Shoulder season

Definition

The weeks on either side of the peak, which decide whether the year clears its costs.

Why It Matters

Peak weeks sell themselves and the shoulder decides the year, because staff, utilities and debt service run in months the campground may be nearly empty. It is also the part a new owner can move, with events, longer-stay rates or a season that opens two weeks earlier. Ask for occupancy by week for two years and read the shoulder as the business, with the peak as the thing that pays for it.