At A Glance
Whether you're running a resort, a campground, or a sprawling event venue, keeping your team connected can be slow and frustrating. The bigger your property, the bigger the challenge of keeping staff communication seamless and guests happy.
Riverbend Campground & Canoe Rental in Omer, Michigan, spread across more than 30 acres of dense woodland along the Rifle River, knew this problem well. They needed instant, reliable staff communication to handle spontaneous requests and unexpected problems, even in the most remote locations.
Riverbend found its answer in Motorola Solutions' WAVE PTX and push-to-talk TLK 100 radios.
The integration of WAVE PTX with TLK 100 radios combined the broad coverage of a cellular network with the reliability and durability of two-way radios. No matter the distance, staff stayed connected and were better able to provide responsive, outstanding service.
Meet Riverbend Campground
Tucked into the woodlands of north-east Michigan, along the scenic Rifle River, Riverbend Campground & Canoe Rental spans 32 acres and features 100 campsites, offering guests a true wilderness experience complete with hiking, camping, canoeing, kayaking, and tubing.
Visitors rent equipment directly from Riverbend and rely on the staff to handle all transportation and logistics of getting to and from designated launch sites. But the same off-the-grid setting that delights guests is exactly what made communication challenging for staff.
The Challenge: Outdoor Communication Failures
Riverbend's stunning woodland setting presented a real-time communication hurdle that many outdoor and wide-ranging hospitality properties face. At any given moment, staff were spread across the main office, the bus, and the river with dense woodland in between.
"People would get to the river after renting a canoe and they’d see somebody else’s tube that we offer, and say ‘hey, we didn’t realize that your tubes had bottoms in it, can we switch to that’ There was no way to communicate back to the campground where all the equipment was stored and ask them to bring tubes out instead of the canoe that we already had there."
– Tom Mason, Owner, Riverbend Campground & Canoe Rental
The river’s remote location and obstructive tree cover left staff with no viable options. They had to make special trips back to the main office, track down the right person, return the unwanted equipment, and retrieve the new choice, all while guests waited, a recipe for delays and frustration.
The Solution: WAVE PTX and TLK 100 Radios Deliver
What is the best staff communication system for a campground? For outdoor hospitality properties managing staff across rugged terrain and remote off-site locations, the answer should be built for range, reliability, and simplicity.
Riverbend found all three in Motorola Solutions' WAVE PTX, integrated with TLK 100 radios.
Here is what the hospitality technology delivered:
Ease of Use and Durability—The TLK 100 radios were a natural fit for Riverbend's rugged environment and for the staff. Simple, intuitive controls meant zero training burden and instant adoption. Beyond its user-friendliness, TLK 100’s compact, rugged form also withstands the rough handling that comes with life in a campground.
Instant, Team-Wide Communication—WAVE PTX is the engine behind the TLK 100 radios. The carrier-independent broadband push-to-talk platform automatically switches between available 3G/4G networks to find the strongest signal regardless of Riverbend’s terrain, tree cover, or remote location. The result is instant, crystal-clear communication across every acre of the property at the press of a single button.
Cost Certainty—Seasonal businesses live and die by cost predictability. For Riverbend, WAVE PTX's single flat-rate subscription meant no usage-based call charges, no surprise bills at the end of the month, and no guessing when planning next season's budget.
The Results: Reliable, Real-Time Staff Communication
The sign at Riverbend's entrance reads "Your Vacation Starts Here." For that promise to hold, seamless staff communication couldn't stop.
The results were immediate. From the moment the WAVE PTX and TLK 100 radios were deployed, Riverbend's team connected across every acre.
“With WAVE PTX and TLK 100 radios, we can just communicate back and forth while working—there’s no wait time.”
Now every employee carries a radio with easy-to-use controls. When a guest wants a last-minute change, the entire team hears it simultaneously, and whoever can help responds instantly, from anywhere on the property.
Want the Full Riverbend Story?
What Hospitality Properties Learn From Riverbend:
Riverbend's story isn't unique. Any property with staff spread across large, complex locations faces the same core challenge and the same consequences when communication breaks down. Resorts, golf courses, event venues, and outdoor recreation operators nationwide deal with this every season.
The lessons from Riverbend are straightforward and transferable:
First, your communication system has to match your environment, not the other way around. Riverbend’s landscape, foliage, and property layout affected signal performance in ways that only a proper on-site evaluation can uncover.
Second, the right system simplifies operations rather than adding complexity. The TLK 100's push-to-button simplicity meant Riverbend's staff adopted it immediately with no training burden. When a communication tool is easy to use, people use it.
Third, a one communication subscription model ensures cost predictability when budgeting. Riverbend now operates on a single WAVE PTX subscription with no unplanned usage-based charges. Knowing exactly what your communication system costs every month, regardless of usage, makes financial planning significantly easier.
Finally, the value of a trusted local partner cannot be overstated. Having a partner who walks your property, understands your specific challenges, installs the system correctly, and remains accountable after the project closes is what separates a communication upgrade from a communication transformation.
Is Your Property Ready for a Communication Upgrade?
Communication gaps on large, complex, or remote properties are more common than most operators realize, and they're almost always solvable with the right assessment and the right system.
ChiComm believes that no two properties have the same layout, obstacles, or communication needs. What works at a suburban hotel won't necessarily work across 32 acres of Michigan woodland. Real-world deployments have to account for conditions that arise before a single device is ever installed.
We serve hospitality, outdoor recreation, and property operations teams across Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. From the initial walk-through to ongoing support that continues after installation, ChiComm brings the expertise and technology to deliver reliable, seamless coverage across your entire property.
