# Answer Hipcamp camper questions from your Inbox

> Campers ask Hipcamp hosts about gates, firewood and dogs. Your agent answers the routine Inbox questions from your notes and leaves the rest to you.

Source: https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server/reply-to-guest-messages

Thursday evening the Hipcamp Inbox fills up with weekend campers asking the same things: which gate, is there firewood, can the dog come, what if we arrive after dark. Each answer is already in your head or your arrival guide, but each still needs typing on a phone with one bar of signal.

Cotlet does it in your own Hipcamp account with list\_messages, get\_booking and send\_message, called by your AI agent, an n8n workflow or a script.

[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=hipcamp) [All Hipcamp tools](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server)

Hosted · nothing to install or maintain

Official options

## Can Hipcamp do this on its own?

Hipcamp has no API for messages (checked 12 Oct 2026). Natively, Hipcamp sends arrival instructions with every booking confirmation, runs scheduled messages at fixed points from "Immediately after request to book" to "6 months after check-out", and lets you send Broadcasts to past, upcoming or current Hipcampers. None of these reads a camper's question and answers it.

By hand

## How you do it in Hipcamp today

1. Open the Hipcamp Inbox and use the All dropdown above the thread list to filter by Unread or Questions; search by Hipcamper name to find one thread.
2. Open a thread and check the booking panel on the right for site, dates, contact details and whether this is a returning Hipcamper.
3. Type the answer in the thread. Attachments such as a site map work only when the Hipcamper has a confirmed booking.
4. For repeat questions, set up scheduled messages under Inbox > Scheduled message > Create a new scheduled message on desktop or mobile web; the app cannot manage them.
5. Scheduled messages cover what everyone needs. The one-off questions about dogs, late arrival or a second car still wait for a reply, thread by thread.

With an agent

## How to answer Hipcamp camper questions from your Inbox

Prompt

```
Go through my unread Hipcamp messages and the Questions filter. Answer anything about directions, gate codes, firewood, pets or late arrival using checkin.md, and leave refunds, complaints and date changes for me.
```

1. 01  
### Collect the open questions  
The agent reads Unread and Questions threads, newest first, and drops threads where your last message is the latest one. Pending request threads go to the booking request job instead, because a reply there does not count as an answer.
2. 02  
### Match the question to the booking  
For each thread it pulls the booking: site, arrival date, group size. "Can we bring a second dog" gets a different answer on a site with a two-pet rule than on one without, and the agent answers per site from your notes.
3. 03  
### Answer only from your sources  
Replies come from your check-in file and site rules, not from guesses. If the notes do not cover the question, the thread goes to your list instead of getting a vague answer.
4. 04  
### Hold anything with money or dates  
Refunds, cancellations, date changes, complaints and damage reports are never answered by the agent. It summarises each one in a line so you can open the right thread first.
5. 05  
### Send with your OK, then report  
Each reply is shown before it goes out under your host name. After the run you get the threads answered, the ones left for you and any question that came up three times, a sign it belongs in a scheduled message.

### What you get back

Example data

```
Unread and questions: 9 threads
Answered (6): Maya R. which gate for Meadow; Jon P. firewood for sale; Lee K. arrival after 10 pm; Ana T. second car parking; two "is there water" questions
Left for you (3): Chris D. asks for a refund after the storm; Sam W. wants to move to Creekside; Ivy L. reports a broken fence
Repeated 3 times this week: "is the water drinkable". Add it to your 48 hours before check-in scheduled message.
```

### Other ways to ask

- Every evening at 7, answer new Hipcamp questions for guests arriving in the next 3 days and send me the rest.
- A storm is coming Saturday. Tell me which guests are arriving this weekend so I can decide whether to message them.
- Find every thread from the last month that asked about pets and draft a pet section for my arrival guide.

Before you automate it

## What Hipcamp allows, and what to know first

- Hipcamp lets you filter Inbox threads by Unread, Pending, Future, Past and Questions, and Pending threads include booking requests still waiting for Accept or Decline.
- Hipcamp scheduled messages can be created and edited on desktop and mobile web but not in the Hipcamp app.
- Hipcamp shows arrival instructions only to campers with a confirmed booking, in the confirmation email and under Trip Details in the app.
- A Hipcamp Broadcast to past Hipcampers is limited to one every 60 days, cannot be edited or undone after sending, and has non-Hipcamp links removed except for campers with upcoming bookings.
- Hipcamp's message-all-onsite tool reaches only campers between their check-in and check-out time, which suits a weather warning but not a reply to one camper.

send\_message asks for your OK by default. To run it daily without you, switch confirmation off for that tool in your dashboard.

Sources: [Hipcamp Help: Using the Hipcamp Inbox](https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407682037268-Using-the-Hipcamp-Inbox) · [Hipcamp Help: How do I set up scheduled messages?](https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360061416032-How-do-I-set-up-scheduled-messages) · [Hipcamp Help: How to send a Broadcast to your Hipcampers](https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/48068877789972-How-to-send-a-Broadcast-to-your-Hipcampers) · [Hipcamp Help: How do I update my arrival instructions?](https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025120311-How-do-I-update-my-arrival-instructions)

REST

## Call send\_message from a script

curl

```
curl https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/hipcamp/send_message \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"conversation_id":"cv_33170","body":"Hi Maya, take the second gate after the red barn; Meadow is the flat spot by the creek. Firewood is $8 a bundle at the shed."}'
```

Example response

```
{
"conversation_id": "cv_33170",
"message_id": "msg_88410",
"sent_at": "2026-10-11T09:05:00Z"
}
```

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the tool is hipcamp\_send\_message. Example data.

[Schedule it in n8n, Make, Zapier or cron](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server#automations)

Tools

## Hipcamp tools this automation uses

__Cotlet Hipcamp tools used to answer Hipcamp camper questions from your Inbox__
| Tool | Parameters |
| -------------- | ---------------------- |
| list\_messages | filter, booking\_id |
| get\_booking | booking\_id |
| send\_message | conversation\_id, body |

[All 15 Hipcamp tools with descriptions](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server#tools)

## More Hipcamp automations

- [Respond to Hipcamp booking requests before they expire](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server/respond-to-booking-requests)
- [Set Hipcamp weekend and event prices for every site](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server/update-nightly-prices)
- [Respond to Hipcamp reviews, publicly or in private](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server/respond-to-reviews)
- [Hipcamp API and MCP server: every tool](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server)
- [All use cases](https://cotlet.dev/use-cases)

## Give your agent access to Hipcamp.

Free 7-day trial with 5,000 credits, no card needed. Cotlet is independent and not affiliated with Hipcamp.

[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=hipcamp)