Peak season fills itself. Shoulder season is where your annual profit is actually made or quietly lost. Here’s the strategy most campground owners never build.
-Starter Sites Co.
July and August take care of themselves. Families have the time, the weather is obvious, and the bookings come in without much effort on your part.
May and September are different. The weather is still good in most of the country. The campgrounds are less crowded. The experience is often better. But your sites are half empty.
That gap — between what shoulder season could be and what it actually is — is money you’re leaving behind every single year.
The campgrounds that solve this problem don’t get lucky. They build a strategy around a different kind of guest, a different kind of message, and a different kind of offer. This post shows you exactly how.
First, understand who actually camps in shoulder season
The guests who fill your peak weekends in July are mostly families working around school schedules. They book ahead, they want amenities, they stay a few nights, and they’re gone.
Shoulder season campers are a completely different group. If you try to market to them the same way, you’ll keep getting empty sites.
Peak season guest (July/Aug)
- Families with school-age kids
- Booking 4–8 weeks out
- 2–4 night stays
- Wants activities, pool, events
- Price-sensitive on peak rates
- Needs amenities for kids
Shoulder season guest (May/Sept)
- Couples, retirees, remote workers
- Booking 1–2 weeks out or less
- 5–10+ night stays
- Wants quiet, nature, value
- Less price-sensitive
- Wants longer-stay flexibility
This matters more than anything else in this post. Your shoulder season guests are couples celebrating anniversaries. Retirees who have nowhere to be. Remote workers who can work from anywhere and camp for two weeks at a time. They are not families trying to squeeze in one summer trip.
Your messaging, your offers, and your website content need to speak to them specifically — not to a family of four with a minivan full of kids.
The shoulder season website problem
Pull up your campground website right now. Count how many photos show children, pool toys, and summer activities. Now count how many photos show a couple having coffee by the fire in the morning fog. A solo camper reading in a hammock. An empty, peaceful site with fall colors in the background.
If your website looks like a July brochure, it will only attract July guests.
Shoulder season guests are looking for a specific feeling: quiet, uncrowded, unhurried. If your website doesn’t show them that, they’ll find a campground that does.
Quick fix: Add one dedicated page or section titled something like “Fall camping at [your campground name]” or “Spring camping — fewer crowds, same great sites.” Show photos that match the season. Describe the experience in the guest’s words, not yours. This page alone can capture shoulder season search traffic that your homepage never will.
The search terms your shoulder season guests are actually using
Shoulder season guests search differently than peak guests. They’re not searching “campground near me this weekend.” They’re searching with intent around the experience they want.
Here are real search phrases worth creating content around:
fall camping [your state] campgrounds open in May [your state] quiet campground [your region] campground for couples [your state] full hookup camping September [your area] campgrounds open after Labor Day long term camping [your state] remote work camping [your state] shoulder season RV camping less crowded campgrounds [your region]
None of these phrases appear on most campground websites. That means the campground that creates content around them captures the entire audience — with almost no competition.
Write one blog post for each of these that applies to your location. That’s six months of content and a year of search traffic.
The May strategy and the September strategy are different
They feel similar — both are “off peak” — but the guests and the opportunity are distinct. Treat them separately.
May — the reopening opportunity
May guests are campers who’ve been waiting all winter. They are eager. They are the first to book when you announce you’re open. They want to know: are you open? What’s the weather like? Are sites ready?
What works in May: An “opening weekend” event or announcement that creates urgency. An early-bird discount for guests who book before April 1st. Email to your past guest list in late February — before they’ve booked anything else. A Google Business Profile post announcing your opening date the moment it’s confirmed.
The content angle: “What camping in May actually looks like” — wildflowers, green trails, empty sites, cool mornings. Show the beauty of early season. Most campers assume May is too cold or too muddy. Prove them wrong with real photos and real descriptions.
September — the extension opportunity
September guests are a mix of two groups. Families squeezing in one last trip before school gets too busy. And experienced campers who actively prefer fall — the foliage, the cool air, the empty campground. The second group is your highest-value shoulder season guest.
What works in September: A fall-themed event in late September (chili cookoff, bonfire nights, harvest weekend) gives fence-sitters a reason to book a specific date. A “stay 3 nights, pay for 2” offer for September only. Targeting past guests who stayed in August — they’re already warm, they already love you, and the ask is simply “come back one more time before we close.”
The content angle: “Why September is the best month to camp at [your campground name].” Less crowded. Cooler nights. Fall colors. Campfires feel right again. If you have any seasonal scenery worth showing — aspens, maples, changing colors — September content is some of the highest-converting campground content you can create.
“Peak season campers find you because the season is obvious. Shoulder season campers find you because you told them to come.”
Pricing strategy for shoulder season
Most campgrounds drop their rates in shoulder season to try to fill sites. This is the wrong first move — and here’s why.
Price cuts attract price-sensitive guests. They fill your sites once and never come back. They leave mediocre reviews. They’re not your people.
Instead, use value-adds before you use discounts:
1
Longer stay incentives
Offer a free night for stays of four or more. This doesn’t cut your nightly rate — it rewards commitment and fills more consecutive nights, which is operationally easier for you and feels like a deal to the guest.
2
Bundle add-ons instead of cutting rates
A firewood bundle. A welcome kit. A campsite decoration for anniversaries. These cost you almost nothing but increase perceived value. A $15 bundle of firewood feels like a $40 gesture to a guest who drove two hours to get there.
3
Create a shoulder season rate — not a discount
There’s a psychological difference between “our rate is lower in May” and “we’re running a 20% discount.” One is a pricing structure. The other signals desperation. Present your shoulder season pricing as its own tier — not as a reduction from peak.
4
Last-minute availability offers
If a shoulder season weekend is approaching and you have open sites, a last-minute email or social post to past guests can fill them. Frame it as insider access: “We have 4 sites open this weekend — first to book gets them.” Scarcity and exclusivity work even when the real reason is low occupancy.
Your past guests are your best shoulder season tool
You already have a list of people who liked you enough to pay you. They’re your warmest possible audience. Most campgrounds never contact them again after checkout.
A simple three-email shoulder season sequence can fill a significant portion of your May and September calendar:
- Email 1 (February for May, July for September): “We’re opening soon — here’s what’s new this season.” Share any improvements, new amenities, or events. Remind them what they loved. Include a direct booking link.
- Email 2 (4 weeks before shoulder season): “Our best sites are already filling for [month]. Here’s what’s still available.” Create soft urgency with real availability. Mention the shoulder season offer if you have one.
- Email 3 (2 weeks before): “A few sites left for [specific weekends].” Short, direct, link to book. That’s it.
The number that matters: Returning guests book longer, spend more, cancel less, and leave better reviews than first-time guests. A 10% increase in returning guest rate has more impact on your annual revenue than most marketing tactics you could spend money on.
The Google Business Profile moves that fill shoulder season
Your GBP is not just for peak season. Here’s how to use it specifically for May and September:
Post your opening date the day it’s confirmed. Every year, campers search “is [campground name] open yet” starting in February. A GBP post with your confirmed open date captures that intent and gives those guests a reason to book immediately.
Create seasonal photo sets. Upload fall foliage photos in August and September. Upload spring green photos in April. Google’s algorithm treats recently added photos as a freshness signal. And guests searching in shoulder season will see photos that match what they’re actually considering.
Use your Q&A section. Add questions and answers proactively. “Are you open in May?” “Do you have sites available after Labor Day?” “Is the campground less crowded in September?” Answer all of them. These questions are what your shoulder season guests are literally typing into Google.
Tag shoulder season events in your GBP posts. If you run a fall event, post it on GBP three to four weeks out. Google surfaces local events in search results. A “Fall Harvest Weekend” post can appear for people searching things you’d never think to optimize for.
Build the shoulder season habit now — before the season hits
The campgrounds that struggle in May are the ones that started thinking about May in April. The ones that fill their shoulder season started in February.
Here’s the minimum viable shoulder season checklist:
- One page or section on your website dedicated to shoulder season camping
- Photos on your site that show your campground in May and September specifically
- Two to three blog posts targeting shoulder season search phrases for your region
- A past guest email sequence ready to send in February and July
- A shoulder season offer (value-add, not just a discount)
- GBP posts scheduled around your opening and any fall events
- Q&A answers on your GBP for the top shoulder season questions
None of this requires a big budget. It requires showing up early and speaking to the right guest with the right message at the right time.
The campgrounds filling their May and September sites aren’t luckier than you. They just built the strategy before the season started.
Is your campground visible for shoulder season searches?
The free visibility report shows you how your campground appears in Google — and whether you’re showing up for the searches that fill your off-peak calendar. Get your free visibility report
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