Modernizing Walk-Up Camping Without Adding Staff

How Papio-Missouri River NRD made walk-up camping self-service and estimates it saves staff 25% of the time previously spent managing campground operations.

Customer: Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District
Location: Nebraska
Campground Model: Walk-up only
Solution: Mobile payments and self-service campground management
Estimated Staff Time Savings: 25%

“For the first time in 20 years, I didn't have a single call on the 4th of July!”
— John Winkler, General Manager, Papio-Missouri River NRD

The Challenge

Walk-up camping is simple for the camper: find an open campsite, pull in and stay.

Managing it isn't always as simple.

Campground staff need a way to collect payment, know which sites are being used and help campers arriving throughout the day, including after staff have left.

For Papio-Missouri River NRD, the answer wasn't to change its walk-up camping model. It wanted to preserve the flexibility campers expect while reducing the staff time required to manage it.

And on busy holiday weekends, when campgrounds are full and staff are stretched thin, those operational challenges become even more apparent.

The Solution

Set Your Sites made Papio-Missouri River NRD's existing walk-up experience self-service.

Each campsite has a unique QR code. Campers choose an available site, scan the QR code and pay directly from their phone.

There's no app to download. Campers don't need to find an employee, visit an office or use a payment kiosk.

For staff, payments are recorded digitally, giving the team visibility into campground activity without requiring an employee to handle every transaction or need to be on-site.

The campground stays walk-up. The work behind it became digital.

The Impact

25% Estimated Staff Time Savings

Papio-Missouri River NRD estimates Set Your Sites saves approximately 25% of the staff time previously spent managing campground operations.

Routine payment collection moves from staff to the camper, freeing employees to spend more time maintaining recreation areas and serving visitors.

A Quiet 4th of July

The impact became particularly clear on one of the busiest camping weekends of the year.

After two decades of managing public recreation areas, General Manager John Winkler noticed something unusual:

His phone wasn't ringing.

“For the first time in 20 years, I didn't have a single call on the 4th of July!”

Campers were able to arrive and complete their transactions themselves instead of relying on staff to walk them through the process.

No Cash Box or Kiosk Required

Campers pay at their campsite using their own phones. Papio-Missouri River NRD can offer self-service payment without relying on a cash box or installing and maintaining a payment kiosk.

After-Hours Arrivals Keep Working

Campers don't need an employee to be present to complete their transaction. They can arrive, choose their campsite and pay even when staff aren't available.

Keep Walk-Up Camping. Lose the Manual Work.

Modernizing a public campground doesn't have to mean turning it into a reservation-only operation.

Papio-Missouri River NRD kept the walk-up experience its campers wanted while making the operation behind it dramatically more self-service.

The district estimates 25% staff time savings, while one of the busiest camping holidays of the year resulted in something its General Manager hadn't experienced in two decades:

Not a single phone call.

Set Your Sites helps public campgrounds make camping self-service, so staff can spend less time managing transactions and more time managing the outdoors.

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