EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is sponsored content, provided by the company INEX Technologies.
In 2019, Brian Ellsworth, owner of Rip Van Winkle Campgrounds in New York, was dealing with access-control problems that many campground operators had come to accept as part of doing business.
Guests forgot to return RFID cards. PIN codes were shared with unregistered visitors. Staff spent valuable time issuing and managing credentials. Each morning, reservation information had to be downloaded from the campground’s reservation system and manually imported into its access-control platform.
The process worked, but it required constant attention – and the hidden costs were adding up.
Rip Van Winkle Campgrounds was using NewBook for reservations together with a third-party access-control system. Brian estimated that lost, forgotten and unreturned RFID cards alone were costing the campground approximately $4,000 annually.
Credential sharing created an even larger concern. Guests could give an RFID card or PIN code to friends and visitors who were not registered or authorized to enter the property. In addition to creating security risks, this allowed unauthorized visitors to use campground facilities without paying applicable guest fees.
Replacing Cards and PINs with License Plates
Looking for a better solution, Ellsworth installed INEX license plate recognition cameras at the campground.
The concept was straightforward: instead of relying primarily on a card, remote or shared PIN, the guest’s vehicle license plate became the access credential.
The results were immediate.
“People may share a card or a PIN, but they don’t take their license plate off one vehicle and put it on another,” Ellsworth said.
Using license plates as credentials helped Rip Van Winkle Campgrounds significantly reduce unauthorized access and credential sharing. Ellsworth estimated that the campground recovered approximately $6,000 annually by preventing unregistered entries and related reservation abuse.
Combined with the approximately $4,000 spent each year replacing lost RFID cards, the campground had addressed a problem that had quietly been costing it approximately $10,000 annually.
But Brian’s most important contribution was not simply installing license plate recognition cameras. It was the question he asked next.
Connecting Reservations Directly to Access
Although the campground was now using license plates for vehicle access, staff still had to export reservation information from NewBook and import it into the access-control system each day.
One morning, Ellsworth asked a simple question: Why couldn’t the access system integrate directly with the campground’s reservation platform?
That conversation helped lead to the first direct integration between INEX and NewBook.
Instead of staff manually transferring reservation information, guest and vehicle data could synchronize automatically. The reservation itself became the source of access authorization, determining who should be admitted, when access should begin and when it should expire.
No spreadsheets. No daily imports. No separate credential-management process.
The reservation becomes access.
Today, INEX integrates with leading campground reservation platforms including NewBook, Campspot, ResNexus, CampLife, Firefly, Staylist, Roverpass, and more, allowing access permissions to be created and updated automatically from reservation data. When a reservation is added or changed, the corresponding access authorization can be updated without requiring staff to enter the same information into another system.
When the reservation ends, the associated access permissions expire automatically.
Extending Automated Access Beyond the Front Gate
Modern campgrounds must manage access to much more than vehicle entrances and exits. Guests may need access to cabins, swimming pools, laundry facilities, clubhouses, fitness centers, pedestrian gates and other shared amenities.
A reservation-driven platform can manage these access points using a combination of license plate recognition, PIN codes, QR codes and compatible smart locks.
For example, a reservation can automatically generate a unique PIN for each guest. The PIN may be used for initial gate entry when the guest arrives in a rental vehicle or did not provide a license plate number during booking. After the vehicle’s first entry, its license plate can become the primary credential for future gate access, and the PIN can be disabled at the vehicle gate. This provides flexibility during arrival while reducing the risk of continued credential sharing.
The same reservation-generated PIN can remain active for the guest’s cabin and authorized amenities. Access can be customized by location and schedule. For example, a guest’s PIN may open the swimming pool gate only during operating hours, such as between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., while remaining valid for the guest’s cabin at other times. Guests can be permitted to enter pools, laundry buildings and other shared spaces without gaining access to employee-only areas.
When the reservation expires, the associated license plates, PIN codes and door-access permissions expire automatically.
Campground operators can also create scheduled permissions for employees, contractors, vendors and seasonal occupants. Access can be controlled by location, date, day of the week, time and user type, giving operators precise control over who can enter each part of the property and when.
INEX access-control technology works with INEX gate and door hardware and can also connect with compatible third-party smart-lock platforms, helping campground operators manage multiple types of access through one centralized system.
Reducing Labor and After-Hours Work
Campgrounds frequently rely on office personnel, gate attendants or after-hours staff to issue credentials, replace lost cards, open gates and assist guests who cannot enter.
Reservation-driven automation can eliminate much of this repetitive work.
Instead of manually issuing and collecting RFID cards, staff can allow the system to activate and deactivate access according to reservation dates. Guests can arrive after the office closes without waiting for an employee to open the gate, while campground personnel can remotely review activity and provide assistance when necessary.
The system can also recognize approved delivery and emergency vehicles using license plate or vehicle make-and-model information. This can allow authorized vehicles to enter without staff intervention while maintaining a record of the activity.
The objective is not only to automate the gate. It is to reduce the amount of staff time required to manage access across the entire property.
Recovering Revenue from Extended Visitor Stays
Campgrounds can also use entry and exit reporting to identify visitors who remain on the property longer than they paid to stay.
For example, a visitor may pay a $10 daily vehicle fee to spend one day with a registered guest but remain at the campground for several additional days. With entry and exit cameras, the system records the visitor’s license plate and can show whether that vehicle departed before the paid access period expired.
Each morning, campground staff can review a report of visitor vehicles that entered but did not leave as expected. Because the visitor’s license plate, phone number and the registered guest being visited are associated with the access record, staff can contact the visitor and collect payment for the additional days.
This turns information that was previously difficult to verify into recoverable revenue. Some campground operators estimate that identifying unpaid extended visitor stays alone can generate or recover approximately $10,000 in additional annual revenue, depending on the property’s size, visitor volume and daily guest fees.
Improving Security and Operational Visibility
Automated access also gives operators greater visibility into activity at their properties.
Instead of simply knowing that a credential was used, operators can review the vehicle associated with an entry or exit event, including when it arrived and when it departed.
This information can be valuable when investigating property damage, vandalism, theft, guest disputes, overstays or unauthorized visitors. Search and forensic tools can help staff locate relevant vehicle activity in seconds rather than manually reviewing hours of video.
Entry and exit records may also provide useful information during urgent situations, including missing-person investigations or Amber Alerts.
License plate recognition does more than open a gate. It creates a searchable record that can help campground operators understand what occurred and which vehicle was involved.
From a Single Campground to a New Operational Model
What began as one campground owner’s effort to stop losing RFID cards helped shape a broader approach to campground access management.
By connecting reservation systems directly with gates, doors and amenities, campgrounds can reduce manual work, limit shared credentials, improve security and provide guests with a more convenient arrival experience.
The technology can also help address revenue leakage that may otherwise remain unnoticed. When a vehicle becomes the credential, it becomes much more difficult for guests to pass their access privileges to unregistered visitors.
For Rip Van Winkle Campgrounds, the original motivation was a costly combination of lost cards and unauthorized access. The solution demonstrated that information already contained in a reservation could manage access automatically, without requiring staff to repeatedly enter, import or update the same data.
Today, a reservation no longer needs to simply book a stay.
It can admit the guest’s vehicle, provide access to a cabin, unlock authorized amenities and automatically expire every permission at checkout.
The reservation becomes access.
Learn more about reservation-integrated campground access control at INEX Technologies.
