What Are the Advantages of Using Campnab for Campsite Alerts?

Last night someone asked me why they should use Campnab to scan parks for canceled reservations. For most folks, the benefits of using a campsite availability checker are clear. That said, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to put together a whole list. So, here it goes!

Improve your odds of getting the campsite you want

I don’t even bother trying to book campsites on opening morning. Part of this is because I’m a bit lazy, and the other is that I dislike the frenzy. Many parks are sold-out in seconds, and that just sucks. But… plans change.

When someone cancels their reservation at a random time, fewer people are ready to act (unless it’s a super-popular park like Yosemite). When Campnab spots a canceled reservation it’ll notify you of that availability, and you can try to reserve the campsite.

A campsite checker is convenient

Nothing is stopping you from looking for canceled reservations on your own. Just go to your park’s website and refresh it every few minutes, and you’ll eventually find a new cancellation.

Like I just said, though, I’m lazy, and I can’t be bothered with clicking a button all day and hoping someone will cancel. When you create a campsite availability scan on Campnab, you skip all of that hassle, allowing you to do something more fun with your time.

Campnab is easy to use

We know how stressful it is to book a campsite. So, we wanted to ensure that Campnab was as stress-free as possible for our members. Eric and I have built apps for decades. (Yeah, we’re old farts.)

We put a lot of time into making Campnab easy to use. We also listen to member feedback and make ongoing refinements based on their feedback. Our approach seems to be working as people often reach out to tell us how much they liked using Campnab.

We scan a lot of parks

Campnab monitors 300,000+ campsites in more than 7,000 campgrounds in over 3,200 parks.

Are you looking to stay at a state, provincial, or national park in Canada or the United States? Odds are that you can use Campnab to scan that park for newly canceled campsite reservations!

Sure, there are plenty of campgrounds we don’t yet scan, but we’re continuing to add new ones.

You can scan for permits!

Many of our members asked us to help them find canceled backcountry permits, so we added this feature in spring 2021. (We listen to our customers and work to build out the features they tell us they want.)

If you like to camp, hunt, raft, or hike in the backcountry, Campnab can notify you of canceled backcountry permits! In addition to standard campgrounds, you can scan more than 650 different permits, tickets, tours, and passes with our service.

Our filters allow for customization

Everyone’s different. Some folks only need a place to pitch a tent. Others bring a Class A motorhome stocked with all the comforts of home. Filters help you get alerts for only the sites that meet your needs.

Filter by length, site type, or (sometimes) electric hookups. Interested in a specific campsite? You can even create a scan that only looks for availabilities in the exact campsites you want.

Get notified when sites are set to unlock

A couple of states lock some (not all) of their cancellations for release at a set time. We just updated Campnab with a beta function that scans parks for locked campsites.

These alerts aren’t as valuable as standard ones as these spots mainly get released at expected times. Also, booking systems sometimes change the release of locked sites, so these alerts aren’t always accurate.

That said, unlock notifications do increase your chances of spotting a campsite that’s set to open up.

Save time by duplicating your scans

Let’s say you’re one of those folks who’s only interested in a handful of beachside campsites at your favorite park. You’ll probably set up a scan just for those—and that’ll take a bit of work.

With our Copy Scan function, you can create that scan once and duplicate it for future scans. For campers like you, this can be a handy time-saver!

We’re working while you’re sleeping

Campsites and booking systems are constantly changing. Keeping up with these changes—and adapting our campsite scanning service accordingly—takes a lot of time. (It also can result in some head-scratching when a problem is hard to pin down.)

Sometimes scans throw up weird errors at 3 AM. At other times a campsite that exists doesn’t show up in the booking systems. And there’s no end to weird glitches, edge-cases, and pandemic-related booking changes. We’re always looking into such issues and patching them when they come up—so your scans keep running smoothly!

Support from real humans

I’ve helped customers on Christmas Eve, during my birthday dinner, and even while sitting on the toilet (this happens a lot). We love camping and building this little product. So, your support means a lot to us! We’ll do whatever we can to give you the best support we can.

Got a question? Running into an issue? Want to improve your scan results? Just ask (click the chat icon, or send us an email), and we’ll help. Sure, we like to sleep, spend time with our families, and get outside. This means we aren’t always available. We are pretty responsive, though, and personally respond to every message we receive.

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And that about sums it up. Thanks to Airstream for the welcoming photo of the open road up above. I’ll be back here on the blog with more posts in the weeks ahead. Stay well, and happy camping!

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