How to Switch Campground Software Without Losing Reservations

To switch campground reservation software without losing bookings, export your sites, guests, future reservations, deposits and balances from the old system, then import them into the new one before you stop taking bookings in the old one. Pick a slow week in the off season, review the import preview first, and keep exactly one system open for new bookings on cutover day.

Switching sounds worse than it is. The data a small park needs fits in three spreadsheets. The risk is not the data. The risk is a week where two systems both think they can sell Site 12.

This guide walks through the whole move in plain steps: what to pull out of the old system, when to do it, how to handle money already collected, and how to keep from selling the same site twice. It also covers how the CampStack CSV import works, and what each vendor's own help pages say about exporting.

Step 1: Decide if you really need to switch

Before you export anything, write down why you are leaving. Typical reasons are fees per booking, a monthly minimum you outgrew, or a screen your staff dislikes. Then check the new price against your real numbers. Our booking fee calculator lets you enter your own bookings and see what per-booking fees add up to against a flat fee.

CampStack is $49 a month or $490 a year, with unlimited reservations and unlimited users. There is no booking fee, no setup fee and no contract. Card processing is Stripe's standard rate, passed through at cost. As of 2026-10-25, Stripe lists 2.9% + 30 cents per successful domestic card transaction. CampStack adds nothing on top. You can see the full details on the pricing page.

If the math works, keep reading. If you want a shorter overview first, the switching page covers the same ground in brief.

Step 2: Pick your switch window

The best time to switch is your slowest stretch, with the fewest arrivals in the next two weeks. For many seasonal parks that is late fall through winter, after your last fall weekend. Wisconsin owners can also claim a free listing on the Wisconsin campground directory while the park is quiet.

Why the off season works:

• Few guests are checking in, so a mistake costs little.
• Staff have time to learn the new screens.
• Most of your future reservations are months away, so you have time to check every one.
• You can set up rates and your site map without a line at the office window.

Switching mid-season is possible. It just leaves less room for error. If you must do it in season, choose a Monday or Tuesday and a stretch with few arrivals.

Step 3: Know what to export

You need five things from the old system. Ask for all of them even if you think you only need two.

Rates are worth exporting too, or at least a printed rate sheet. Payment history is optional. Many owners keep old payment history as a PDF in the old system's folder and only bring over the amounts tied to future stays.

Two small habits save hours:

1. Clear every filter before you export. Many systems export exactly what is on the screen. A leftover filter quietly cuts rows.
2. Format ZIP codes and phone numbers as text in Excel before saving to CSV. Excel strips leading zeros from ZIP codes.

Step 4: What each system's help pages say about exporting

We read the public help pages of several systems on 2026-10-25. Here is what they say, and where we could not read them. Menu names change, so treat this as a starting point and confirm in your own screen.

Campground Master. The help manual says any Tab View report and almost any grid report can be exported. The documented path is File menu, then "Export Current View", or the "Export List" button on grid dialogs. The output is CSV with a header row, with every field in quotes, "just as shown in the current view or dialog grid." Raw data tables can also be exported from Maintenance, then Raw Data Tables, and the exact table names are not listed on the page. Sources: exporting reports and exporting to CSV, both checked 2026-10-25.

Firefly Reservations. Reports are run from the main menu under Reports. You choose a report and a date range, then run it. The help page lists PDF, CSV, Excel and Print as export options, and says modified views export as displayed (running reports, checked 2026-10-25). The report catalogue lists, among others, Reservations, Reservation Units, Guests, Payments, Deposit Summary, Rates and Units. Firefly's own guide for people moving in also warns that some competitor exports list the number of nights instead of the departure date, which can leave every imported stay off by one day (moving reservations to Firefly, checked 2026-10-25). That is a good tip for any move: check three sample stays by hand.

RoverPass. The owner portal help page says to open the Reports tab, pick a report, apply filters, then use the three-dot menu to download. Reports open in Excel or Google Sheets. The page groups reports into Reservations, Payments and Payouts, Financials and Daily Reports (reports in the owner portal, checked 2026-10-25). We did not find a dedicated guest list or site list report on the pages we read. If you cannot find one, ask RoverPass support for a full export.

CampLife. The FAQ says standard accounting reports are available in CSV, XLS and XML, and that all reports can be exported as CSV (CampLife FAQ, checked 2026-10-25). The reporting page describes more than 500 reports, but we found no step by step export instructions. Ask CampLife support if you cannot find the report.

Newbook. Newbook publishes a public API reference (checked 2026-10-25) listing Bookings, Sites, Guests and Payments lists. The credentials come from Newbook support. We did not find public steps for exporting reports from the screen, so ask support.

Campspot and ResNexus. We could not read the export pages for these two. Campspot's help articles redirected to a login page when we checked on 2026-10-25, and the ResNexus support site did not load. So we are not going to guess at menu paths. Ask each vendor's support team for a full export of sites, guests and future reservations, and ask which file format they will send.

Spreadsheets. If your records live in Excel or Google Sheets, you are already most of the way there. Save each tab as a CSV, since a CSV holds only one sheet. If you keep one tab per month, combine them into one sheet first.

None of the pages we read documented a limit on how many rows or how far back an export can go. So do not assume a limit exists, and do not assume it does not. Open the file and count the rows.

Step 5: Build a timeline

Here is a simple four-week plan. It assumes a small park with a few hundred future reservations.

The one rule: do not cancel the old system until you have checked every future reservation in the new one.

Step 6: How the CampStack CSV import works

CampStack imports sites, guests and future reservations from CSV files. If you only have an Excel file, save it as CSV first.

The files:

• Sites: one row per rentable site. Required: a unique site name and a site type (RV, tent, cabin, lodging or other).
• Guests: one row per person or family. A name plus any email, phone or address you have.
• Future reservations: one row per stay from today forward. Required: a confirmation number, a guest, a site, an arrival date and a departure date. Optional: status, totals, amount paid and notes.

How it handles the parts that usually go wrong:

• Import order is sites, guests, then future reservations. Reservations need sites and guests to exist first.
• You see a review first. It shows counts, guest merges, unmatched sites, overlapping stays and bad dates. Nothing is saved until you approve it.
• Unmatched site names are not dropped. They are listed so you can pick the right site.
• Overlapping stays on one site are flagged, so you can fix them before they become a double booking.
• Dates: if a column could be read as month first or day first, it asks you to choose the format.
• Duplicates: guests with the same email are merged, and you see the merges before you commit.
• Undo: each import is kept as a batch, and you can undo it afterwards.
• No card numbers. Do not put card numbers in any file. Columns that look like card numbers are dropped.
• Amount paid is recorded as a payment received before the import. Nobody is charged.

If your column names do not match ours, the mapping screen lets you pair your old headers to the CampStack fields.

Step 7: What to do with deposits already taken

This is the question owners worry about most. Plain answer: the money stays where it is, and the new system records what each guest has paid.

• Deposits already collected were paid through your old processor. An import does not move money. It records the amount.
• Imported payments are historical records. They are not charged again, and they do not create new card transactions.
• Balances are what you still collect. If a guest paid a $100 deposit on a $400 stay, the reservation comes in with $100 paid and $300 due. You collect the $300 in CampStack the way you would for any new booking.
• Refunds and cancellations of old payments: if a guest cancels after you switch, the original payment went through your old processor. Check with that processor, or your old software vendor, about how to refund it. We did not find a published answer for any specific vendor, so we are not going to guess.

To make this clean, export a Deposit Summary or Payments report if your system has one (Firefly's catalogue lists both), and compare the total against the amounts in the new system. The numbers should match to the dollar.

Step 8: Avoid double bookings on cutover day

A double booking happens when two systems both show a site as open. Prevent it with a hard cutover.

1. Pick one cutover moment, such as 6 p.m. on a Tuesday.
2. Before it, turn off online booking in the old system or take its booking link off your website, Google listing and Facebook page.
3. At the moment, run a final export of reservations, import it, and check the overlap list is empty.
4. After it, put the CampStack booking widget or link on your site and in your profiles. Make the old system read-only. If it cannot be made read-only, tell staff in writing: no new bookings go in the old one.
5. For phone and walk-in bookings during the gap, use a paper log. Enter each one in CampStack as soon as it is open. Do not enter anything in both.
6. Third-party listings: if you sell through another site, check whether it connects to your old software. Booking.com, Airbnb and Vrbo sync is not available in CampStack today, so if you rely on those, plan for that before you switch.

A park with a few arrivals a week can do this in an hour. The paper log feels old fashioned, and it works.

A realistic example (illustration only)

Suppose a 40-site park has 220 future reservations and 1,100 guest records. These are assumptions for the example, not data from a real park. A reasonable split: one afternoon to request and receive exports, one afternoon to fix site names in a spreadsheet, one hour for the import review and fixes, and one evening for the final cutover. The import review is where most of the time goes, because it finds the site names that do not match. That is a good thing. You would rather find them in a preview than at the gate.

Next steps

Start with a free look. See the owner page for how it works, or go to the switching page for the short version. The launch offer is free until your park's first 25 online bookings, then your rate is locked for life, and there is a 14-day trial. You can start before you cancel anything, so there is nothing to lose by trying the import with a copy of your data.

Frequently asked questions

How hard is it to switch campground software?

For a small park it is a few afternoons of work, not a project. The hardest part is cleaning site names so they match across files. A preview before saving catches the rest.

How long does switching take?

Plan on two to four weeks from starting a trial to cancelling the old system. Most of that is waiting on exports and checking results, not typing. The cutover itself is a single evening.

Will I lose my future reservations?

Not if you import them and check them before you cancel the old system. Export every stay from today forward, review the import preview, and compare a sample of at least 20 by hand. Keep the old system open read-only for a few weeks as a reference.

When is the best time of year to switch?

The off season, when few guests arrive in the next two weeks. For many northern parks that is late fall through winter. If you must switch in season, pick a Monday or Tuesday with few arrivals.

What do I need to export from my old software?

Export your sites, your guests, all future reservations, the deposits already paid and the balances still due. Rates are a good extra. Payment history is optional. If you cannot find a report, ask your vendor's support team for a full export.

Can I import reservations from a spreadsheet?

Yes. CampStack imports CSV files. If you have an Excel file, save it as CSV first. Use one row per stay with a confirmation number, guest, site name, arrival date and departure date. You see a review before anything is saved, and you can undo the import afterwards.

What happens to deposits guests already paid?

The money stays with your old processor. CampStack records each deposit and balance as imported, and it never charges the card again. You collect the remaining balance in CampStack.

Sources

• Campground Master, exporting reports: https://campgroundmaster.com/help/exportingreports.html (checked 2026-10-25)
• Campground Master, exporting to CSV: https://campgroundmaster.com/help/exportingreportstocsv.html (checked 2026-10-25)
• Firefly Reservations, running reports: https://fireflyreservations.com/knowledge-base/running-reports (checked 2026-10-25)
• Firefly Reservations, reports explained: https://fireflyreservations.com/reports-explained (checked 2026-10-25)
• Firefly Reservations, moving reservations from other platforms: https://fireflyreservations.com/knowledge-base/moving-reservations-from-other-platforms-to-firefly (checked 2026-10-25)
• RoverPass, reports in the owner portal: https://help.roverpass.com/reports-in-the-owner-portal (checked 2026-10-25)
• CampLife FAQ: https://software.camplife.com/faq (checked 2026-10-25)
• CampLife reporting: https://software.camplife.com/reporting (checked 2026-10-25)
• Newbook REST API reference: https://developers.newbook.cloud/rest.php (checked 2026-10-25)
• Campspot support site (article pages redirected to a login): https://support.campspot.com/ (checked 2026-10-25)
• Stripe pricing: https://stripe.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-25)