Campground Master

Excellent, user-friendly program

Opmerkingen: Campground Master is an easy to learn, user-friendly program. It is generally easy to fix any errors made while using the program.
It does have one or two "glitches" in the program that need to be addressed - one in the overall bookkeeping area. Generally, when checking someone out, the only transactions we need are to charge the customer for electric used and to issue a refund for the gate card that they return to us. We have found that we need to charge and put through the payment for electric first, then do the gate card return. We cannot simply put the electric charge on the account, then the gate card refund and charge the customer for the difference. If we do it this way, it messes up our end of the month bookkeeping because the program will not let us allocate these (separate the two charges) for the correct amounts. We get around it by doing the complete electric first (put the charge on the bill and also do the payment), and then doing the gate card return. It's annoying to have to do it this way, not to mention trying to get our various day managers to remember to do it that way. Another issue is that when managing a guest staying with a camper, if you mark them "checked in," in the "Manage Guests" program, and then later mark them "checked out," it still shows that they have a guest if you mouse over their name on the Rack. You can't get rid of the "+1." We get around this by never marking the guest as "checked in," we simply leave it as "pending." We put a note in the system that they were actually here, from "such and such" a date to "such and such" a date. When the guest leaves, we just go into "Manage Guests" and "cancel" the reservation. It would be nice, in using "Manage Guests" to be able to mark them "checked in" and "checked out" like we do with any normal reservation. These problems, however, are minor ones and can be worked around. Overall, I (and my day managers) feel that Campground Master is an excellent program. I definitely feel that it is the best program around for managing a campground and I would highly recomment it.

WE have loved the easy use of this program

Opmerkingen: We have really enjoyed the easy use of Campground Master. When we have had questions or concerns it has been easy to call or email them and get quick answers. The "Help" menu is awesome and we use it alot. The daily tips also teach my employees easier ways of using the programs.
*** Issues***I would like it to add monthly prices for our monthly guests because we have to do them manually. We haven't mastered it any other way yet. I am not a fan of the "Paid thru date". When we have long term guests and we extend them out the full year, if we put in a monthly price it will give us a price for paying a full year. If we put in a single monthly payment we have to remember the change the "paid thru date". When we have multiple accounts, and each one is so different it can get frustrating. I understand why its there, and I understand there are ways to work this but some employees have had a hard time learning that feature. We also have guests who have RV sites on a monthly basis plus storage. We know we can sinc the sites together but we still have to go to each individual account to print a receipt for each one. The other issue we have found is that when we have monthly residents, the receipts can get lengthy by the end of the year. We try to delete the previous year transactions each january to make these receipts print on less paper. However, when you delete this information it deletes it permanently. We would like to still have it saved but just not to where it will print so many pages. Another issue we have had is that if one person makes a reservation for 3 sites, we cannot have 2 different employees check them in at the same time if they are all under one name. Only one employee can check in this multiple reservation. Any helpful ideas or hints that would help us in these matters would be greatly appreciated.

Feel as a step child trying to use this program, this e-mail was even adressed to previous owner.

Opmerkingen: The manual is not enough for someone like me, with no previous training. It is too large and can be confusing. The basics that I did teach myself and others are great. It's trying to make changes to fit our needs and growing rv park. As a new park owner, it would help to have the same training or year help, as when first purchased. Even if there was a fee! I would like to use all programs that are available. But instead, I may be looking at other software for 2016.
It will be interesting to see if I get a reply or my issues addressed.
Thank you, New name Ancient Cedars @ Mesa Verde RV Resort

Outstanding Customer Service and Product

Opmerkingen: I would highly recommend this program for any park operator that wants a user friendly inexpensive program to manage their reservations.

Pluspunten:

I have been sold on this software from day one. When I was ready to computerize my reservations I researched several well known systems. I was having a lot of trouble getting anyone to answer question. When I called Cottonwood Software, Stan asked if we had a spot for his motor home in our park. He arrived two days later, downloaded his software on my computer and allowed me to use the program. Can't hardly beat that for customer service. It is very well though out for usability, functionality and stability. The few (and I mean few) problems I have had over the years have been handled very quickly, by the owner. Stan is able to do all of his own tech support because he has designed the program to be trouble free. The tech support is free, because you really do not need it. This program is designed with customization in mind. Most custom options can be done by myself or with just a phone call and minor adjustments to the program.

Minpunten:

ummmmm, Maybe Stan can figure a way for the program to answer the phone and take reservations for me..... Seriously, I have had no complaints since owning this software. I have been waiting a while to get the program integrated with friend communications for real time online reservations. That has taken longer than I would like to see as a customer, but it looks like is is nearly ready for beta testing

I have used this software for over 5 years. I feel there are pros and cons with it.

Opmerkingen: I have been using Campground Master for 5 years. It well exceeds my expectations where campground software is concerned. I have found it fairly easy to use and train other employees with. I enjoy some portions of the fluidity of the program.
With that being said there are a couple of things I would like to see changed.
1. Blocking sites....there should be a way to unblock a level of sites without having to do it day by day. I had an employee who was told to block off a site for 2 months so they did but when we needed to open it back up we had to go in and individually unblock EACH day which was very frustrating.
2. When payment information is put in and you close out the tab. If you need to go back in and change dates it does not change the new balance. You have to manually go in and delete the transaction and re apply your select rates. When days are changed it would be much less time consuming if the balance due changed automatically to reflect the new dates.