As you look through a campground guide like ours and others, you may find areas that you’d like to stay longer or even for a whole season. Being a camp host can be a great way to save a little money in your travels. Perhaps you can even get a job that pays money and not just a free camp site.
Use caution finding your position
Be careful of scams as you seek to be a camp host. There are magazine ads out there that are just ripping people off. You shouldn’t have to pay any crazy fees or give out confidential personal information to anyone. Some of these companies are just getting your personal information and you never hear from them again. Report them to the publication or website that is showing the ad.
Our Camp & RV iPhone app is out. Easily find all kinds of campgrounds, RV parks, Wal-marts (with parking/no parking comments noted), rest areas, low clearance alerts, truck stops, overnight parking spots and RV dealers near you as you travel. Where? What exit? Directions? Use GPS services or use the included manual lookup mode for when service is not available…more
Are you a people person?
You have to be a people person. A hermit is not a good personality style to be a camp host. I’ve stayed for days at campgrounds and never saw the camp host. They may have been there the whole time and available if a problem arose but it’s nice to see the host out and about a little bit. Doing something, walking around, trying to be friendly makes for a better experience for visitors.
Set a good example
Have you ever been to a campground where the host is the messiest camp site? We see it quite a bit. Part of this is that they probably have more stuff. They may be full-timers or may live there for months at a time. But still, it’s good for camp hosts to follow the same rules that are enforced on others as well.
Have a good even temperament
This helps a great deal because you will meet some jerks in addition to all the great friends you will make. You are representing the owners of the campground. This may be the government, the state or a private company.
Never assume you are the law. This is probably the aspect that leaves potential camp hosts with the most concern. We’ve all seen the occasional idiots in campgrounds. They get drunk, they are noisy, they misbehave. We’ve also seen them mostly ignored by the hosts at campgrounds. No one really wants trouble and hopes people will just behave themselves. When problems evolve into a possible confrontation, it’s time to leave it to the local law.
Have a good sense of humor
You will witness some crazy things as a camp host, along with meeting some real characters.
Know or learn the area the best you can
Campers will be asking you questions. You should know about the nearest grocery stores, medical care, shopping, restaurants, amenities, hiking, etc. Be accurate if you do give out any information. You don’t want to steer anyone into trouble or the wrong thing.
Know your tasks and situation ahead of time
Duties vary greatly from location to location. Some can easily be a full time job and others can be a relatively peaceful camping experience interrupted by the occasional person.
Do you have to clean the toilets and how often?
What level of physicality is required?
What is the weather usually like during your position?
Are you working just for your site? What happens if the workload is higher or extra work is required. What is the pay? What happens if it goes into overtime hours? If you do get paid, what form and how can you get it to your bank?
Do you get full hookups? What kind? What is the host site like for positioning, sun and shade? If you use solar, this is important.
Are pets allowed? You shouldn’t have a pet in a campground that doesn’t allow it. And you don’t want to be the noisiest person there either.
Check out Workamper for some possibilities. Unfortunately you do have to pay whichever side you are on, the worker or the employer. We’d love to have free listings for work camping jobs but haven’t started yet.
Being a camp host is definitely what you make of it. If you do not like people in general it is not the occupation for you.It can however be endlessly rewarding and with a little sense of humor alot of fun,too.
It does help to be friendly from the camper standpoint too. I’ve met some great hosts and many that just hibernate and practically run away from visitors.
The only time I have any problems with a camp host is when they are an absolute mess. They some credit for living there for a long time, but a host shouldn’t blatantly violate the campgrond rules.
We just finished 4 months as NFS camp hosts in Montana. In defense of little-seen camp hosts: we know many of you are breaking the rules; dogs unleashed, target shooting on your campsite, extra persons and vehicles, camping without paying, too many vehicles and people on the site, bringing in trash or lumber from outside to burn, etc. etc. We have heard all the reasons why you didn’t pay and that you live local and feel you are exempt from paying to use the facilities. That’s why we are hiding! We don’t want to see it. We know the FS rangers won’t come out, besides there is no cell service here. We know if we “nicely remind you” about the rules you will call us rude and complain to the local FS office. Our side of the story never gets heard.
Except for the locals, we had great interaction with out-of-area campers and were proud to have a clean neat campground inspite if the locals.
We will never host for a FS or state campground again. After 12 years working in national parks and private campgrounds, this was our experience.
The employer has to have specific requirement guidelines as to what is expected of a campground host. Campground hosts need to act in a professional manner, with loyalty to their employer and not gossip to customers. The employer also needs to have solutions and consequences in place for unruly campers. As a campground owner, we get the most complaints on people who do not follow the pet policy, late night noise, sneaking in many guests without paying for them, throwing cans and garbage, even dirty diapers in the fire rings, carving into tables, stealing firewood or going into our woods chopping trees for firewood and parking on others lots instead of the parking lot. The large majority of our camper customers are great and love and appreciate nature, while a few are so rude that they need to be kicked out. We have our customers sign the check in, which includes the rules and the consequences if they do not follow them. They get one warning and if it is repeated and is a serious offense that harms the other campers and the reputation of the campground, they are told to leave. As owners, we have a responsibility to the campers that are courteous and follow the rules.