Written for people who actually run a site.
13 practical guides for UK campsite, touring park, caravan park, holiday park and glamping operators, covering how to choose booking software, how to switch systems without losing bookings, how to price by season, and how to win more direct bookings. Free to read, nothing behind a form.
Work out what you actually need first.
Most bad software decisions are made before the demos start, by shortlisting on features instead of on the jobs your site has to do. These four set the requirements, then the fifth prices them.
Move without losing next season’s bookings.
The migration is the part operators fear most, and the part suppliers describe most vaguely. Both guides assume you have live future-dated bookings you cannot afford to lose.
Charge properly for the pitch you already have.
Independent sites rarely lack demand at peak. They lose money on shoulder dates, under-priced bank holidays and a pricing model that does not match how parties actually book.
Keep the booking instead of renting it.
Commission is the obvious cost of a marketplace booking. The bigger one is never owning the guest. Both guides are about fixing your own booking journey before spending more on traffic.
Get through August without losing the thread.
Peak season is when admin quietly becomes the constraint. These two are about the repeatable routines that keep changeover and booking admin from eating the week.
Three tools for your own figures.
Reading about commission is one thing. Seeing what it costs your site across a season is another.
New guides, sent when there is something worth sending.
Practical writing for independent outdoor accommodation operators. No drip sequence, and no pretending a product update is an insight.
Guides FAQ
Are these guides free?
Yes. Every guide is free to read in full, with nothing hidden behind a form. The booking-system migration checklist downloads as a PDF without asking for an email address, and the calculators and checklists run in the page.
Which guide should I start with?
If you are choosing software for the first time, start with how to choose a campsite booking system, or the holiday park or glamping buyer’s guide if that fits your site better. If you have already decided to move, start with the booking-system migration checklist. If you are staying put but want more from the site you have, start with the seasonal pricing guide.
Are they written for UK operators?
Yes. They are written for UK campsites, touring parks, caravan parks, holiday parks and glamping sites, using UK pricing conventions and the way UK guests book. Much of the thinking transfers elsewhere, but the examples are British.
Do I need to use Keydesk to get value from them?
No. The buyer’s guides include weighted scorecards and demo tasks you can use with any supplier, and the pricing and operations guides are about running your site rather than running our software. Several will be useful to you if you never speak to us.
Who writes these, and are they impartial?
They are written and published by Keydesk, which sells booking software, so they are not neutral and we would rather say so than pretend. We handle that by making the selection frameworks vendor-agnostic, stating our own product limitations plainly elsewhere on the site, and avoiding claims about competitors that are not linked to their own public pages.
How current are they?
Each guide carries its own publication date, and we revise them as the market and the product change rather than leaving dated advice in place. This index was last reviewed on 11 August 2026.
Index reviewed
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