Hipcamp is the #1 app to find and book campsites, from national parks to blueberry farms. Hipcamp unifies the world’s best camping options across peaceful private spots, iconic public lands and well-equipped campgrounds to create one app that has everywhere you want to camp.
Written by the business, not verified by us.
Is Hipcamp legit?
Hipcamp (www.hipcamp.com) has a 3.4 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 200 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Travel & Vacation and its reputation is mixed. Opinions are polarized: 59% rate it 4 stars or higher while 31% give 1 star; The business has replied to 88% of negative reviews; 31 of them were added in the last 12 months. Last updated 2026-08-31.
I booked through HIPCAMP after searching for camping sites for my family. Seems great but it is not. Booked a site for 5 days. It was really hard getting in touch with anyone after my booking. The app leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, after 2 days with rain we left our camp site. Leaving 3 days unused. The camp site, Sensible Weather Insurance AND HIPCAMP all denied me a refund on the remaining days. Customer service agents were mostly kind and I know it’s just their job. HIPCAMP, however, does have the ability to refund me and they chose not to. I will not be using HIPCAMP again.
Reply from Hipcamp2024-07-22
Hi Shabana,
Thanks for taking the time to share this feedback with us and with the broader Hipcamp community.
The duration of guaranteed good weather is dynamic based on the dates and location of your Hipcamp stay. The terms of the Sensible Weather guarantee are clearly stated when you book, in confirmation emails, and in pre-arrival emails. You’ll receive a payout from Sensible (our third-party provider) if the forecasted weather each day of your trip exceeds the conditions stated in your Weather Guarantee.
All reimbursements are paid by Sensible Weather. Hipcamp, and Hipcamp's Hosts, are not liable for any Weather Guarantee reimbursements to guests. The Weather Guarantee is a separate product purchased from and issued by Sensible Weather.
If you disagree with the decision by Sensible Weather, you will need to reach out to them directly via (424) 367-1964 or at [email protected]
For further information about the Sensible Weather Guarantee, please see this FAQ: https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/26844552214932-What-is-the-Sensible-Weather-Guarantee-and-how-can-it-help-me-get-reimbursed-if-it-rains-during-my-trip
I enjoyed hipcamp until I realized that they are not host friendly. They say they are working on getting people outdoors and that is their mission statement, but this is untrue. They had an amazing host that they cancelled their contract immediately due to a neighbor that called with lies. Without even listening to the host, there was nothing they could do to stay on the service. The host called The Dyrt to let them know of the issue and they just laughed about the neighbors and continued as normal. Hipcamp needs to change some of their policies to be host friendly or hopefully their service will fail. I tried to contact the president of Hipcamp, she never replied, just heard from some senior call center agent. Terrible service.
Reply from Hipcamp2024-07-11
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for taking the time to share this feedback with us and with the broader Hipcamp community!
As outlined in your Support ticket with us regarding this matter, Hipcamp unfortunately is unable to reactivate this property at this time due to the harassment towards campers from neighboring residents, which you have raised in your communications with us. We're sorry that the neighbors are actively resisting this activity in their area, but at this time we don't feel comfortable sending guests to this property due to the behavior you described to us.
Whilst such behavior might not bother some guests such as yourself, many campers would not expect to encounter or manage such behavior from neighbors when they are simply trying to enjoy the outdoors. It is important that Hipcampers feel safe and welcomed when on a trip, and it's for this reason that we cannot continue to send guests to this property in good faith knowing that they may face harassment or confrontation from neighboring residents.
Should there be a change in circumstances regarding the neighboring residents, we would be happy to revisit this decision with the Host!
If you could actually send me a receipt with dates, location and what I reserved you would save everyone from wondering..,
Reply from Hipcamp2024-07-09
Hi Eric,
Thanks for sharing this feedback with us and with the broader Hipcamp community!
Receipts can be located via the Trips section of your account; here's how to find them: https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040239212-Where-can-I-find-a-copy-of-my-receipt
Trip confirmations, which include the property location and Host contact details, are also located in the Trips section of your account: https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/13181581584020-How-do-I-know-if-my-booking-is-confirmed
If you run into difficulties with this, please reach out to our Support team via https://hipca.mp/support so we can assist further!
HipCamp started with a good idea to be diverse and be inclusive, but the devil is in the details, and HipCamp is not really camper-friendly, but host-friendly. This is an upside down business model. The money comes from the campers but HipCamp charges by the night, making it quite expensive if you camp for more than a few days. No option for an annual or semi-annual or even monthly membership. AND recently they started letting hosts charge a pet fee per night and per pet, which is OUTRAGEOUS. The hosts do nothing for the pets, and the pets are on a leash, so what is the pet fee for? It's a rip-off.
It's all in one camping finder. It takes the guess work out of locating a site. You can reserve online as well so you don't have to make the cut off times of an open office. Love this app.
Attempted scam on Hipcamp. Little / lacking support which only responds back 2-4 days later per message.
I made 2 bookings via hipcamp while a friend of mine made 1 booking from 1 host on the platform.
The host had an aggressive cancellation policy (50% refund if its outside of the 30 day booking date). We realised we wouldn't be able to make the booking and the host refused full refund but also refused the 50% refund we were entitled to. For some reason it's up to the host to issue the 50% booking refund. Which goes against all wording on Hipcamps website.
The support is automated via a bot, which will create a ticket for a support to see which then takes 2-4 days to hear anything back. The staff don't tackle any issues and prolong the process.
I'd sincerely advise anyone reading this to use a different platform since now a host has scammed 3 of us.
Reply from Hipcamp2024-07-01
Hi Seb,
Just checking back in on this! I have located your original Support tickets. When you cancelled your bookings, you were refunded in line with the cancellation policy - it appears you were unclear on how to cancel the booking, versus requesting a refund for an un-cancelled booking. Please reply to your Support ticket with Ashleigh if you require further clarification; you can also view your booking receipts via the Trips section of your account!
My boyfriend booked a hipcamp in Joshua Tree, and had the absolute worst experience with customer service and the amenities were far from what was described. Note the hipcamp location is called “Romantic Oasis 10 Acres Great View” hosted by Sabina.
He had paid extra for the propane and the propane grill (over $50). But since the weather was far too windy, he was unable to use this. Rather than refunding the money, they dragged the negotiations, mentioning she’d need to have a “board meeting” to make a decision and the back and forth went way past the date in which we could provide a review. Not only did we not get the refund and the host simply stopped responding, but now we cannot even leave a honest review to warn others because the review time lapsed. The host, Sabina C, is extremely sketchy and the hipcamp customer service team did nothing.
It’s clear that they don’t care about vetting their hosts and how they treat their customers!
Don’t use hipcamp!! You won’t get customer service support!
Reply from Hipcamp2024-05-28
Hi Anny,
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us and with the broader Hipcamp community. We're sorry to hear you had a difficult experience with this booking!
If you have filed a Support ticket with our team, please reply to it and request that it be escalated to Ellyn (that's me!) for review and further assistance. Looking forward to hearing from you!
First timing using HipCamp. Booked a great site for Memorial Day weekend 3 months ago. Today (4 days before our trip) the host cancelled our reservation. Apparently the calendar double-booked the site with another party. $10 in "HipCash" doesn't make up for it. I plan on using other sites in the future. Layout easy but now I don't trust the system.
Reply from Hipcamp2024-05-22
Hi Al,
Thanks for taking the time to share this feedback with us and with the greater Hipcamp community. We appreciate hearing for you!
We are very sorry to hear that you've had this experience. It is a Host's responsibility to take steps to prevent double bookings, either by setting up a calendar sync (if their property is cross-listed on another booking platform), or by manually blocking dates on their Hipcamp calendar when a non-Hipcamp booking comes through, so that those dates are not shown as available on Hipcamp's end.
If you would like to reach out to our team via https://hipca.mp/support with your booking number, our team will be able to reach out to the Host directly to learn more about this situation and assist them with setting up a calendar sync if one is required. We look forward to hearing from you so that we can work with the Host to ensure this does not happen to other guests in the future!
DO NOT waste your time or money! I am not impressed at all! I made a booking through Hipcamp April 26, arrived today (5/21) and the campground didn't know we were coming and had not received any monies from the $173 collected by Hipcamp. And no way to contact them! You can only talk to a bot, a very stupid bot, who we can only hope passed my info on to a real person who won't contact me for 3-4 days! How stupid! Thankfully the campground was able to accommodate us, and now it's a waiting game to see if they get paid or if I will have to pony up more money and hope to get a refund from Hipcamp. They have had this happen with Hipcamp before! Only use them as a listing for campgrounds...contact the owners yourself!
Reply from Hipcamp2024-05-22
Hi Renee,
Thanks so much for taking the time to share this feedback with us and with the broader Hipcamp community. We appreciate hearing from you!
We're sorry to hear that you had a difficult experience with your booking. For reference, Hipcamp sends all booking information to Hosts instantly when a booking is confirmed; it is a Host's responsibility to ensure they are checking their emails, SMS confirmations, app, and/or account calendar to ensure they are aware of which guests are checking in or out on any given day. Hipcamp processes booking payments to Hosts on the Tuesday after a camper checks out; this has always been how the payout process works.
I can see that one of our Support agents has assisted you with your Support enquiry, and has explained that your booking was this Host's first ever booking. Our team have reached out to the Host directly to provide assistance and to find out if they require assistance navigating the platform in order to ensure a smooth experience for both themselves and their guests.
Thank you again for taking the time to reach out. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention so that we could assist!
We stayed here in our VW campervan last Thursday at short notice. The booking process on the website was nice and straight forward like that you could use Apple pay. I telephoned to arrange a "late" arrival after the 7 PM last check in which was no problem at all. The site is well signposted after the village and the road up to the site is fine for a small van. Wonderful panoramic views and a gorgeous sunset. The toilets and showers are well presented clean and up-to-date. Outside Cold water washing up facilities perfectly adequate (washing-up liquid, bowl and drainer most welcome). Slightly annoying that there is no rubbish disposal but given the off grid feel to the place perhaps perfectly understandable. Certainly be back again.
awful paid for a spot, thought the weather might be bad- so asked if we could cancel, they charged me FULL PRICE and would not let us come and camp
Reply from Hipcamp2024-05-20
Hi Kathy,
Thanks for taking the time to share this feedback with us and with the broader Hipcamp community. We appreciate hearing from you!
When cancelling a booking, Hipcamp defers to a Host's stated cancellation policy. You can learn more about those policies here: https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025120071-What-is-the-cancellation-policy
If you believe that there are extenuating circumstances, or if there was a severe weather advisory or natural disaster that impacted your ability to safely complete your trip, please reach out to our team at https://hipca.mp/support with your booking number for assistance!
Getting a book was pretty easy. The only thing is on the website. The room said check-in was at three and check out is 11 after I paid and got the confirmation number. It said check-in is at four and check out is at 10. That’s the only discrepancy that didn’t like, but otherwise fantastic
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