Campground booking software: what guests can do online, and who pays for it
Campground booking software is the part of your system that lets a guest pick dates, choose a site and pay on your website without calling you. Reservation software is the whole office system behind it, and the fee model of the booking side is what decides what you and your guests really pay.
Booking software and reservation software: the difference
People use the two names for the same product. Vendors do too. But when you shop, it helps to split the job into two halves, because some products are strong on one half and thin on the other.
Booking software faces the guest. It is the "Book now" button, the availability search, the site choice, the checkout and the confirmation email. The guest uses it at 10 p.m. from a phone while you are asleep.
Reservation software faces your office. It is the grid with your sites down the side and dates across the top, guest records, check-in and check-out, payments and refunds, reports, and seasonal billing. You use it all day, from the counter or the golf cart.
Here is how the two halves compare. This is our own plain-language split, not an industry standard.
| Booking side | Reservation (office) side | |
|---|---|---|
| Who uses it | The guest | You and your staff |
| Where it lives | Your website, a link, a widget | The office screen or a tablet |
| Typical jobs | Search dates, pick a site, pay, get a confirmation | Move a guest, block a site, check in, refund, run reports |
| What can go wrong | Guest cannot find a site, checkout is confusing, a fee appears at the last step | Grid is slow, no seasonal billing, no way to export your data |
| Where fees show up | Often here, at guest checkout | Often in the monthly bill |
The reason this matters: the booking half is where most fee surprises sit. A system can look cheap in the office and still add a line at guest checkout. So judge both halves, and ask where each fee lands.
If you want the full office-side checklist, our companion article on campground reservation software covers it. This article stays on the guest side and the money.
What guests should be able to do without calling you
A good booking flow should let a guest do these things alone, any hour of the day:
- See real availability for their dates. Not "call to check."
- Choose a site or a site type, such as pull-through, back-in, tent or cabin.
- See the full price before they enter a card, with taxes and any fees shown.
- Pay a deposit or the full amount by card.
- Get an email confirmation with arrival details.
- Read your cancellation policy before they pay.
The booking should then land on the same grid as your phone and walk-in bookings. That is what prevents double booking. If online and office bookings live in two places, you will eventually sell the same site twice.
The cancellation policy is part of booking
Policies vary by park, so there is no single norm to copy. As one example, a Nebraska campground's policy on Campspot's booking site charges a deposit of $10 a night, up to $100 for stays under 28 nights, and forfeits it if the guest cancels less than 30 days before arrival (checked 2026-10-25). That is one park, not an industry rule. Your software should let you set your own rule and show it at checkout.
Getting guests to the button
Booking software only helps if guests can find it. Google's help page says you can add your own booking link to your Business Profile (checked 2026-10-25), and that a plain link does not need special software. The same page warns that when you book through Google, a provider might charge you. A link to your own booking page is the simple version, and it is the one you control.
Plain access matters too
The U.S. Department of Justice says that inaccessible web content means people with disabilities are denied equal access to information (page dated March 18, 2022, checked 2026-10-25). A booking page is web content. Ask any vendor how their checkout works with a screen reader and a keyboard.
Where booking fees come from
Online booking is where the money questions start. There are four places a charge can appear.
- A fee per reservation, paid by the park. You get a bill for each booking.
- A fee per reservation, passed to the guest. The guest sees an extra line at checkout.
- A guest-paid booking fee on online bookings only. Phone and walk-in bookings are free of it.
- A flat price with no booking fee. Nothing changes with volume.
On top of any of these sits card processing. Stripe lists 2.9% + 30 cents per successful domestic card transaction, with no setup fees or monthly fees (checked 2026-10-25). Processing is a separate cost from the software, and it applies to card payments under every model.
What each vendor publishes about booking fees
Everything below comes from each vendor's own public pages, checked on 2026-10-25. Prices change, so confirm before you sign.
| Vendor | What the page says about online booking fees | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Campspot | Lists a "Guest-paid booking fee for online reservations only." The amount is not published on the pages we checked on 2026-10-25. A switching page says online reservations carry a small guest-paid booking fee, while walk-in and phone bookings do not carry an extra fee. | Campspot pricing, Campspot switching page |
| Firefly Reservations | $3.50 per unit service fee for each new unit booked. The park can pay it or pass it to the guest. If connected to Stripe, the fee is part of the payment and the park is not billed separately for portal bookings. | Firefly pricing |
| CampLife | $3.00 per reservation, with a $99 monthly minimum. It says there is no commission on its marketplace and that it can set up a pass-through reservation fee for guests. | CampLife pricing |
| RoverPass | Small parks pay a $99 monthly minimum, and $3.50 per-reservation fees count toward it. Medium parks pay $3.50 per reservation. The park decides whether to absorb the fee or pass it to the camper at checkout. | RoverPass pricing |
| Park With Us | Software is described as free. Those who book online pay a small service fee. The amount is not published on the page checked. Manual bookings carry no fee. | Park With Us |
| Campground Master | $795 one-time for a standalone desktop system, and "no added cost per reservation made." Support and updates included the first year, then $100 a year. | Campground Master |
| CampStack | $49 a month or $490 a year. No booking fees. Nothing is added at guest checkout. | CampStack pricing |
Some notes on that table.
- Campspot says it serves more than 3,500 parks across the U.S. and Canada. Its public pages also say it has no software setup fees and no long-term contracts. We did not find a dollar amount for its software or its booking fee, so we do not state one.
- Campspot's pricing page also says many customers add a surcharge to customer orders to offset a reservation fee. So a park-side fee is described alongside the guest-paid one.
- Marketplaces are a second route to booking. RoverPass says you can get listed at no upfront cost and pay only when bookings come through. The commission rate is not published on the page we checked. CampLife says it takes no commission on bookings from its marketplace.
- Add-ons are separate. Campspot notes that Booking.com, Airbnb and Vrbo integrations may carry additional fees. CampStack does not connect to those today. CampLife lists text messages at 5 cents each.
What the guest sees: an illustration
This is an illustration with made-up numbers, not data from any park.
Assumptions: a guest books 4 nights at $45 a night, so the site total is $180. We use a $3.00 per-reservation fee, which is CampLife's published rate, and suppose the park passes it on to the guest. We ignore taxes.
| Case | What the guest pays | What the park does |
|---|---|---|
| Park absorbs a $3.00 fee | $180.00 | Pays $3.00 to the vendor |
| Park passes the $3.00 fee on | $183.00 | Collects it and pays $3.00 to the vendor |
| Flat-fee software, no booking fee | $180.00 | Pays the same monthly bill either way |
The guest's difference is small on one booking. But a guest who compares your page with the park down the road sees $183 next to $180. And you decide how a pass-through fee is labeled and explained, which is one more thing to handle at the counter when someone asks about it.
Card processing applies to the guest's payment in all three rows, so we left it out. On the $180 booking, Stripe's published rate works out to about $5.52 (2.9% of $180 is $5.22, plus 30 cents). If the guest pays $183, the processing cost rises slightly with the larger charge.
How volume changes the math
A per-booking fee scales with your bookings. A flat fee does not. Campspot's 2025 year in review says Campspot parks had 3.7 million gross site reservations and 54 million nights booked in 2025, with a median stay of 3 nights (checked 2026-10-25). That is one vendor's data from its own parks. It tells you shorter stays are common, and shorter stays mean more reservations per night booked, so more fees per night under a per-reservation model.
To see your own number, enter your yearly online bookings in the booking fee calculator.
Questions to ask before you pick
Take these to every demo.
- Which fee shows at guest checkout? Ask to see a real checkout page from a park already live, on a phone.
- Is the fee on online bookings only? Some fees skip phone and walk-in bookings. That can push you to take fewer online bookings than you want.
- Who pays by default? Park or guest. And can you change it?
- Is there a monthly minimum? Ask if it applies in months you are closed.
- Where does the guest's money go? Straight to your account, or through the vendor first? How fast do you get paid?
- Is there a marketplace, and is it optional? What does a booking from it cost, and do your direct bookings stay yours?
- Can you take your data with you? Guest list, reservations, payment history, in a file you can open.
- What are the cancel terms? Several vendors publish "cancel anytime." Get it in the agreement too.
If you are leaving one system for another, the switching page shows how CampStack moves your reservations. CampStack can import sites, guests and future reservations from CSV files, so you do not retype them.
How CampStack handles booking
CampStack is flat-fee reservation software for small independent campgrounds and RV parks. It costs $49 a month or $490 a year, with unlimited reservations and unlimited users, and no setup fee or contract. It adds no booking fee and nothing to guest checkout. Card processing is Stripe's standard rate, passed through at cost. CampStack never adds a percentage. CampStack launched in 2026, so we do not have a long customer track record to show you. We would rather say that than make one up.
You can also claim your free listing in the CampStack directory. If your park is in Texas, start at the Texas campground directory.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between booking software and reservation software?
Booking software is the guest-facing part: availability search, site choice, payment and confirmation on your website. Reservation software is the office system behind it: the grid, guest records, check-in, refunds and reports. Many products do both, so shop for both halves and ask where each fee lands.
Can guests book sites online without calling?
Yes, if your software offers online booking. The guest picks dates and a site, sees the price, pays by card and gets a confirmation. The booking should land on the same grid as your phone bookings so a site is never sold twice.
Is there campground booking software with no booking fees?
Yes. Campground Master states "no added cost per reservation made" on a $795 one-time desktop license, per its own page checked 2026-10-25. CampStack has no booking fees at $49 a month or $490 a year. Other vendors we checked publish per-reservation or guest-paid fees, so ask each one.
Who pays the booking fee, the park or the camper?
It depends on the vendor. Campspot lists a guest-paid fee for online reservations. Firefly, CampLife and RoverPass let the park pay or pass the fee on to the camper. Always look at a live checkout page to see what the guest sees.
Do I need a separate website to take online bookings?
Not necessarily. You can add a booking link to your own site and to your Google Business Profile, which Google says you can do with your own link. CampStack also offers an embeddable booking widget for your existing website. Ask any vendor what it takes to put the booking button on your page.
Do online bookings cost more than phone bookings?
With some vendors, yes. Campspot says online reservations carry a small guest-paid fee, while walk-in and phone bookings do not. Park With Us says manual bookings carry no fee. Under a flat-fee plan, an online booking and a phone booking cost you the same.
Will I still pay card processing fees with no booking fee?
Yes. Card processing is a separate cost from the software fee. Stripe's published rate is 2.9% + 30 cents for domestic cards. CampStack passes that rate through at cost and adds no percentage.
Can I try booking software before I commit?
Ask each vendor, because trial terms are not the same everywhere. CampStack has a 14-day trial, and the launch offer is free until your first 25 online bookings.
Try CampStack
If you want booking with no fee at guest checkout, see the owners page. The launch offer is free until your park's first 25 online bookings, then the rate is locked for life, and there is a 14-day trial.
Sources
All checked 2026-10-25.
- Campspot pricing: https://software.campspot.com/pricing/ (checked 2026-10-25)
- Campspot switching page: https://software.campspot.com/campspot-vs-resnexus/ (checked 2026-10-25)
- Campspot 2025 year in review: https://software.campspot.com/about-campspot/year-in-review/ (checked 2026-10-25)
- Campspot-hosted example cancellation policy: https://www.campspot.com/park/captain-critters-country-campground/policies/cancellation-policy (checked 2026-10-25)
- Firefly Reservations pricing: https://fireflyreservations.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-25)
- CampLife pricing: https://software.camplife.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-25)
- RoverPass pricing: https://software.roverpass.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-25)
- RoverPass marketplace: https://software.roverpass.com/marketplace (checked 2026-10-25)
- Campground Master: https://www.campgroundmaster.com/ (checked 2026-10-25)
- Park With Us: https://parkwith.us/ (checked 2026-10-25)
- Stripe pricing: https://stripe.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-25)
- Google Business Profile Help, add a booking link: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7475773 (checked 2026-10-25)
- U.S. Department of Justice, Web Accessibility Under the ADA: https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/ (checked 2026-10-25)
Sources
Facts about other companies come from their own public pages. Prices change, so open the source before you decide.
- Campspot pricing, checked October 25, 2026.
- Campspot switching page, checked October 25, 2026.
- Campspot 2025 year in review, checked October 25, 2026.
- Campspot-hosted example cancellation policy, checked October 25, 2026.
- Firefly Reservations pricing, checked October 25, 2026.
- CampLife pricing, checked October 25, 2026.
- RoverPass pricing, checked October 25, 2026.
- RoverPass marketplace, checked October 25, 2026.
- Campground Master, checked October 25, 2026.
- Park With Us, checked October 25, 2026.
- Stripe pricing, checked October 25, 2026.
- Google Business Profile Help, add a booking link, checked October 25, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Justice, Web Accessibility Under the ADA, checked October 25, 2026.