If you’ve ever tried to book a campsite during the busy summer travel season chances are you know full well how frustrating it can be at times. Campsites fill up fast during the warmer months of the year, sometimes making it impossible to stay at the one you most want to pitch your tent at. But a new website is looking to take the hassle out of that process by monitoring your favorite campgrounds and sending you a text message when a vacancy occurs.
Campnab is a new online service that continually checks in with hundreds of campsites across parts of Canada and the U.S., keeping tabs on when there are vacancies available. Users simply type in the name of the campground they’re looking for and the site will not only find it in its extensive database, but will also suggest others that are nearby, too.
Once the correct destination is selected, you simply pick you arrival date and the number of nights you want to stay. Finally, users share their phone number so that the Campnab system can send them a text message alerting them to when an opening is available for the specific dates and days requested.
The service doesn’t actually book the campsite for you, nor does it have access to reserved campsites that are available only to its users. It simply scans for available vacancies and sends an alert to the users to let him or her know that openings are available. Campnab does require a paid membership for its use, however, with two different tiers available.
The pay-per-use option will cost users $10-$20 for individual scans with the final price determined by how often they want the website to check for vacancies. A monthly membership is also available with prices of $5, $10, and $15, depending on a camper’s needs. The monthly subscription service is aimed at someone who goes camping regularly and needs to book campsites often.
The website has only been up and running a short time, but it already has a fairly large database of campsites that it monitors. The site designers say they are working on adding more locations on a regular basis as the service expands to other regions. Even now though, it looks like it could be a wonderful resource for those planning camping trips this summer.
