Outdoor Hospitality — Published 2026-07-12 by HitchPath Editorial
Running a small independent campground has never been simple. The infrastructure costs are significant, seasonal revenue is compressed into a short window, and the margin for error is thin. Recent years added new pressures without proportionally adding new revenue — and the operators who've stayed profitable have had to adapt in ways that weren't in the original business plan.
A small independent campground with 50–100 sites operates with fixed and variable costs that include property taxes, insurance, infrastructure maintenance, reservation system fees, utility costs, and labor. Of these, labor is often the most variable and the most challenging to optimize.
Hiring traditional seasonal employees — minimum wage, workers' compensation, payroll taxes, recruitment overhead, and the time cost of onboarding new workers each season — can consume 30–40% of revenue at operations that rely heavily on paid staff.
A campground providing three host sites in exchange for coverage of registration, grounds maintenance, and restroom management is converting accommodation cost — a fixed cost — into labor coverage. The net cost of that labor, measured against what comparable hired employees would cost, is typically significantly lower.
This is why workamper arrangements are common at independent operations. They're not charity or lifestyle benevolence; they're a cost structure that makes operational sense.
Property insurance costs have risen significantly across many parts of the country, particularly in wildfire-prone western states and flood-prone coastal regions. This is a cost operators can't easily reduce.
Reservation platform fees — for systems like Campspot, Reserve America, and similar — have become a more significant line item as online booking became industry standard.
The operators navigating these pressures most effectively have typically diversified their revenue — adding glamping accommodations, event hosting, day-use fees — while keeping labor costs variable through workamper arrangements.