Field Notes
Practical guides on running a small campground — bookings, pricing, payments, and the trade-offs nobody puts in the brochure.
October 10, 2026
Seasonal sites promise guaranteed revenue but cap your upside. How to run the math, choose which sites to convert, and write a contract that protects the park.
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October 8, 2026
Remote workers stay longer and fill midweek nights — if your Wi-Fi holds a video call. What 'work-ready' actually means, what it costs, and when it isn't worth it.
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October 6, 2026
Club cards come out at every check-in. Here's what a 10% discount actually costs a small campground, which discounts earn their keep, and a simple policy that ends counter negotiations.
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October 3, 2026
Phone calls still bring in roughly a quarter of campground bookings. The fix isn't forcing guests online — it's landing every channel on one calendar.
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October 1, 2026
Guests arrive when the drive ends, not when the office is open. How a small campground runs arrival day with pre-arrival info, paid-in-full bookings, and a simple late-arrival routine.
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September 29, 2026
Future bookings, stored cards, and guest history don't move on their own. A step-by-step plan for changing reservation systems — and the month you'll run both.
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September 26, 2026
Opening next year's calendar too early locks in this year's prices; too late and your regulars book elsewhere. A practical framework for timing the release.
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September 22, 2026
Most small parks send one email — the receipt. Here are five messages that cut phone calls, no-shows, and empty midweek sites, and how to automate them without sounding canned.
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September 17, 2026
Short-notice cancellations are rising heading into 2026. How a small campground turns canceled nights back into bookings — with a waitlist that doesn't eat your day.
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September 15, 2026
How a small campground should handle rain, smoke, and storm cancellations — when to refund in full, when to hold the line, and why camp credit beats cash in the gray zone.
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September 8, 2026
When listing on Hipcamp or The Dyrt helps a small campground, what it really costs, and how to turn marketplace guests into direct repeat bookers.
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September 5, 2026
Family reunions and RV rallies want your park in 2026. How to price, deposit, and hold sites for a group booking without giving away your best weekend.
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September 3, 2026
Cabins and glamping tents can earn two to three times what an RV site does — and cost real money to build, clean, and insure. How to run the numbers before you pour a pad.
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September 1, 2026
Occupancy split by day type, revenue per available night, lead time, cancellations, and repeat share: a 20-minute monthly ritual that tells a small park what to fix.
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August 29, 2026
Occupancy is flat and trips are getting shorter. Here's how a small campground grows revenue per stay with add-ons — and where an add-on turns into a junk fee.
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August 27, 2026
Most small campgrounds undercharge out of fear. Here's the break-even math on a rate increase, where to raise first, and how to keep your repeat guests when you do.
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August 22, 2026
A practical playbook for extending your campground season: who actually books in April and October, which sites to keep open, how to price them, and when closing on time is the smarter call.
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August 20, 2026
Big parks charge $5–$20 for guests to lock a specific site. At 30 sites, the math flips: why letting guests pick for free can be a small campground's edge.
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August 18, 2026
Two-night minimums protect peak weekends — until they start emptying them. When to require a minimum stay, when to drop it, and how to rescue orphan nights.
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August 15, 2026
Repeat guests book direct, cancel less, and cost nothing to win back — if you actually own their contact info. How a small park builds a base of regulars without a marketing budget.
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August 13, 2026
What actually happens when a guest disputes a campground charge, why most disputes trace back to three preventable causes, and the paper trail that wins them.
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August 8, 2026
Monthly RV guests can be your steadiest revenue or your best sites at half price. How to price long-term stays, handle electric and taxes, and say yes safely.
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August 4, 2026
Two rigs, one site, six o'clock on a Friday. The four gaps that actually cause campground double-bookings — and what closing them costs you in flexibility.
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August 1, 2026
Most small parks owe two kinds of tax on a nightly stay, and the rules change by county. Here's how to set it up once, collect it cleanly, and file without dread.
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July 30, 2026
Your weekends are full and your Tuesdays are dead. Here's how small parks turn midweek vacancy into revenue with pricing, longer stays, and after-hours booking.
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July 25, 2026
A practical guide to setting a deposit policy for a small campground or RV park — three common models, when to refund, and the trade-off nobody mentions.
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July 21, 2026
How money actually moves from a guest's card to your bank account — processing costs, payout timing, chargebacks, and the questions to ask any booking software vendor.
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July 18, 2026
Campers are deciding days out, not months. What shorter booking windows mean for a small park — and how to capture the guest who books Thursday night for Friday.
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July 16, 2026
No-shows cost you the peak weekends you can least afford to lose. Here's how small parks cut them with deposits, reminders, and a card on file.
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July 9, 2026
You don't migrate a campground to online bookings in one heroic weekend. You do it in five small evenings, in this order, while the binder keeps working.
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July 9, 2026
Guests blame the campground for the service fee at checkout, but owners rarely see a cent of it. Where booking fees actually go, why platforms love them, and what they quietly cost a small park.
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July 8, 2026
The sticker price is the smallest number involved. Here are the four pricing models used across the industry, where each one hides its real cost, and a five-minute way to compare them for your park.
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July 8, 2026
A good cancellation policy isn't strict or lenient — it's written down, shown before payment, and enforced the same way every time. A template and the reasoning behind each line.
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July 7, 2026
You don't need a dynamic pricing engine to stop leaving money on the table. Three seasons, two rules, and one annual review will capture most of the upside.
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July 1, 2026
CampSpot is built for large parks and resorts. If you run 10–100 sites, here's an honest look at what you actually need, what the big platforms cost, and which alternatives fit.
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June 24, 2026
You don't need a marketplace listing, a channel manager, or a percentage fee on every stay to take reservations online. Here's the simplest setup that works for parks under 100 sites.
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