U. S. winter migrants' park community attributes: An importance–performance analysis

•Winter migrants' most preferred attributes of RV/mobile home parks were examined.•Winter migrants were satisfied with friendliness and having friends in their park.•Effects on park recommendation were used in the importance–performance analysis.•Infrastructure issues most impact park recommendation for winter migrants.

North American seasonal migrants, who are usually retired, typically live in recreational vehicle/mobile home park communities in the southern U. S. during the winter months. This study examines the importance of specific park characteristics in the park selection process and uses the case of winter migrants in south Texas to demonstrate how parks may use a modified approach of importance–performance analysis and the promoter–detractor methodology to assess how well the parks perform on selected attributes. The analysis of survey responses from 1429 winter Texans categorized attributes based on the attributes' impact range and asymmetrical impact on park recommendation likelihood. Overall, seasonal migrants based their choice of location for their winter home largely on physical appearance (e.g., cleanliness) and affect (i.e., friendliness and caring management). Wireless Internet access and low rates were also of high importance. But park recommendation likelihood varies depending on the migrants' satisfaction with important attributes' performance.