience. Nobody forced them to camp.

JENNIFER: That's true. And We don't want to romanticize every mom-and-pop operation either. Some of them were genuinely run-down. The electric was unreliable, the bathrooms were awful. Some family-owned parks needed investment that the family simply couldn't make. So it's not a simple story of good guys and bad guys.

MIKE: But here's what I keep coming back to. RVBusiness ran a story a while back that reported one campground broker said - and I'm going to quote this directly - "hands-on owner/operators are buying fewer and fewer of the parks we have sold. Investment firms are now gobbling up the majority of resorts and campgrounds." And another broker said, "I've never seen such a flood of REITs, private equity, and high-net-worth individuals coming into the outdoor hospitality space." So yes, corporate can mean better amenities. But it also means dynamic pricing. It means cancellation policies that favor the house. It means the person running the park is an employee with a quota, not an owner with a relationship. And it means that when the fund needs to hit its return targets, rates go up. Not because anything changed at the campground. Because a spreadsheet in Chicago said so.

JENNIFER: And the thing that really gets me is what's happening to the identity of camping itself. One of the things that has always made RVing different from staying in a hotel is the community. The neighbors. The guy two sites over who tells you about a great spot he found. The owner who remembers you from three years ago. That is being engineered out of the experience. Corporate parks run on throughput. Get guests in, get them out, maximize revenue per site. The community campfire culture doesn't fit neatly into a NOI model.

MIKE: So what can we actually do about it? Because I don't want to just leave people feeling helpless here.

JENNIFER: The first thing is intentional choosing. Seek out family-owned parks. Look at the ARVC directory - that's the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds - and look for independent operators. The more you can route your dollars to independent operators, the longer those operators can hold on.

MIKE: And join communities where people share this kind of intelligence. Our own RVCommunity.com members do this constantly - people posting about parks they love, parks they'll never go back to, family-owned gems they found. That collective knowledge is worth real money. The reviews on the big booking platforms are often gamed. Real community knowledge is not.

JENNIFER: And honestly, if you find a family campground you love - spend money there. Book ahead. Send people there. Leave them a real review. Write them a note. These owners are under real financial pressure every single time a buyer comes calling, and knowing their regulars care is part of what keeps them in it.

MIKE: Roger and Hobie - the  campground owners we talked to last week? They said the best defense They have against selling is a list of families who come back every year. That list is Their reason to hold on. Be on somebody's list.

BREAK  - RV Overnights

MIKE: Hey, if you are like us, you are getting a little worn out paying top dollar for crowded corporate RV parks. We just spent the last few minutes talking about Wall Street buying up campgrounds and what that means for your wallet. So here is something that goes in exactly the opposite direction.

JENNIFER: RVOvernights.com. Mike and I keep coming back to this one because it is everything we just talked about wanting more of. Real people. Real places. Individual hosts who actually want you there.

MIKE: One of our favorite stays was at a bison ranch in Indiana. Real bison, right outside the RV window. Huge animals. Absolutely incredible. And that is just one example. They have got wineries, farms, museums, even a lavender field. All over the country. Canada, too. Places you will never find in any campground directory.

JENNIFER: And it is genuinely easy to use. Pull up the interactive map, see what is available along your route, book your overnight. Done. No digging around, no guessing.

MIKE: The whole thing is just $49 for an entire year. And right now they are offering our listeners 40% off with promo code RVLDEAL. After more than 15 years on the road, we do not recommend something unless we actually use it ourselves. This one we keep coming back to.

Head to RVLifestyle.com/rvovernights and use promo code RVLDEAL to save 40%.

RV QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK

We get lots of email, some to both, some to me (Mike) and some to Jen. We like to always start wirth someone seeking Jennifer’s Know-How and that leads us to this week’s first question.

QUESTION: This question is for Jennifer and comes from Linda, from New Mexico: “Jennifer, your knee surgery is coming up. How are you feeling about it, and about getting back out on the road afterward? I ask because I have a similar operation in early August.”

ANSWER: Here's the all-Jennifer version, no Mike. ASCII only, no em dashes.

JENNIFER: So a lot of you have been asking, and yes, my knee surgery is coming up in just two weeks now. I'm feeling a mix of things, to be honest. I'm ready to have it done. This knee has been slowing me down for a while, and if you know me at all, you know I don't like being slowed down. But I won't pretend I'm not a little nervous about the recovery. They're telling me six weeks before I'm really back to myself, and six weeks feels like a long time when you're used to setting up camp and hiking and chasing Bo around.

And people ask where I'm going to spend all that recovery time. Right here at our home base in southwest Michigan. There's something comforting about that. I know folks sometimes forget that Mike and I aren't full-timers. We travel hard, we put on a lot of miles, but we have a home to come back to. And this is one of those times I'm grateful for it. I get to heal in my own space, in my own bed, with everything familiar around me. The Beauty will be waiting for us when I'm ready to roll again.

Here's something I'm actually a little excited about. You're finally going to get to see that home base this week. We've shared so much of the road over the years, but we've kept the home pretty private. This Saturday's video changes that. We're going to walk you through where we actually live when we're not out exploring, the place I'll be recovering these next six weeks.

Am I a little nervous about showing it? A few butterflies, sure. It's personal. But after fifteen years of inviting all of you along on this journey, it felt strange to keep the home base a secret. So watch for that one this Saturday. And to everyone who has already sent such kind words about the surgery, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will be back on the road before you know it in time for our fall Rally in the Smoky Mountains.

QUESTION: Here’s a question for you, Mike, from Larry T. “It seems that every major problem I have had has been the result of operator error. I am willing to own up to it. Tell me it gets better. This week I pulled out of our campground with my 30-amp power cord still attached to the electric box. No serious damage to the rig or the campground panel, but I need to get a new power cord now. Where do I go?

ANSWER: It depends on what kind of connector your RV uses.

If your shore power cord simply pulled out of the RV, you probably have a standard twist-lock or detachable power cord connection. Many newer RVs use a SmartPlug system, which locks firmly into the side of the RV and is much less likely to accidentally come loose. If yours had been a SmartPlug and it somehow got yanked out, you likely would have seen some damage to the RV's power inlet.

Most large camping stores carry replacement power cords and connectors. Amazon also has a huge assortment here:

​https://amzn.to/43Km4Fg​

Just make sure you match the replacement connector to the type of inlet currently installed on your RV.

If you do have a SmartPlug system and need a replacement cord, eTrailer is an excellent source:

​https://www.etrailer.com/​

Situations like this are a good reminder that many RV problems aren't major mechanical failures. They're often simple operator errors, forgotten steps, missed checklists, or things we get distracted and overlook during setup or departure.

That's exactly why we created Camp Buddy - https://rvlifestyle.com/campbuddy​

It is an app you can put on your phoe, tablet, computer any a=device that has detailed checkists for departing and setting up Camp. All the key things you need to check off - like unlugging the electric cable. And it’s customizable. You can add your own items. Really, using a checklist is critical to avoiding those operator errors. This is the one we use. Again, it’s at RVLifestyle.com/campbuddy.

Don't feel bad. After years on the road, Jen and I realize that even experienced RVers make mistakes when they're tired, distracted, or in a hurry. We've all been there

By the way, Larry’s question came in through our daily newsletter. If you don't know about that, we send out a newsletter every single day by 7:30 AM filled with news, tips and helpful RV info. Absolutely free. You can subscribe at RVLifestyle.com/newsletter.

JENNIFER: And If you have a question for us, you can send The through the CONTACT link at RVPodcast.com.

MIKE: Thanks so much for listening! If you enjoyed today’s episode, we’d love it if you could take a moment to leave us a kind review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you’re tuning in. Your feedback helps us grow and reach more listeners just like you.

Jennifer: Happy Trails!

ROLL CREDITS from RVCommunity.com Roadmasters