Do guests still use printed maps?
Yes, and the reasons are practical. This is the question we get asked most, usually by someone under forty.
Short answer
Yes. Three practical reasons. Signal: many parks have poor or no cell coverage, and a phone map that will not load at the gate is useless. The moment of use: a guest is towing, tired, and looking for site 47, and paper on the dash beats pinching a phone screen. And persistence: the guide stays in the cab for the whole stay, so the rules, the WiFi password, and the local businesses get read repeatedly rather than once. Parks that have tried dropping the printed map generally bring it back.
Why paper wins at the moment it is used
The guest is in a vehicle, often towing, frequently at dusk, and has just spent a day driving. They need to find a numbered site immediately. A piece of paper on the dash with big numbers, handed to them by a person who circled their site on it, solves that better than any app. There is no loading, no signal, no pinching, and no dropped phone.
The signal problem
A great many parks are in places people go precisely because there is not much there, which correlates strongly with poor coverage. A digital map that requires a connection at the gate is the one place it will not work.
Why it keeps working after arrival
The guide stays in the cab. Over three days a guest looks at it repeatedly: the WiFi password, the laundry hours, where to eat, the checkout time. That repeated exposure is why advertisers renew and why printed rules get followed.
Do both
We give you a digital copy of your map for your website and confirmation emails, so a guest can see the layout before arriving. The printed guide is what they get at check-in. The two do different jobs and neither replaces the other.
Related questions.
Are printed campground maps still used?
Yes. Poor cell coverage, the moment of arrival, and the guide staying in the cab all favour paper.
Should I offer a digital map too?
Yes, on your website and in confirmation emails. We supply a digital copy for exactly that.
Do younger guests use printed maps?
At check-in, yes. The reasons are practical rather than generational: no signal, towing, and big numbers.
Have parks tried dropping printed maps?
Some have, and most bring them back after a season of directing guests over the phone.
More on doing it another way: Should I make my own park map or hire someone? · Can I just use a satellite photo as my park map? · all questions
Want a map for your park?
Send a site list and an aerial photo and we will draw it. Free when local businesses sponsor it, or bought outright with no ads.