Outdoor hospitality professionals are facing a fundamental shift in how travelers discover and book campgrounds, RV parks, and glamping resorts, according to discussions during the latest CampVantage Live session.
Properties must become AI-ready to remain visible to potential guests, citing new tools, standards, and trends shaping the digital landscape.
CampVantage Live, a weekly collaborative learning session for campground owners and operators, focused on artificial intelligence, automation, and technology that directly affect the outdoor hospitality industry.
Brian Searl, founder of Insider Perks, presented key developments in AI that can help campgrounds optimize guest discovery, operational efficiency, and marketing automation.
In his latest news update at the show, Searl mentioned that Serve Robotics has built 2,000 autonomous delivery robots.
He also noted that the Linux Foundation has launched the Agentic AI Foundation, a collaborative project with major participants including Google, Telus, and Oracle, aimed at advancing agent-based AI technologies.
In addition, Searl highlighted a recent Google update reshaping SEO. The new Google AI Overview addresses information overload by summarizing content and providing recommendations directly, with Google now linking to these overviews for information purposes.
The session also addressed the increasing influence of AI in travel planning and the AI-Ready Website standard.
“Travelers—especially younger ones—are increasingly turning to AI assistants to research and book travel. They’re not typing keywords into search boxes. They’re asking questions and expecting answers,” Searl reads in his presentation.
Most websites are described as “fundamentally incomprehensible” to AI systems attempting to answer traveler queries. While designed to look good to humans and satisfy Google crawlers, they were not built for modern AI comprehension, the presentation explains.
The discussion cited examples of search queries, such as requests for big rig–friendly RV parks near Joshua Tree, glamping resorts with hot tubs near Asheville, and family campgrounds near Yellowstone with specific amenities.
“These aren’t keyword searches. They’re requests for understanding, evaluation, and recommendation,” he added.
Randy Hendrickson, founder and CEO of EVOLVE Lodging and The Intrepid Group Hospitality Brokerage, joined Searl on the virtual stage and underscored the urgency for properties to adapt.
The session also included a five-step AI-readiness action plan designed for campground and RV park owners to implement within 90 days.
Step one, auditing entity definitions, ensures AI can immediately identify property type, location, site details, hookups, and open dates.
Step two addresses knowledge graph consistency, requiring that website and Google Business Profile information match exactly across all attributes, including property name, phone number, amenities, and seasonal hours.
Hendrickson noted, “If you are not talking about key data points, you are invisible. If you are not visible, you don’t exist.'”
Step three involves adding attribute density to site-type pages. The presentation stressed the importance of factual details for each accommodation type, including dimensions, surface type, hookup configurations, vehicle length limits, and rates.
In the presentation, step four emphasizes making rates visible on every page. Hidden rates are “AI-invisible,” and clear pricing must be presented in readable text, not solely in booking widgets or forms.
Step five also advises owners to “ask AI about yourself” to establish a baseline understanding of what AI currently knows about their property and where knowledge gaps exist.
“Defining a website for all the history of the internet is completely different from defining a website today and going forward,” he explained.
The session also included a lighter note, highlighting Insider Perks’ release of a holiday AI music album.
“Fully Booked for Christmas,” an 11-track collection produced entirely using AI, follows the company’s debut AI album “Click, Camp, & Roll,” showcasing the creative applications of AI in the outdoor hospitality space.
“This album exists because of AI,” said Searl. “Eighteen months ago, creating a full-length, professional-quality album without a recording budget, musical training, or industry connections was impossible,” he said in a press release.
“Today, I wrote the lyrics with AI assistance, generated the music through AI platforms, and distributed a complete album to every major streaming service—all from my laptop. That’s not a novelty. That’s a fundamental shift in what’s possible for small business owners,” he added.
CampVantage Live takes place every Tuesday at 10 a.m. MST, offering outdoor hospitality professionals a dynamic space to learn and collaborate. Each session features concise AI updates, interactive problem-solving discussions, and hands-on demonstrations, ensuring attendees gain practical insights they can apply immediately.
To sign up and receive weekly reminders, visit crowdcast.io/c/campvantage. The series will continue weekly in 2026, pausing briefly for the holiday season.