# Respond to Hipcamp booking requests before they expire

> Hipcamp requests expire after 24 hours and hurt your response rate. Your agent screens each one by your rules and answers before the deadline.

Source: https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server/respond-to-booking-requests

A Request to Book site means every new camper waits for your yes, and Hipcamp gives you 24 hours to say it. The request email lands while you are mowing a field or driving to town, and by evening the request has expired and your response rate has dropped.

Cotlet does it in your own Hipcamp account with list\_booking\_requests, get\_booking, get\_calendar, accept\_booking\_request, decline\_booking\_request and block\_dates, 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 or automation rule for booking requests (checked 12 Oct 2026). Hipcamp's own answer is Instant Book, set per site under Property > Sites > Booking settings, which removes the screening step altogether. Hosts who keep Request to Book answer by hand from the email, the Inbox, the app or, in the US, by text message. Request to Book is not offered to hosts in the UK and EU.

By hand

## How you do it in Hipcamp today

1. Open the Hipcamp Inbox, choose All at the top of the thread list and switch the filter to Pending to see the requests still waiting for an answer.
2. Open each request thread and read the camper's introduction message, dates, site and group size; the camper's phone number sits in the Calendar if a call is quicker.
3. Click Accept or Decline in the message thread. In the email you can do the same from the buttons, and US hosts with a mobile number can text back Accept, Decline or Decline On, adding the booking number when several requests wait.
4. The US text reply Decline also blocks the requested nights, while Decline On keeps them open. After a decline from the email or Inbox, check those nights in Calendar > Bulk Edit and block them if needed, or the next camper requests the same dates.
5. A message to the camper does not count as an answer. Hipcamp only counts Accept or Decline, so a friendly question sent at night still lets the request expire at the 24-hour mark.

With an agent

## How to respond to Hipcamp booking requests before they expire

Prompt

```
Check my pending Hipcamp booking requests. Accept stays of 1 to 4 nights for up to 4 guests if the camper's note raises nothing odd, decline requests for nights I have closed, and ask me about anything else before it expires.
```

1. 01  
### Start from the deadline  
The agent pulls pending requests and orders them by expires\_at. A request with under two hours left goes first, and if your OK is needed for it, the agent says so at the top of its message instead of in a list.
2. 02  
### Read the camper, not just the dates  
get\_booking returns the introduction message and the group. The agent checks your rules: nights, guests, pets, arrival time, vehicle. A note like "we are a group of 8 for a birthday" on a site for 4 is flagged, not accepted.
3. 03  
### Check the calendar before saying yes  
get\_calendar for the requested nights confirms the site is still open. If you blocked those nights after the request came in, or another booking now covers part of the stay, the agent proposes a decline instead of an accept.
4. 04  
### Decline with a reason and close the gap  
For a decline caused by closed or unsuitable dates, the agent drafts a short note to the camper and, after the decline, offers to block the same nights with block\_dates so no one else requests them. A decline for group size or pets leaves the calendar open.
5. 05  
### Hand back what does not fit a rule  
Requests the rules do not cover stay pending and go to you with a one-line summary and the time left. The agent never sends a message instead of an answer to buy time, because Hipcamp would still count the request as expired.

### What you get back

Example data

```
Pending requests: 4 (Willow Creek Farm)
Accepted: Jon P., Meadow, 23 to 25 Oct, 2 guests and a dog, note "arriving after 5 pm" (your OK given)
Accepted: Priya S., Creekside, 24 to 26 Oct, 3 guests
Declined: Tom B., Meadow, 31 Oct to 2 Nov, you closed those nights for reseeding; dates blocked so no new requests come in
Waiting for you: Hale family, Creekside, 7 guests on a 4-guest site, expires today 16:40
```

### Other ways to ask

- Every morning and evening, show me Hipcamp requests that expire in the next 8 hours and accept only weekday stays.
- Accept every request for the Creekside site if the camper has stayed with us before; ask me about first-timers.
- Decline all requests for Thanksgiving week with a polite note, and block those nights on every site.
- Tell me how many requests expired or were declined in the last month, so I know if I am near Hipcamp's 20% limit.

Before you automate it

## What Hipcamp allows, and what to know first

- Hipcamp's policy asks hosts not to decline or expire more than 20% of booking requests, and Hipcamp may reach out to a host who passes that line.
- Hipcamp shows campers your response rate on the Site page once you have had 3 booking requests, based on the last 5; your acceptance rate stays private on your dashboard.
- A declined or expired Hipcamp request cannot be accepted later; the camper has to submit a new request.
- Star Host status on Hipcamp needs an average response under 6 hours and a 100% response rate, so one expired request costs the badge until later requests rebuild it.
- Hipcamp holds the camper's funds when the request arrives and charges only on accept; after a decline the pending hold can stay on the camper's card for up to 7 business days.

accept\_booking\_request and decline\_booking\_request ask for your OK by default. To run it twice a day without you, switch confirmation off for those tools in your dashboard.

Sources: [Hipcamp Help: Accepting or Declining a Booking Request](https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024823132-Accepting-or-Declining-a-Booking-Request) · [Hipcamp Help: Policy on responding to requests to book](https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024821972-What-is-Hipcamp-s-policy-on-responding-to-requests-to-book) · [Hipcamp Help: How acceptance rate, response rate and response time are calculated](https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025120831-How-are-my-acceptance-rate-response-rate-and-response-time-calculated) · [Hipcamp Help: What is a Star Host?](https://support.hipcamp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025121451-What-is-a-Star-Host)

REST

## Call accept\_booking\_request from a script

curl

```
curl https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/hipcamp/accept_booking_request \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"booking_id":"bk_90217","message":"Welcome, Jon! Late arrival is fine; the gate code comes the day before."}'
```

Example response

```
{
"booking_id": "bk_90217",
"status": "confirmed",
"site": "Meadow",
"arrival": "2026-10-23",
"departure": "2026-10-25",
"total": 90,
"currency": "USD"
}
```

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the tool is hipcamp\_accept\_booking\_request. 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 respond to Hipcamp booking requests before they expire__
| Tool | Parameters |
| ------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| list\_booking\_requests | listing\_id |
| get\_booking | booking\_id |
| get\_calendar | listing\_id, site\_id, from, to |
| accept\_booking\_request | booking\_id, message |
| decline\_booking\_request | booking\_id, message |
| block\_dates | listing\_id, site\_id, from, to, reason |

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

## Frequently asked questions

### Should I just switch my Hipcamp site to Instant Book?

Hipcamp recommends Instant Book and lets you limit it with advance notice and group size settings. Request to Book fits hosts who want to read each camper's note first; with it, the 24-hour deadline is the part an agent takes off your hands.

## More Hipcamp automations

- [Set Hipcamp weekend and event prices for every site](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server/update-nightly-prices)
- [Answer Hipcamp camper questions from your Inbox](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/hipcamp-api-mcp-server/reply-to-guest-messages)
- [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)