KOA - Virginia Exemption

The vendor opportunity at KOA

KOA operates 481 campgrounds across the United States, with 432 of those units owned by franchisees and 49 run by the company. For a software vendor, the addressable market is those 432 franchised locations—each one bound by a franchise agreement that mandates specific technology systems. The initial franchise term is only 5 years, and the renewal conditions explicitly require franchisees to upgrade their park to comply with the franchisor’s then-current standards. That creates a recurring, system-wide refresh cycle that vendors can time their outreach around.

Average unit volume is not disclosed in the most recent FDD, but the royalty rate sits at 8.0% of gross revenue, signaling a meaningful top line per location. The system is independently owned; no parent company appears on file. This is a pure-play lodging franchisor with a centralized technology mandate, which means a single sale to HQ can unlock deployment across the entire network.

Who controls software purchasing

Software purchasing authority sits at the headquarters level. The FDD lists Toby L. O’Rourke as Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and Christopher S. Fairlee as Chief Operating Officer. These two executives form the core of the buying center for operational technology. Christopher A. Scheer, the Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary, likely controls the budget approval process. Mark A. Lemoine, Senior Vice President of Franchise Operations, is the executive closest to the franchisees and the one who would evaluate how a new software system impacts day-to-day campground operations.

There is no operator footprint mapped in our corpus, meaning we cannot identify multi-unit franchisees who might influence purchasing decisions from the franchisee side. The decision-making structure appears to be strictly top-down from the franchisor.

Mandated and current tech stack

KOA’s Item 11 technology mandates are specific and comprehensive. The franchisor requires every location to run a Campground Management System, and it names two approved platforms: eKamp and KampSight, also referred to as K2. These are the operational backbone of every KOA franchise, handling reservations, site management, and guest check-in.

Beyond the property management layer, KOA mandates a full payment processing stack. This includes a payment processing device, payment processing software, and a payment processor. The specific vendors for the payment stack are not named in the FDD extract available to us, which represents either a gap in our corpus or a deliberate omission by the franchisor. Vendors selling payment solutions, point-of-sale upgrades, or integrated processing should investigate whether KOA uses a single designated processor or maintains a list of approved providers.

For software vendors, the mandate structure creates two distinct opportunities. First, any system that integrates with or improves upon eKamp/K2 must win HQ approval. Second, the mandated-but-unnamed payment stack suggests there may be room for competitive displacement if the current vendor relationship is not exclusive.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The formal Item 8 procurement signal is not available in our extract, so we cannot confirm whether KOA operates a designated-supplier model, an approved-supplier list, or an open procurement process. The fact that specific systems are mandated by name in Item 11 strongly suggests a designated-supplier approach for the campground management system. Vendors should request the full FDD to review Item 8 before building a pitch.

Renewal timing is a critical lever for software sales. The initial franchise term is 5 years, and the Item 17 renewal conditions are demanding. A franchisee must be in full compliance, give written notice, upgrade the park to current standards, satisfy all monetary obligations, sign a general release, and sign the then-current form of the franchise agreement. Critically, that new agreement may contain materially different terms, including a reduction in territory size or no protected territory at all. This hard reset at renewal is a natural moment for technology re-evaluation, and vendors who align their outreach with a franchisee’s renewal window can position their product as part of the required upgrade.

How to read the KOA FDD

The 2026 KOA Franchise Disclosure Document is the definitive source for every fact on this page. It contains the full Item 11 technology mandates, the complete Item 17 renewal conditions, and the Item 8 procurement rules that determine how a software vendor gets approved. The embedded PDF viewer below hosts the document. We recommend starting with Item 11 to understand the mandated tech stack, then moving to Item 8 to map the procurement process, and finally reviewing Item 17 to build a renewal-triggered sales timeline. For a ranked target list of KOA franchisees sorted by renewal date and technology fit, reach out to FranCloud.