Silverton lands KOA franchise

Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2001 | 10:50 a.m.

A former Nevada gaming executive is pulling an idea out of the Harrah's Entertainment Inc. playbook to lead his new company to a dominant position within the camping industry.

Jim Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Kampgrounds of America Inc., was in Las Vegas Tuesday to introduce colleagues to the company's newest franchisee -- the Silverton hotel-casino.

Both companies benefit from the franchise deal, which takes effect Jan. 1.

The Silverton, a 300-room property at Blue Diamond Road and Interstate 15, gets access to a database of 3.5 million tourists who enjoy traveling in recreational vehicles.

KOA, the industry leader with more than 500 campgrounds in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan, gets a new 460-unit RV park with an existing customer base and an attractive amenity -- a casino with more than 1,000 slot and video poker machines and 18 table games.

The company has about 250 to 300 employees at its 12 company-owned and -operated campgrounds and another 73 at corporate headquarters in Billings, Mont.

Rogers, a senior vice president and the general manager of Harrah's Reno for five years, is developing new ways to give customers added premiums with KOA's Value Kard, a loyalty program similar to the Harrah's Total Rewards card he became familiar with while working for Las Vegas-based Harrah's.

Holders of the Value Kard get a 10 percent discount on overnight stays at campgrounds. Twenty nights of visits in a year make a customer eligible for a KOA Gold Kard, which offers a 15 percent discount on stays. Rogers plans to develop more ways for cardholders to benefit, just like loyal slot players at Harrah's.

Rogers said the camping industry is prime for another boom period following the tragic times of 2001.

"There's a lot of social interaction when you travel in a motor home," Rogers said. "Families in an RV are all together, doing family things, telling stories and staying together. When you're parked at a campground, there's more camaraderie. People will come over and knock on the door and have a beer together."

The Sept. 11 attacks have brought people together spiritually, Rogers said, and many people see camping as a safe haven for family and friends. In addition, he thinks more people will take to America's roads because the price of gasoline is going down while frustration with airport lines is going up.

The Silverton's park will be the only KOA franchise in Las Vegas. KOA currently has a company-owned campground on Boulder Highway, just south of Desert Inn Road, but it will close April 1, considered the end of the camping season in Las Vegas. Rogers said the company doesn't have a buyer for the 23-acre parcel, but has real estate experts looking for one.

Mike Gast, director of communications for KOA, said the Silverton location is far more appealing to the company than the Boulder Highway site because the casino is part of the guest package.

"Out at the Boulder Highway location, we've had a shuttle bus take guests to nearby casinos," Gast said. "(At the Silverton), the casino is right there."

KOA approached Silverton officials about six months ago and General Manager Craig Cavileer said the more both sides studied it, the more the deal made sense.

"After researching the KOA brand and learning what they stand for, we thought there would be a significant upside," Cavileer said. "We knew that the Reno Hilton entered a deal with them and have been quite successful with it."

Cavileer said the RV park, known as the Silverton Gold RV Resort, has been a part of the hotel-casino property since it opened as Boomtown in 1994. The property took on the Silverton name in 1997. It is owned by Los Angeles real estate developer Edward Roski Jr., the owner of the Staples Center, and two of the arena's tenants, the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and the Los Angeles Kings hockey club.

Roski made an unsuccessful high-profile bid to acquire the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino for $365 million in 2000.

"We've always run the park as a profit center and we have found that RV owners are active players," Cavileer said.

The property has tied its loyalty program for casino players -- the Silverton Players Club -- to the RV park so that players can pay for their vehicle space during a stay by redeeming points.

"We often have people spend two or three weeks here at a time, using the park as a home base for travel all over the Southwest," Cavileer said. "They park here, go to the casino at night and travel to the Grand Canyon, Zion or Brian Head during the day."

With the KOA affiliation, the Silverton is expecting to draw international guests who participate in the Cruise America program, an RV rental business associated with KOA.

Rogers said Cruise America has 4,500 motor homes that frequently are rented by European tourists who like to visit Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and California in the same trip. Rogers said about 8 percent to 10 percent of KOA's customers are from overseas.