Each year at our spring operations meeting Dr. Vince Magnini (Professor at Virginia Tech's Pamplin School of Business, in Hospitality and Tourism Management), presents his analysis of the previous year's Your Comments Count Survey.

Survey results continuously tell us the importance our trails have to our visitors

2014 was the first year of our online survey and thanks to the online survey and emails I send each week to customers who complete their visits the previous week, we received 40% more surveys than last year. Even more importantly, the online format allows us to better track specific written comments.

What does that mean? When we asked the General Assembly for special funding to replace furniture in our old cabins, we were able to pull specific comments from customers that demonstrated why this was essential. The new furniture will be installed before the end of 2015.

Even with the surge in surveys, our biggest measure of success, that Vince tells us would be the envy of any hotel chain, is that 98% of our customers would recommend the park to a friend. We did collect more information from campers. 

We still feel our day use visitors are under represented in the survey so if you visit our parks on a regular basis, please take the time to complete our survey form.

What do we do with the surveys?

We have one person tasked with the initial review of all surveys. She reads them and any survey with significant negative comments or serious issue is marked "Attention." She can also quickly share with our Customer Service Center Manager, Law Enforcement Manager, or Interpretive management. I read every survey marked "Attention" and decide whether I need to email a response or contact the park for details on a response or to advise them of a serious situation. Concurrently the park staff has access to read and review the surveys that are submitted on their park.

We make positive changes as a result of your comments and need this feedback to continually improve our offerings and the experience our visitors have in our parks. So please complete a Your Comments Count survey when you next visit a Virginia State Park.