Campground News — Published 2026-07-06 by HitchPath Editorial
Private campground operators don't talk much publicly about what happened to their workforce in recent years. The short version: the outdoor recreation surge met a severe labor shortage, and campgrounds that had relied on traditional seasonal workers found that market essentially gone. The operations that survived made significant adjustments — and those adjustments still shape how private campgrounds hire today.
Before 2020, many private campgrounds supplemented paid seasonal staff with site-for-service host arrangements as a convenience. It was supplemental, not strategic.
The sudden loss of traditional seasonal labor made workampers a strategic necessity. Campgrounds that embraced the shift — improved their host sites, clarified compensation, recruited actively — generally came through the disruption better than those that didn't.
Competition for quality workampers in a tighter market pushed compensation higher at many operations. The site-for-service-only arrangement still exists, but the share of positions including some cash component has grown. Full hourly wages, partial pay plus a site, and clearly structured volunteer exchanges are all more common and better organized than they were previously.
The casual handshake arrangement that once characterized a lot of private campground hosting is less common than it used to be.
Private campgrounds have invested in reservation and operations technology. Many that handled check-in manually now use platforms like Campspot or Bonfire. This shifts skill expectations for some host roles — front desk positions increasingly require comfort with reservation software and basic digital tools.
The upside: some tasks that used to fall to hosts have been automated, freeing attention for guest relations and on-the-ground campground management.
Guests still need help. Trash still goes out. Problems still need solving. Hosts who are reliable, personable, and take the campground's success personally are still the most valued workers in the private market.
Campgrounds that treat their hosts well — good sites, fair hours, responsive management — retain their best hosts year after year.