Keeping Pitchup, Hipcamp and Your Own Website in Sync

The double-booking trap

If you sell the same pitches on Pitchup, Hipcamp and your own site, every channel needs to know the moment one of them takes a booking. Miss that and you end up apologising to a family who turned up to a pitch that was already taken.

The fix is calendar sync, and the simplest reliable pattern is hub-and-spoke.

How hub-and-spoke sync works

Your own booking system is the hub. Each channel publishes an iCal feed of its bookings, and your system reads them all in and blocks those dates across every pitch they affect. Your system then publishes its own feed back out so the channels block dates you have sold directly.

Everything points at one source of truth instead of trying to guess what the others are doing.

Why your own site should be the hub

When the system you own holds the master calendar, you are not dependent on any single OTA staying online or honest about availability. You control the rules, the buffer times and which pitches map to which channel listing.

Sync is not instant, so leave a buffer

iCal feeds refresh on a schedule, not the second a booking lands, so there is always a small window. Sensible buffers and not overselling your last pitch on three channels at once keeps you safe.

Sync your channels, sell with confidence

Campsite Booking System is the owned, commission-free booking platform built for UK campsites and holiday parks. It works alongside the OTAs you already use rather than replacing them. Book a look at the live demo to see it in action.