CRM

A DIGITAL UPGRADE

Posted on July 31, 2025

In today’s digitally driven world, guest expectations are evolving fast — and holiday parks, campsites, and glamping sites across the UK are rising to meet the challenge. From the initial booking to the end-of-stay farewell, the entire holiday experience is increasingly shaped by technology.

And for park owners and managers, embracing smart systems like online bookings and mobile guest apps isn’t just about keeping up — it’s about staying ahead. Whether you’re managing a family-friendly caravan park, a luxury glamping retreat, or a coastal touring site, digital tools have become essential for delivering the seamless, personalised service that modern travellers now expect.

Let’s take a closer look at how guest apps and online booking systems are transforming the industry — and how three companies are helping UK parks lead the charge.

FROM GLAMPING TO OWNERSHIP, CampManager’s Guest App supports every step of the guest journey.

YOUR PARK. YOUR BRAND. YOUR APP.
The team at CampManager understand that guests want convenience — and they want it on their phones. That’s why they’ve launched a powerful new Branded Guest App, tailored specifically for holiday parks, glamping sites, and touring parks. At its core, the app is about putting your brand in your guests’ pockets.

Available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play, the app features your colours, logo and messaging — giving you an identity that stays with your guests from booking to check-out, and even beyond. “It’s not just a tool, it’s an extension of your park’s experience,” says the CampManager team.

Guests can use the app to check-in digitally, explore site maps, access Wi-Fi codes, browse menus, and view local attractions or on-site events. For your team, that means fewer repetitive questions — and more time spent delivering great hospitality. But the functionality doesn’t stop there. The app becomes your central communication hub, with built-in messaging linked directly to CampManager’s system.

CUSTOM-BRANDED GUEST apps from CampManager keep your identity front and centre.

Whether a guest wants to ask about dog-friendly walks or amend a reservation, all messages are routed to the right team member and logged securely — no missed emails, no phone tag. From a revenue perspective, it’s also a powerful sales channel. Guests can book add-ons, pay balances, or rebook future stays at the tap of a screen.

App-exclusive offers, flash deals, and push notifications can drive repeat business, direct bookings, and seasonal occupancy boosts, all without relying on OTAs. For parks with holiday-home ownership, the app even acts as a digital showroom, showcasing your available stock and feeding warm leads straight into CampManager’s CRM.

And it’s not just for guests. Holiday-home owners can log in to request maintenance, gas refills or cleaning, with every task tracked in CampManager’s integrated Jobs & Tasks system. The result? A fully integrated, branded, end-to-end experience — for guests, owners, and teams alike.

SMART INTEGRATIONS from GemaPark help deliver modern, sustainable service.

GEMAPARK & PEMBREY’S SMART EVOLUTION
Down in Carmarthenshire, the award-winning Pembrey Country Park Family Caravan & Camping Park is showing just how impactful the right technology can be. Nestled in 500 acres of woodland and coastal beauty, Pembrey has long been a favourite with families seeking adventure and tranquillity.

A long-standing user of GemaPark, Pembrey recently elevated their guest experience with two digital upgrades: Pay-as-you-go electric pitches and a fully branded Guest App. Thanks to GemaPark’s integration with E-Pitch, guests can now pre-purchase electricity during the booking process and top-up from their phones or the hardware itself.

No queues, no meter readings, no lost credit — just seamless, real-time control that enhances convenience while supporting sustainability. As Mags Pullen, Commercial & Facilities Manager at Pembrey, explains: “The ability for guests to manage bookings, electric usage and activities in one place has greatly improved the experience. Our new app adds a personal touch while reducing our reliance on paper and physical resources.”

The app, developed in collaboration with Holidaymaker and fully integrated into GemaPark, gives guests instant access to all their booking details, payment history, activities, and now — even their electricity usage. It also allows for real-time notifications, updates on local events, and a completely paperless arrival and stay experience.

GemaPark’s forward-thinking, open API strategy means that these kinds of smart integrations are only becoming more common and more important. As Dawn Bee, Director of GemaPark, puts it: “We’re committed to connectivity. With our plug-and-play integrations, parks can pick the best tools for their needs and know it will all work together — simply and smoothly.”

AT PEMBREY COUNTRY PARK, guests top up electricity and manage bookings right from their phone.

DIRECT-TO-GUEST MARKETING
While the digital experience is evolving, the goal remains the same: great hospitality. As Allana Tigwell, Head of Marketing at Holidaymaker, points out: “Technology should enable, not replace. It frees up your team to spend more time with guests and less time on admin.”

Holidaymaker’s Direct-to-Guest (D2G) Marketing™ approach helps parks build a connected journey — starting from the moment a potential guest sees a lodge on social media. Through apps, screens and messaging tools, D2G keeps guests engaged throughout their holiday, delivering relevant content, reminders, and offers at just the right time.

Forward-thinking parks like Waterside Holiday Group and Freshwater Beach Holiday Park are showing what’s possible. From in-app AI chat, activity booking and real-time rebooking nudges, to on-site Seeview screens with local info, guests are kept in the loop, without needing to ask at reception. And importantly, this helps bring guests back into your ecosystem.

Instead of relying on OTAs or third-party platforms, branded apps and content help guests stay connected to your brand, long after they’ve left. Whether it’s reducing your carbon footprint with paperless check-ins, or encouraging in-stay upgrades with personalised offers, D2G tech turns one-time visitors into loyal fans.

HOLIDAYMAKER APPS, screens and AI chat helping guests stay informed, entertained and connected.

A SMARTER, MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
One of the most significant advantages of online bookings and apps is their contribution to sustainability and operational efficiency.

From reducing paperwork and streamlining check-in, to cutting down on power waste with smart metering, these tools support both environmental goals and bottom-line savings. More importantly, they support a more human experience. By automating repetitive admin tasks and enabling better communication, they free your team to do what they do best: create welcoming, memorable stays.

Today’s guests aren’t just booking beds, they’re booking experiences. And digital tools, when used right, make those experiences smoother, richer, and more connected.

D2G TOOLS KEEP GUESTS in the loop without pulling staff away from the front line.

YOUR PARK, EVOLVED
The future of holiday park management is not about replacing people with screens — it’s about supporting people with smart, flexible tools.

Whether you’re looking to:
• Reduce OTA commission and increase direct bookings
• Deliver five-star communication from pre-arrival to post-check-out
• Provide smarter on-site services with less manual admin
• Or just bring your brand to life in a guest’s pocket

...then CampManager, GemaPark and Holidaymaker have the technology and expertise to help you get there. As the UK staycation trend continues to grow, the parks that will stand out are those that blend modern tech with traditional hospitality, creating experiences that are personal, seamless and brilliantly memorable.

Ready to bring your park into the palm of your guests’ hands?
Explore these leading providers:

CampManager
www.campmanager.com

GemaPark
www.gemapark.co.uk

Holidaymaker App
www.holidaymakerapp.co.uk

JOINED-UP THINKING

Posted on August 2, 2022

JOINED-UP THINKING

A complete park management and booking system...

Visitors to Folly Farm, Pembrokeshire’s award-winning tourist attraction of 30 years, often commented that you needed two days to do everything on offer. With 100 acres of land to the North of the attraction, the team listened to their visitors and set about creating their own Folly Farm Holiday Park. Offering a wide range of accommodation for the family market to suit all budgets, to date Folly Farm boasts a 43 pitch-touring park, a 20-pitch campsite, four Showman’s Wagons and six fairground themed luxury lodges with hot tubs. A further eight luxury lodges and six safari tents will open soon.

 

 

LOCKDOWN LAUNCH
“We were confident there would be huge interest in our accommodation offering from our strong and loyal customer base but then the pandemic hit and we found ourselves launching our touring park after the first lockdown in July 2020 with just three weeks’ notice,” explains Zoe Wright, Head of Marketing “We achieved a 76 per cent occupancy rate that first August and followed that in August 2021 with 94 per cent.” Ease-of-use was top of the list when Folly Farm was selecting a booking system so the team partnered with the highly recommended GemaPark . GemaPark has exceeded our expectations in terms of a booking system for our touring park and campsite,” confirms Zoe.

“In fact, we also import into GemaPark partner bookings for accommodation we don’t sell directly, because it provides top line booking, arrivals and performance information in a much more user- friendly way than our booking partners’ systems,” she adds. GemaPark is used by many members of the team at Folly Farm. Holiday park wardens use it to generate arrivals reports and to check if customers are returners so they can welcome them back. Office staff confirm all the bookings and chase payments while the marketing team can easily upload or change tariffs and run property performance reports and push any availability. The finance team can easily reconcile payments, run spend-per-head reports and financial forecasts.

EASE OF USE
“Every member of staff finds it easy to use and it’s one of the few software systems we use that the staff don’t moan about,” says Zoe. “Reporting was a key consideration as we’d little to no experience of running accommodation so to be able to easily query occupancy rates, property performance for our different accommodation options and check financial performance has been pivotal to the future development of the holiday park,”

Zoe continues. “CRM was also important as we were building an accommodation audience from scratch. “We would happily recommend GemaPark to anyone looking for a booking solution for their touring site or campsite and the fact they can easily integrate with leading booking partners is a bonus.”

Netguides/GemaPark
T: 01983 282420
W: www.netguides.co.uk
W: www.gemapark.co.uk

Just One Click

Posted on September 10, 2019

Just One Click

The case for running an on-line booking system almost speaks for itself.
Because holiday destinations that move to full online bookings, typically, see increased in turnover – and profit -- of 40-50%.
You can cut overheads too. Parks who change to automated systems, regularly reduce staff administration costs by 30%.
I call that a win, win situation. Yet many older or smaller parks still work with wall charts, diaries and spreadsheets. So why the reluctance to make the switch?
“For a significant percentage, they have a small park and it is always full and they feel they don’t need a bespoke booking systems,” explains Dawn Bee, who runs one of the industry’s most popular systems in GemaPark.
“For others, it is a reluctance to lose the ability to talk to -- and vet -- their customers,” Dawn adds.
Allocate is a flexible online booking system you can embed in your existing website that is ideal for holiday home lettings and campsite bookings.
“There are some campsites that operate under the 28 day rule that don’t believe they would benefit sufficiently from a booking system,” comments Allocate’s Charles Holdsworth.
“Some of these are cash-only sites where few, if any, arrangements are made in advance,” he adds.
“Over the last five years though, the rise of payment systems that do not have a fixed monthly fee has made booking systems far more attractive to the seasonal market, even those with a low turnover.”
Smaller sites can be victims of their own success as they tend to have several lines of business and the time they can devote to each is limited. In this case, the booking system will ease the burden of taking bookings and simplifying all customer interactions.
SEASONAL MARKET
Charles again: “The smallest of customers with just a handful of pitches that takes around 100 bookings a year would find it impractical to operate without an online booking system that make running a small establishment viable. Dawn says smaller business still need to be a step ahead on the competition.
“As the parks around them go online, offering more convenience to the newer web-orientated generation of customers, they will eventually have to follow,” she predicts.
“A booking system will undoubtedly make your life easier but more importantly it makes your customers life easier.
“It’s a question of service, of talking to a new generation of customer in the way they want to communicate. “ The benefits are significant. Customer service can increase massively because the process is consistent for every customer.

Booking documents, welcome letters and other documentation, can all be automated so if there is an issue, you fix it one place and it’s fixed for everyone.
Dawn points out: “Cash flow is better and by automating collection of deposit and balance before arrival, no-shows are massively reduced.” Driving direct bookings is key to maximising returns, she adds: “Without their own booking system, the lion’s share of bookings will have a hefty commission,” Charles emphasises.
“People expect to be able to book online, at any time of day or night. Sites are keen to keep all their bookings in one place, to that end, when they receive calls they will either direct the customer to make the booking online or enter the booking online for them.
As one smaller site operator said: “I’m fed up with all the interruptions to manage phone and email bookings”.
This is a common theme, the amount of time a booking system saves is considerably more than people estimate. Online bookings automate the collection of money too which was always a time -consuming burden.
The management information a good booking system provides is invaluable, whether to manage guest arrivals, to prepare on site services, or to organise third party activities.
An interface to an accounts package is another way a booking system can reduce overheads, there is no need for double entry of data.
The data can also be reviewed to analyse the customer base and booking patterns in order to appropriately focus marketing activity.
But what if the system crashed and the great Internet in the sky lets us down.
Dawn admits, it can happen but urges: “A ‘cloud’ solution is a lot more reliable than your work PC and will have full backups.
“They are very rarely down and then rarely for longer than a few minutes.
“You can still print off daily arrival reports, the night before as a fall back, if you want to.” Unfortunately, nowadays, even the most clued-up of businesses are still vulnerable to a cyber-attack. As a result, the popularity of cyber-specific insurance products is growing.
While existing insurance policies such as commercial property, business interruption or professional indemnity insurance may provide some elements of cover against cyber risks, businesses are increasingly buying specialised cyber insurance policies to supplement their existing insurance arrangements, particularly if they:
• hold sensitive customer details such as names and addresses or banking information
• rely heavily on IT systems and websites to conduct their business
• process payment card information as a matter of course.
Many insurers, including Compass, include technical assistance with managing a breach as part of the insurance policy.
Adding-on cyber insurance cover is widely available, but as with all insurance, quality can vary and from an economical perspective, it would be sensible for parks to seek out add on products that ‘wrap around’ their existing cover.
CYBER PROTECTION
First-party cyber insurance covers your business’s own assets.
Third-party cyber insurance covers the assets of others too, typically your customers.
With reliable booking systems out there, and supplied with reliable safety nets, we would urge you to take the leap for your 2020 bookings – and reap the rewards.

COMPANY CONTACTS
Allocate
Tel. 01732 316613
www.allocate.co.uk
Compass
Tel. 01452 511430
www.compass.co.uk
Gemapark
Tel. 01983 282420
www.gemapark.co.uk