The integration between campsite booking startup RoverPass and online travel agency juggernaut Expedia could change how you book RV sites.
Austin, Texas-based campsite booking platform RoverPass announced an integration with Expedia today. The move will allow travelers to view thousands of campsites currently available through RoverPass on the Expedia site.
The partnership is the latest such move for RoverPass, which has also integrated with Airbnb and Booking.com in recent years.
“At our core, RoverPass’ mission is to make booking a reservation for outdoor travel as easy as possible,” said RoverPass CEO Ravi Parikh in a statement. “Integrating with Expedia is a huge stepping stone for us and helps to keep both parties — campground owners and the campers themselves — involved and excited for future camping seasons.”
We’re excited to announce our integration with @Expedia! #Campgrounds using RoverPass can automatically list their sites on #Expedia for maximum visibility to #campers & gain additional #bookings!
Read more here: https://t.co/oRElZyVslg@ModernCamp #camping #travel
— RoverPass (@Rover_Pass) September 1, 2022
Expedia reaches 18 million users in the U.S. every month. It currently offers bookings for airline tickets, cruise ships, car rentals, package deals, and hotel reservations. To this, RoverPass will add thousands of available campsites in all 50 U.S. states, plus locations in Mexico and Canada.
“Expedia’s potential reach is massive and its reputation has allowed them to achieve a top spot in the world of online travel,” said a RoverPass spokesperson in a press release obtained by Woodall’s Campground Magazine. “Travelers consistently report that Expedia sites and partners are among their top five considerations when looking for new destinations.”
The Campground Airbnb
Jay Manickam and Paul Cross founded RoverPass in 2014. The original concept was to help individually owned campgrounds fill inventory via a central reservation system.
Now the company functions as a kind of campground Airbnb — a portal where campground managers can list available slots, and campground users can search availability and make bookings. The company currently focuses primarily on RV and car camping-style campgrounds but hopes to expand to a wider range of outdoor travel and recreational options in the future.
Making campgrounds bookable on Expedia might come along with pros and cons. On the one hand, it’s sure to be a boon for independently owned campgrounds that struggle to fill slots. On the other hand, Americans are already crowding into the outdoors in never-before-seen numbers.
In light of today’s news, it’s possible that small, quiet, out-of-the-way campgrounds might soon be sporting a very different vibe.
