How Do RV Parks Actually Make Money?
RV parks make money three ways: renting sites, renting other things, and selling stuff and services to the people already on the property. That's it. The businesses that do well simply layer all three instead of relying on one.
Site Rental Income: The Core Engine
This is the foundation. It comes in three flavors, and each behaves differently.
- Transient (nightly) stays. These are travelers passing through. Rates typically run $35 to $75 a night depending on market and amenities, sometimes higher near national parks or coastal areas in peak season. Transient revenue is the most volatile because it's tied to tourism seasons, gas prices, and weather.
- Monthly stays. These are workers, snowbirds, or long-term residents. Monthly rates often land between $450 and $900. Occupancy here is stickier, but the rate per night is lower once you do the math, usually $15 to $30 a night equivalent.
- Seasonal stays. Common in colder climates, these run 3 to 6 months and split the difference between transient rates and monthly discipline.
The tradeoff is simple. Transient guests pay more per night but leave gaps in the calendar. Monthly guests fill the calendar but at a lower rate. Most well-run parks blend the two, using monthly tenants to cover fixed costs and transient traffic to capture upside during peak months.
Ancillary Revenue: The Margin Booster
This is where a lot of investors underestimate the opportunity. A park that only rents sites is leaving money on the table. Ancillary income typically includes:
- General store sales (snacks, ice, firewood, RV supplies)
- Propane refills
- Laundry facilities
- Premium wifi or cable packages
- Golf cart or bike rentals
- Activity fees, like pool access or fishing permits
- Cabins and glamping units. A single glamping tent or small cabin can rent for $80 to $200 a night, often at higher margins than a standard RV site since the build-out cost is spread over more nightly revenue.
- Storage. Boat, RV, and vehicle storage on unused acreage can generate steady income with almost no operating cost.
- Event space. Weddings, reunions, and small gatherings can bring in a few thousand dollars per event with minimal added labor.
Individually these are small. A propane sale might net $10. A laundry cycle might bring in $4. But across a 100 site park with decent turnover, ancillary revenue commonly adds 5% to 15% of total gross revenue, and the margins on these items are often better than the margin on the site rental itself, since there's no debt service tied directly to a bag of ice.
Diversifying Beyond RV Sites
The more sophisticated operators are adding revenue streams that don't require an RV at all.
These additions matter because they change the risk profile of the whole property. A park that only sells RV sites lives and dies by RV travel trends. A park with cabins, storage, and event space has multiple, less correlated income sources.
How It All Adds Up, and What to Watch
On the operating side, expense ratios for RV parks typically run 35% to 45% of gross revenue, covering utilities, payroll, insurance, repairs, and marketing. That means a park grossing $800,000 a year might net $450,000 to $520,000 before debt service. Larger parks with more amenities can push expense ratios higher because of added staffing and maintenance, but they also tend to command higher rates and occupancy, which can offset the cost.
A few honest caveats. Occupancy is rarely 100% and shouldn't be underwritten that way. A stabilized park often runs 55% to 70% average annual occupancy once you blend peak season with shoulder months. Seasonality can be brutal in northern markets, where five months of the year might generate 70% of annual revenue. And ancillary income sounds great on paper but requires someone actually managing the store, the laundry room, and the golf cart fleet. That's labor, and labor is often the hardest cost to control in this business.
The parks that perform best over time aren't the ones with the flashiest amenities. They're the ones that treat site rental as the base, ancillary sales as the margin layer, and diversified offerings like storage or cabins as the stability layer. If you're evaluating a deal, ask how revenue breaks down across these categories before you look at anything else. A park that's 100% transient nightly stays is a different risk than one with a 60/40 split between monthly and transient guests plus a working store and 20 storage units out back.
At Invest With Zac, this kind of revenue breakdown is exactly what we walk through with investors before any capital moves, because the mix matters more than the top line number on a pro forma.
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