When Sue and Roger Humphris arrived in Beechworth a dozen years ago to run their first business together, it was just them, the kids and a sprawling 10 acre caravan park in the Victorian high country. 

Now the kids have left home and the Lake Sambell Caravan Park Beechworth, which has been using the RMS property management system for the past decade, is a thriving business. 

“We started off running the park by ourselves and now have six full-time staff and five casuals with us,” says Sue. “It’s been a lot of hard work but rewarding.”

Their major focus has always been on customer service to generate positive word of mouth. 

“We believe in looking after your customer and they they will tell their mates about their experience.”

It’s a basic strategy that has really paid off over the long haul. 

“We have a high number repeat visitors and have found the business just keeps growing and growing.” 

Another growth catalyst has been allowing dog owners to bring their pets, an initiative they trialled during off-peak periods before introducing it throughout the year, including the Christmas holidays.

“We relaxed our no dog rule and it’s been just amazing – people want to travel with their dogs.” She says dog owners must keep their pets on a lead and under supervision at all times.

Beechworth has also proved to be an excellent location.

A gold mining town established in the 1850s, Beechworth went through a few lean years but is now one of Victoria’s coolest country towns, a regional tourism hotspot.

Visitors are attracted by its well-preserved historical streetscape, great pubs, restaurants and cool climate wineries. Tourism numbers are growing year on year.

“These inland towns are little gems and people love them,” says Sue. 

“Beechworth is a great town and more and more people are realising they don’t have to go to their coast for their holiday, they can also head inland. 

“There’s so much to do in a place like Beechworth and there’s also a great difference in cost to a coastal  holiday.”

RMS has been with Sue and Roger throughout their journey. “It’s a great system, I really like RMS,” says Sue. “We’ve had it for many years and it always keeps evolving.”

For Sue, the main thing is that RMS makes her job easier. Task such as such as client correspondence that used to take hours, now happen at press of a button.

“It saves us a lot of time,” she says.