Since early 2024, Hipcamp has allowed campers to set alerts for sold-out public campgrounds and get notified if they become available. In 2025, this feature has been expanded to the Hipcamp App and upgraded with an improved public campground availability search feature. More information on how this works for campers can be found here.
Why Hipcamp provides public campground data
Today there are millions of campers searching online for public parks and campgrounds. From Yosemite to the Great Smoky Mountains, national parks are often the first places that spring to mind when planning a camping trip. As the most comprehensive camping app in the world, it’s vital that Hipcamp meets the needs of these campers. By sharing public campground availability and allowing campers to get free notifications when sold-out campsites become available, Hipcamp makes trip planning simpler. Hipcamp does not earn any revenue from public campground bookings. But it’s tools like this that mean we have the fastest growing community of campers in the world and receive 200 million web visitors a year.
How all Hipcamp Hosts benefit
While Hipcamp Alerts provide campers with the best chance of snagging a last-minute site at a public campground, ultimately, campsite competition is fierce and most campers still miss out. But by providing the search tools and information campers need—and showcasing available Hipcamps nearby—Hipcamp is able to educate campers on the full spectrum of camping options available. Whether it’s suggesting alternatives when their chosen campground is fully booked, or recommending places to stay along their roadtrip route, improving access to public campgrounds ultimately increases awareness of all bookable camping on the Hipcamp platform.
And the numbers tell the story…
- Over 75% of campers who create a Hipcamp Alert are new to Hipcamp or haven’t booked with us in the last year. These campers are discovering Hipcamp thanks to the public campground availability we offer.
- Over 90% of campers who create a Hipcamp Alert return to Hipcamp within the next year, browsing and searching our full range of bookable sites.
- Over 25% of campers who create a Hipcamp Alert go on to book a trip directly with Hipcamp within 30 days. These campers begin searching for public campgrounds but still book a private Hipcamp stay.
- Overall, improving public campground data grew traffic to Hipcamp by an estimated 22% in 2024.
Hear from a Hipcamp Host
Joshua Tree National Park is one of the most popular parks in the US—over 2,000 people search for “Joshua Tree camping” on Google every single day. Six miles from the national park, Host Allyson offers camping on her land at Joshua Tree Lake RV & Camping and benefits directly from campers traveling to visit the park. Allyson joined Hipcamp around the time that Hipcamp Alerts was launched and has also used a range of other third-party booking websites to reach more campers.
“Between all the platforms we belong to, Hipcamp has given us by far, hands down the most bookings. We have only had a handful of bookings from others, but we’ve had well over 200 from Hipcamp and we only started listing this past spring. When I look at the revenue we have made from Hipcamp I think, ‘Wow, that could have been money that never made it to us otherwise.’”