Campground Management Software

With such a large number of sites available within a single campground or RV park, it can be difficult for site managers to properly handle each site and its guests without exhausting park staff.

With campground management software, companies are able to streamline administrative processes such as guest reservations and invoicing, allowing site staff to focus on other duties and ultimately improving the overall guest experience.

This guide will help you understand what campground management is, as well as the various factors that must be considered when choosing a campground management solution.

Here’s what we'll cover:

• What is campground management software?
• Common features of campground management software
• What type of buyer are you?
• Benefits of campground management software
• Key considerations for purchasing campground management software
• Market trends to understand

What is campground management software?

Campground management software helps businesses efficiently manage the administration of permits, reservations, utilities, invoices, and other aspects of tent and RV camping sites. With campground management software, site managers will be able to better resolve guest complaints, answer guest inquiries, track site availability, handle site reservations, gather guest data, process guest payments, and manage site rates.

Common features of campground management software

While features may vary from product to product, campground management software typically offers some or all of the following functionality:

What type of buyer are you?

• Campground owners: These buyers need a software solution that will streamline the reservation process and increase overall customer satisfaction. Campgrounds typically do not feature 24/7 check in/out desks for their guests, which can lead to customer frustrations. To combat this issue, these buyers should choose a campground management solution that allows guests to make reservations and check in/out using a mobile application instead of having to interact with campground staff.
• RV park owners: RV park owners are typically looking for a software solution that allows them to better track site reservation processes to stay efficient. With campground management software, these buyers are able to efficiently track all RV site reservations on a user-friendly dashboard and collect customer information to aid customer service efforts. These buyers should choose a campground management solution that prioritizes guest data tracking and features a customer (self-service) reservation portal.

Benefits of campground management software

• Enables guest data tracking: Tracking guest data helps businesses personalize marketing and provide better customer service to their guests. With campground management software, campground/RV park managers can track the habits and needs of their guests and use that information to provide a better camping experience. By catering to customer wants and needs, guests are more likely to return to or recommend your site to people they know, increasing brand awareness.
• Streamlines guest communications: Instead of manually sending out response emails and text confirmations to customers, campground managers can automate guest communications. With campground management software, customers can check in/check out without having to adhere to front desk hours, which are typically limited.
• Increases customer satisfaction: Campground/RV park guests often look for spaces that feature self-service applications so that they can speed up the reservation process and spend more time enjoying the outdoors. With campground management software, guests are able to reserve their site ahead of time, without having to directly interact with campground or RV park staff. By speeding up the reservation process, site managers will be able to increase customer retention rates.

Key considerations for purchasing campground management software

Campground management software can seem daunting at first, considering there are so many solutions on the market to choose from. Here are a couple factors to consider when purchasing campground software:

• Software integrations: Although campground management software offers tools that help businesses streamline site management processes, you may want to consider other integrations that can provide greater value to your business. For instance, customer relationship software integrations can help businesses better understand and manage their customer relations when integrated with campground management software.
• Data reporting and analysis capabilities: It's crucial for campgrounds and RV park managers to properly collect and analyze key parameters such as monthly revenue to provide insight into business performance. Be sure to ask your software vendor if their solution prioritizes data reporting and analytics to ensure that your company will have access to business insights that can help your team optimize their operations.

Market trends to understand

When looking to purchase campground management software, be sure to understand the following market trend to ensure that you choose an innovative, scalable solution:

• Increased usage of customer self-service portals: Most site guests today are tech savvy and prefer to book reservations online instead of calling over the phone or interacting with site staff in person. Due to this, many campground management software solutions feature customer self-service portals which allow customers to book reservations, submit payments, and check in/out of their site from their desktop or mobile device. This benefits site managers by allowing them to get a better idea of how many people will be present on their sites, enabling them to prepare for guests ahead of time. Be sure to choose a campground management solution that features a self-service portal with a user-friendly interface that customers can easily operate.