Airbnb-style camping comes to UK as US giant Hipcamp buys Cool Camping

theguardian.com:

The British camping brand Cool Camping has been taken over by a large US company, Hipcamp, which aims to bring its Airbnb-style model of campsite booking to the UK.

From today, all 25,000 camping pitches and glamping structures on Cool Camping’s website will be listed instead on Hipcamp.

Based in San Francisco, Hipcamp claims to be the world’s biggest provider of outdoor stays, offering half a million campsites in the US, Canada and Australia. This is its first foray into Europe.

As well as covering commercial campsites and glamping, the site enables private landowners to rent their outdoor space to campers, in the same way Airbnb enables homeowners to rent properties and spare rooms to holidaymakers. Anyone with suitable land can charge from £10 a night for a pitch using the Hipcamp platform, setting their own nightly rates. Listings on the website are free, but Hipcamp takes 15% from each booking.

Only those in rural locations, rather than urban and suburban settings, and with an acre or more of available space can sign up. They must provide toilets for tent campers (though not for campervanners), can choose to offer outdoor activities and extras, such as fresh eggs or fry-ups for breakfast, and must meet a list of other criteria regarding safety, hygiene and planning laws. Many will operate under the UK’s 28-day planning exemption, which allows landowners to use their land for commercial activities for up to 28 days a year. Private hosts will be eligible for Hipcamp’s liability insurance, which protects them for up to £1m.

Hipcamp’s founder and CEO Alyssa Ravasio, who launched the business in the US in 2013, said her aim was to make it simpler for more people to get outside. “I realised that given how crowded our public