HipCamp Reviews

HipCamp
( 26 reviews )
Website: www.HipCamp.com

HipCamp describe themselves as the most comprehensive database of camping sites on the internet, as well as a place where private land owners can use their land to earn money beneficially. 

How Does HipCamp Work?

According to their website, the creators of HipCamp.com believed that it should be much easier to find a single place where campers and lovers of the outdoors could find interesting and fun places to camp all across the United States.

Because of this, they created a database of all the National, State, Regional, and Army Corps parks in all fifty states, resulting in almost 300,000 campsites spread out across the US.

But HipCamp.com says that the reality is that 60% of the land in the United States is privately owned, so in addition to creating a database of these already established parks and campgrounds, they also provide a place where people can list their privately owned land as a place for campers to enjoy and so they can make extra money.

HipCamp says that giving people a way to use their land in order to make money without developing it, but rather in an environmentally responsible way, helps people feel motivated to keep their land protected.

In this way, they hope to not only provide useful tools for people who already love the land, but to inspire a new generation of people to feel connected to the world around them.

Using their website is very simple.  All you have to do is input the zip code of the area where you are hoping to camp and they will show you all the available sites in that area.

You can choose to only search their land sharing properties, if you are specifically interested in unusual and more unpopulated camping options. 

Cost/Price Plans

Using this website to locate campgrounds and parks is completely free of charge, and website users that refer HipCamp.com to private landowners who may be interested in signing up for their land sharing opportunity will receive a $250.00 credit when the land owner agrees. 

Refund Policy

HipCamp.com does not provide their own personal Refund Policy. Instead, the people that use their website to find and reserve campgrounds will need to follow the established policies of the campground, park, or land share provider that they do book their reservation with.  

Customer Service Contact Info

Customers who wish to speak with Customer Service about their questions, concerns, or complaints can do so by email at [email protected] or [email protected], depending on your issue, or you can use their website’s Live Chat service when available. 

Reputation

While there are not many reviews of this website from people who have successfully used their tools to book campsites, there are a variety of reviews from travel blogs and websites, all of which are very positive about this website is attempting to do and what they offer their users. 

Competitors and Alternatives?

If you are happy camping at a traditional campground, National, State, or Regional park, there are many other websites that will help you find available campsites as well as pricing and reservation information.

If you have any experience with HipCamp or their services, please leave your reviews below.

HipCamp Customer Reviews

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THIS COMPANY IS HORRIFIC TO DEAL WITH! RUN!!!
January 11, 2023

Discriminatory and lousy ego eccentric support. They hide behind "Our Team" every time you ask to speak/escalate beyond the person who does not have basic English comprehension skills. You go days back and fourth with extensive delays, sometimes multiple days of silence for urgent situations with their support team explaining things before you just reach a limit of frustration and ask to escalate.

They also do no stand by their hosts cancellation policies. It's clear they have no interest protecting land owners. I DO NOT RECOMMEND WORKING WITH THIS COMPANY!

Scam
September 10, 2022

Very deceitful. We were told it was 7 miles outside of Jackson Hole, Wyo. It was advertised as an RV park, and I was renting a pad with all hook ups. Well as it turned out , it was some ladies RV pad next to her rundown dumpy house in Idaho, an hour and a half away.

Needless to say we did not stick around. I’m livid! It ruined our vacation and I feel like I was lied to. The directions were extremely vague and never gave the State it was located in. If it it had said Idaho, I would’ve known instantly that it was a scam.

Run don’t walk away. It’s a giant rip off! We lost over $150 dollars on it. I’m beyond angry!!!!!!!! And we never got to see the Grand Tetons.

Read the description carefully regarding length of camper
August 20, 2022
We booked a site on Hipcamp for our 27' camper. I noticed that it said something about 35' max. But just two days before we were to arrive, we got a text saying that our travel trailer was too long. As it turned out they include the "towing device" in that total. Then they charged us 18% when we cancelled!

Shady run company
July 11, 2022
Shady is what comes to mind. They don't do their accounting correctly and short change your weekly payments if you're a landowner. Many issues within the system and the non-professional people running it. Bullying within the support department towards account owners. Refunding customers without asking landowners if they want to refund them. Don't bother they'll probably go out of business.

Copa July 11, 2022

Ha Ha I agree!!

No Customer Service Number..
May 28, 2022

I was going to use HipCamp on my property unfortunately it is difficult to deal w/ their Robot who keeps giving me ans. to questions I am not asking!!!

There is no Customer Service number to speak to a Human Being.. How can anyone run a business w/ no phone number.

This will be as aggravated as I get w/ this company... waste of my time and energy.

Sp glad I am not going to use them.. who needs this much trouble just trying get syarted!!

I need help deciding whether to use it or not
May 26, 2022

I'm wanting to camp this weekend, and everything we usually use is booked. So I'm looking to use hipcamp to camp at hidden valley fun time happy camp, but am kind of sketched out considering they don't have their address on there for me to find where to go. I'm scared to put in my card info just to get scammed. Will they give me the address after I book it? Will they send me the address through my email? I need answers before booking.

Hindsight is 20/20
February 25, 2022
Hipcamp is designed to bring campers and campsites together. They do not own the sites listed, they rely on landowners to provide honest and correct information to potential guests. If you are looking to stay, read the entire description, if it says "show more" click on it. Look at the pictures, many have captions describing what you are looking at. Read the reviews. Message the host(s) before booking if you still have questions. Read any emails or texts you receive after booking. If anything looks out of sorts, check the next listing, they are all individually owned and operated.

Copa July 11, 2022

Really poorly run for sure.! Ha Ha

Karen’s Hipcamp in Palominos Arizona
February 15, 2022
Stayed recently at a place in Palominos Arizona at Karen’s camp. When we arrived the grounds were not kept up so we made a nice spot bought a weedwacker and worked for days trying to make it nicer. Stayed a month and paid for the next months rent. We ended staying two days and had to leave and she refused to give any type of refund. After all that work no thank you’d and also ended up ripping us off. My advice is Don’t stay there !!

This should be outlawed
February 14, 2022

I live across the street from a guy who owns property and has made his property into a hippy camp. Given the low price he charges per nite to sleep in the dirt, it attracts the worst of society. So I get to enjoy screaming babies, barking dogs, garbage, feces, camp smoke all summer long! Thanks Hippy crampers! Oh and of course the "host" doesn't care about the societal rejects and putting his neighborhood in danger of the vagrants that he invites into our private community. Why would he?

Cancel or reschedule policy designed so Hipcamp simply keeps your money.
January 25, 2022

Dont use HipCamp. They have a cancelation/ rebooking policy however Hipcamp or the camp property owner might not respond and then the reservation is final. Essentially don't book unless you are absolutely sure of the date time and place.

My wife accidently scheduled the incorrect date weeks in advance. She immediately emailed Hipcamp, the site owner and asked to cancel and move the date according to the change fees etc.

The policy was cancelation and rebooking are possible in a 1week. No response and we are out $53.10. Even worse the camp location wasn't quite what we expected when we booked on the correct day.

Hipcamp didn't respond to our requests until we disputed the charge with the credit card. Then they asked us to withdraw the dispute. They clearly don't need us as customers. No interest in fixing our situation.

Copa July 11, 2022

Yep, the customer service sucks beyond belief! They are lazzzzzzyyyyyy to an extreme!!!!

Bad place for RV parking rentals
December 11, 2021

Bad choice for RV parking We travelled from Canada to California, rented an RV and started our journey from San Francisco to San Diego. Cruise America had suggested to search for sites on either KOA ( what an AMAZING experience) and HipCamp.

We reserved a couple sites on our trip and they were horrible to say the least. HipCamp allows property owners (literally renting their backyard) as an option for RV parking. They had NO facilities or amenities (crucial requirements like water, dump or even Electric) for RV --- and the prices were HUGE not to mention service fee charges and extra person surprise costs upon arrival.

I would NOT recommend using HipCamp for anyone planning to travel with an RV.

gotgoats December 27, 2021

Every listing is different. Every host is different. Read the description, contact the host. If you want the perfect site where you don't have to level, have water, electricity, dumping read the description. It should explain what is available. Or stay at a KOA or stay home. Don't throw Hipcamp under the bus because of a few bad apples. Do some research before.

Hipcamp is not honest/upfront
October 19, 2021

So far after joining I've not been able to book any viable spot since little real information is available (unlike sites listed on Recreation.gov and similar).

Most recently I tried to find out further information as to Deep Creek Ranch (Oregon) and submitted a request over two weeks ago without a response, YET the Hipcamp listing says 100% response rate).

So far I am very concerned that HipCamp hides a lot of information from potential users.

This seems like a great idea in theory, but in practice a very shady camping listing organization.

BTW, I like to make sure of distance from the road, obstacles, etc. as we tried something similar 5 years ago and suffered damage to our RV that could have been avoided if the listing was more honest, so I have a reason to be concerned when HipCamp does not answer inquiries, hides information, and gives dishonest ratings

gotgoats December 27, 2021

Contact the Host for more info about their listing. If they don't explain their site to your satisfaction contact Hipcamp and go elsewhere. The information about the listings is provided is by the host, not Hipcamp. There are plenty of decent HipCamp sites.

Copa July 11, 2022

Shady, LOL same exact thing I been saying!!!

Confederate-Americans Evil Hipcamp Says
September 25, 2021

American Progressives are noted for diving in head first without knowing the depth of the water. Hipcamp is a broker of camping sites, similar to what Air BnB is for bed and breakfast sites. I rent campsites on my property. My property is in the mountains of North Carolina, near Franklin. I have been registered with Hipcamp since 2017. Recently (Today is 24 September 2021.), Hipcamp announced an “Inclusiveness Policy.”

As part of that policy, they said they would not represent campgrounds that display the Confederate battle flag. They listed “Confederate battle flag” just before they listed “Nazi swastika” and in the same sentence, which shows their lack of knowledge of what they have chosen to deride, demean, and degrade. By this announcement, Hipcamp egregiously, blatantly, and insultingly attacked my heritage.

I have displayed a Confederate battle flag at the door of my house as long as I have lived here. I have lived here from before I began renting camp sites. I began renting camp sites before I registered with Hipcamp.

Why would I not display a Confederate battle flag? I am a Confederate-American, I live in Confederate-America, the South was right, and my ancestors played an honorable role in the war. Family members died in the war. Family members returned home from the war, maimed for life. Family members, previously solidly middle-class, were impoverished by the war. Yes I display the Confederate battle flag. Doing so honors my ancestors. Doing so honors the Confederate soldier. (The Confederate soldier is as deserving of honor as any other soldier.) Doing so expresses my love of and pride in my homeland. From the time I was an elementary school student, the Confederate battle flag has stood for my belonging to a people, to a history, to a homeland.

I replied to Hipcamp’s announcement: “Would you spit on the graves of your ancestors? That is what you are asking me to to.” Hipcamp cancelled campers who were booked with me for future dates, and Hipcamp did this without either telling the campers why or notifying me of their action.

Hipcamp egregiously, blatantly, and insultingly attacked my heritage. The Confederate battle flag represents much that is nobel and honorable and just. Hipcamp made the Confederate battle flag out to be something evil. Those who get their knowledge filtered through the narrowness of the progressive philosophy instead of getting their knowledge directly from the broadness of history and heritage, condemn themselves to such mistakes.

Kim May 11, 2022

We live in Otto, NC. Would you pls be so kind as to contact us regarding your experiences with HipCamp as a host? We are AirBnB host (cabin). I'm not sure how to have you contact us directly w/out putting all of our info out there. We are listed in the phone book under David Lippy (only Lippy in there). Thanks.

Worst camp experience I've ever had
June 5, 2021

First and last hipcamp experience. Awful. Just awful. Friend booked it. The host told them, and we paid for, every site on the property, as we had a big group. We get there, the property is trash, like an old junkyard, and some drunk old guy had been there since the prior weekend with his camper. Now we thought we were renting this cabin that was on site. Turns out, it was a cabin for the whole campsite which contained the bathrooms and shower and stove and fridge.

This "cabin" was right outside where we were all camping. The old guy stashed his beer in there, and wouldn't leave us alone. He comes up to our camp and leaves us in disbelief as he says he is sleeping in there that night(this is after lying to us saying he was leaving that night at 7pm). Well his family came and they apparently decided to stay. Blasted music all night and he had some kind of weird lighting setup rig at his RV as well. Brought his dog around unleashed which proceeded to mess with my dog. Was a complete drunk.

Meanwhile, 3 more RV's pull up and people proceed to just walk right through the middle of our camp, go in and out of the cabin all night, bring their dogs right through our camp, like WHAT????

The "fishing pond" on site looked like a dude just bulldozed some dirt into mounds to make a hole like 50 feet across. There was no fish in there- it was just a makeshift retaining pond in the middle of the junkyard woods and this dude actually put boats around it. One could paddle across this pond in 5 seconds. The actual grounds had very little decent area to even make camp - it was hilly, rocky, full of metal junk everywhere.

Easily the worst experience I have ever had camping and I camp ALOT. It was Michael K's camp in Ripley, NY. There's a million better campsites all along Lake Erie, not sure why our friend went with this hole, except to say that hipcamp is very deceptive and won't allow you to leave a review if you didn't book the spot yourself and even then only in a small window of time. That's why there were no bad reviews on this clearly awful campsite.

gotgoats December 28, 2021

Not all Hipcamp listings are the same. If you had such a bad experience I hope your friends let Hipcamp know. I also hope they read the Hipcamp review for that listing. If it was so bad, previous campers should have mentioned it. (The ones that actually booked the site are the ones to review it,) FYI hosts have a lot less time to leave a review than the campers. If you got bad service at a McDonalds would you not go to any other McDonalds? Inform Hipcamp and they will deal with the guy.

Copa July 11, 2022

All Hipcamp sites are this bad!!!!

Copa July 11, 2022

gotgoats soooo works for Hipcamp!

Wonderful hosting experience
September 12, 2020

We have a pretty parklike area on our land that is fairly private so when I heard about hipcamp, I decided to give it a try. The experience has been wonderful so far. We've hosted some really nice and polite, communicative people. Hipcamp paid us the expected amount promptly. We hope for many more positive experiences and we highly recommend hipcamp. I see some people have had bad experiences.

Reading their reviews, it seems to stem from them either choosing a camp that did not show enough information (ie too few pictures) or accepting more people than they should have instead of canceling and running them off for violations. We have set our limitations in our ad and plan to be vigilant about that to protect everyone. So far it has been very fun and respectful for all parties involved.

Hipcamp January 15, 2021

Love hearing this, Sharon! Thanks for being a Hipcamp Host that wants to set clear expectations for anyone looking at your listing - it does go a long way and helps campers find the right experience they're looking for! We are thankful for your partnership in getting more people outside.

Poorly managed from the corporate office. They accept anyone.
January 29, 2020

We live next door to a neighbor who signed with HipCamp. The office accepted the host membership without performing a proper vetting. We have strange people walking around and camping very close to 3 private properties. We are not impressed with a camping

Venue with no bathrooms or running water. What a mess. We have complained bitterly and the camping continues. We live in a residential setting and do not approve of camping so close to our homes. I am not a camp director and don’t care to answer their questions about what’s close by. I do not recommend this business model that rides on the back of poorly organized camp hosts.

MaryKinney October 22, 2020

Terrible living next to a Hipcamp no running water...bathroom made out of pallets. People are getting away with sub standard camping in a very unhealthy environment. No one checks on these people and no vetting is done. GOOD WAY to get away with no rules to follow. I hate hipcamp.

Hipcamp January 28, 2021

We'd be really glad to talk through your experiences as it sounds like these Hipcamps may not be a fit for the marketplace. Being a good neighbor is a Hipcamp Host Standard, we'd love to take a closer look if you could please file a support ticket:

https://hipca.mp/support

Copa July 11, 2022

File a support ticket HA!

LOVE LOVE LOVE Hipcamp!
September 3, 2019
Love the platform, I am a host as well as a camper

HIGH FIRE DANGER, Tresspassing
July 29, 2019

Our property is located in a RURAL dry, treeless, desert-like terrain. (grasses, tumbleweeds,etc.) We own several acres/parcels. (Some are fenced, some are not.) All property has established roads to each piece. (dirt, rock, gravel)

Recently, we have found folks ILLEGALLY camping on our property, thanks to HipCamp.com.

Those who advertised through this website FAILED to warn of IMPORTANT issues:

Boundaries

Better off camping in back yard. Bad first impression
July 23, 2019

Where do I begin? We booked two nights with a new hipcamp user. This was also our first time using hipcamp as a lot of the places around us were booked, we decided to give it a try. When we went to the spot I thought we were in the right place. We had to ask a neighbor for directions and we were in a no trespassing area. When we did find the spot there was houses around which when you camp you don't want to be around houses it was a dead end road and it was a little more private than the second place we found.

When we contacted the gentleman he was super nice offered us two free nights and refunded our money since we were unable to contact him being up in the mountains we had no reception. He had told us he didn't think we were camping to the weekend and the camping spot was not available yet. So we went home and tried another hip camp spot. We tried to book with another spot and it was already 6pm in the evening we had not heard from the second people.

So we sent them another message and said if it was after 8:30 p.m. we would just Camp the following day but didn't want it late at night. The person accepted our booking which counted as two days but gave us a refund and hipcamp tried to keep the the service charge for Monday even though it was too late for us to go camping at 10:30 at night when the host acceptediur request. Also the refund from the other gentleman who wasn't ready for us they tried to keep that service fee as well until we complained about it. My concern is that hipcamp is still making money off a cancelled bookings, on the sites giving back partial refunds and not giving a full refund they're keeping a portion of what they call a service fee.

I think it's very shady business. I also think that if somebody books a campsite after 8 p.m. they should not be billed for that night as everyone knows you can't set up a camper tent Etc in the dark...come on . And the second spot that we camped at had a beautiful picture next to a creek when we got there the house was literally 15 ft behind us along with 4 other houses in a row. On the other side of the creek was highway 74 in front of us. We heard cars all night. Our small pop up tent barely fit and they were charging 40 a night for a small area in front of their house in the mountains because they provided electricity. There was no privacy as a women to pee anywhere as behind the house was a steep mountain with lots of boulders.

So disappointed. We had to complain to get a refund for the Monday they charged us for and we weren't able to go monday, we were only able to camp Tuesday. Don't think I'll be using this site again. to use a campsite here in golden is only 25 with electricity and working bathrooms. Like to make a suggestion for hipcamp if this company were mine I would make the owners send a video of the camp spot and the area surrounding and also provide the footage of the camp spot and what really is available. To be approved by the company. Cuz if this is the case I can post my backyard on hipcamp and somebody can camp out back there for $30 text me if you're interested LOL. That's just a joke

HOSTS BEWARE!
June 25, 2019

As a host of a 150 acre property, we had high hopes for HipCamp. We were poached by Mckinzie Schulz to add our beautiful property to HipCamp -- assuming they found our highly rated listing on Airbnb. We gave HipCamp an honest shot as we thought the HipCamp guests were genuine campers, people that respect nature, and live by the mentality of pack in/pack out and "leave no trace behind" which is listed as a requirement in order to camp through HipCamp.

We have had a small percent of guests that actually fit into this mind set. Most of our guests were inexperienced and looking to drink and party. The most recent issue occured when multiple guests started showing up for a 4 person reservation - even though our Welcome Guide and email correspondence with the guest said NO additional people on the property, no parties, no smoking, no garbage left at the campsite, and no pets. We worked with the guest and agreed to 14 people total and charged accordingly. To our dismay, an additional 9 people showed up totaling 23 people for a 4 person reservation.

The evening turned into a party. People smoked even though we are in an extremely high fire area and state it is not allowed. Someone brought a dog and refused to remove it so we agreed to a pet fee. Guests used firewood without paying the firewood fee. The guests left a full dumpster amount of trash behind. We explained to the guest that if they do not remove the illegally dumped trash, we would file a police report. In the end, they came back removed the trash.

Again, the guests knew they were responsible for all garbage. To top it off, after adjustments were made to the reservation to accurately account for total guest number which we felt content with, Annelise Poda from Support reversed the amount of guests (even though a picture was provided of all 23 guests), leaving us with an outstanding bill for unauthorized guests and firewood used. We are also now in the process of implementing our steep smoking fee with the guests because of the time, effort, and stress this has caused. If Annelise did not reverse the accurate guest amount, this would have been resolved.

Copa July 11, 2022

Shady company!!