A guest rings to say they have a 7.5 metre motorhome with an awning and a bad knee, and could they please be near the toilet block but not too near. You glance at the diary, sigh, and start moving names around. Good campsite pitch allocation is the quiet skill that separates a site that runs smoothly from one that is forever shuffling people on arrival day.

This guide covers how to decide who goes where, when to let guests choose their own pitch, how to protect your best spots without annoying regulars, and how to stop allocation eating your evenings. It works for a five van CL, a CS site or a larger park.

Why pitch allocation matters more than you think

Put a family with three noisy children next to a couple who booked for peace and quiet and you will hear about it in a review. Put a large unit on a pitch that is too tight and you risk damaged hedges, blocked access and awkward conversations about spacing. Get it right and guests simply feel looked after, without knowing why.

Allocation also affects your income. If the pitches that suit big units get filled by small tents, the next motorhome enquiry has nowhere to go and you lose a booking you could have had. Treating pitches as a puzzle to solve, rather than a list to tick off, makes you more money with the same land.

Know your pitches before you assign anyone

You cannot allocate well if the details live in your head. Write down, or better still record in your booking system, the facts that matter for each pitch:

If you have never mapped this properly, our guides to pitch types and pitch layout are a good place to start. Ten minutes with a notebook on a dry day pays off for the whole season.

Three ways to allocate pitches

1. You choose for the guest

The guest books a type of pitch, such as touring with electric, and you decide which one they get. This gives you the most control. You can pack the field efficiently, keep gaps tidy and save your premium pitches for people willing to pay for them. It suits smaller sites where you know every corner and enjoy the puzzle.

The downside is workload. Every booking needs a decision, and guests who wanted a particular spot may feel they had no say.

2. The guest chooses their own pitch

With a map and a clear list of what each pitch offers, guests pick the exact spot they want when they book. It cuts the phone calls and lets people choose for reasons only they know, like a shady spot for a dog or a short walk for a relative. Many guests now expect it, especially if they have used hotel or airline booking pages.

The risk is that popular pitches go first and the awkward ones sit empty. You can fix that with pricing, covered below.

3. A mix of both

Most successful sites land here. Let guests choose from a set of pitches, but keep a few back that you assign yourself. Hold your biggest pitches for large units, keep a couple for late bookings, and keep one in reserve for the awkward day when something goes wrong. You get the convenience of choice and the safety net of control.

Match the pitch to the unit, not just the date

The most common allocation mistake is asking for dates and nothing else. You need to know what is arriving. Ask at booking for:

Be honest about dimensions. Guests often quote the length of the van and forget the drawbar. Tell them that the figure should include the hitch and awning, and add a safety margin of your own when you assign the pitch. A pitch that is a snug fit on paper is a nightmare in the rain.

If you are a CL or CS site with a small number of units, the same thinking applies. The five unit limit means every pitch counts, so make sure a unit that needs space is not blocking a second booking.

Protect your best pitches without upsetting regulars

Every site has favourites. The corner with the view, the flat pitch by the gate, the one that catches the evening sun. Handle them deliberately:

Handle changes, swaps and double bookings

Guests will ask to move. Weather turns, a neighbour is too close, the awning does not fit. Decide on a sensible policy in advance: moves are free if the pitch is available and the same price, and you charge the difference if they want an upgrade. Having a rule means you never have to negotiate on the doorstep.

Allocation errors usually lead to the worst kind of mistake, double booking. Two people assigned the same pitch happens when the diary is on paper, on a whiteboard and in your head. One shared record that updates as bookings come in removes the problem.

Also think about turnaround days. If a pitch is occupied until 11am and the next guest arrives at 1pm, check the gap is realistic. Allocating pitches with a tight changeover to staff who are already stretched is asking for trouble.

Make allocation easier with the right system

Doing this on paper works until it does not. A visual diary that shows every pitch against every date lets you see gaps at a glance, drag a booking from one pitch to another and spot a clash before it happens. With pitch and park setup in CampSuite you can record the size, hook ups and rules for each pitch, and with the booking diary you can move people around in seconds instead of rewriting a page.

Whatever you use, send the guest their pitch details before they arrive. A short message with the pitch name, how to find it and where to park the car saves queues at reception. Our tips on guest communication show what to include.

The key takeaway

Good pitch allocation is about knowing your pitches, knowing what is arriving and keeping a little flexibility in reserve. Record the facts for each pitch, ask guests for the details that matter, protect your best spots with fair pricing and keep a single source of truth for the diary. Do that and arrival day becomes calm, your pitches earn more and fewer guests need moving.

If you want a booking diary that shows every pitch at a glance, try CampSuite free. It is free for CL sites and CS sites, and you can see the plans for larger parks on the pricing page.