Site Essentials
The walk nobody talks about — but every site owner dreads
How a 90-second stock check from your phone replaces the 10-minute round trip to the gas cage.
The Scene Every Site Owner Recognises
It's 6:30pm on a Saturday. You've just sat down. The kids are finally eating. Then there's a knock on the office door — or worse, your caravan door.
"Sorry to bother you, but have you got a 13kg Propane?"
You know you might have one. You think there were two left yesterday. But Dave from Pitch 14 took one this morning. Or was that Friday?
So you put your fork down, walk 200 metres to the gas cage, fumble with the padlock, count the bottles, and discover... you're out. Zero. The last one went at lunchtime.
Now you walk back. You explain. You apologise. The guest is polite but clearly annoyed — they've got sausages on the go and no gas to cook them.
This is the Gas Cage Walk of Shame. And it happens at every small site in the country.
| Name | Balance |
|---|---|
| James Mitchell | £0.00 |
| Sarah Collins | £240.00 |
| David Hughes | £0.00 |
| Emma Richardson | £120.00 |
| Mark Thompson | £0.00 |
Click any row to open the full customer profile
Why This Matters More Than You Think
It's easy to dismiss this as a minor inconvenience. But stack up the real costs:
The hidden cost of not knowing your stock
- Lost revenue — every "sorry, we're out" is a £30–£50 sale walking off site
- Reputation damage — guests mention it in reviews ("couldn't even get gas")
- Wasted time — 10 minutes per trip × 3 trips a day = 30 minutes lost daily
- Emergency orders — panic-ordering midweek costs more and disrupts your schedule
- Family time — because it's always at dinner, always on a weekend
For a 40-pitch campsite running from March to October, poor stock visibility could mean losing 2–3 sales per week. At an average of £35 per gas exchange, that's £2,000–£3,000 in lost revenue per season.
The Problem Isn't Stock — It's Visibility
Most sites don't run out of gas because they're bad at ordering. They run out because they don't know they're running low until someone asks.
Think about it: when did you last count your cylinders without a customer prompting you?
The typical stock "system" at a small site looks like this:
| Method | Accuracy | Problem |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | Low | You forget, especially in peak season |
| Whiteboard in the shed | Medium | Nobody updates it |
| Notebook by the till | Medium | Gets lost, numbers don't tally |
| Spreadsheet | High (briefly) | Falls out of date within 48 hours |
None of these tell you the answer at 6:30pm on a Saturday when you're 200 metres from the gas cage.
What a Modern Solution Looks Like
PayCamp's Site Essentials module was built specifically for this problem. It's not a warehouse management system. It's not a retail EPOS. It's a simple stock tracker designed for sites that sell 10–20 different products — gas, Elsan, firewood, milk — and need to know what's in stock right now.
Here's what changes:
📱 Check from anywhere
Open your phone. Tap Site Essentials. See exactly how many 13kg Propane you've got. Answer the guest in 10 seconds, not 10 minutes.
🔄 One-tap exchanges
Customer brings an empty, takes a full? Tap "Exchange". Full count drops, empties count rises. Done. No maths, no notebooks.
⚠️ Low-stock alerts
Set a threshold per gas type. When you hit it, you see an amber warning. Reorder before the Walk of Shame happens.
📦 Track deliveries
Mark cylinders as "on order" so you know what's coming. When the delivery arrives, tap "Receive" and the numbers update instantly.
Explore Our Campsite Demo
See how holiday parks and campsites manage bookings, pitches, and guests effortlessly.
A Real Scenario
Let's walk through a Saturday at Willow Brook Campsite (35 pitches, family-run, open April–September):
7:30am — Sarah opens Site Essentials while making coffee. Dashboard shows: 3× 13kg Propane (Full), 5× 6kg Propane (Full), 1× 15kg Butane (Full — ⚠️ below threshold). She makes a mental note to order Butane on Monday.
9:15am — Guest at reception wants a 6kg Propane exchange. Sarah taps "Exchange" on her phone. Full: 5→4. Empties: 1→2. Takes her 5 seconds.
11:00am — Another exchange: 13kg Propane. Full: 3→2. She notices it's getting close to the threshold of 3. The dashboard already shows amber.
2:30pm — Two guests buy firewood and Elsan Blue from the shop. Sarah records the sales. Stock visibility is maintained.
6:30pm — A guest knocks. "Got any 13kg Propane?" Sarah checks her phone without standing up. "Yes — two left. The cage is unlocked, help yourself and bring the empty to reception."
No walk. No uncertainty. No cold sausages.
Occupancy
78%
+4% vs last period
Revenue
£2,480
+12% vs last period
Outstanding
£340
-8% vs last period
Daily Occupancy
Switch time periods above — stats and chart animate instantly
But I Only Sell Gas — Do I Need This?
If gas is your only product, Site Essentials is still worth it just for the cylinder tracking alone. But most sites sell more than they think:
- Gas cylinders (Propane + Butane, multiple sizes)
- Elsan Blue and Elsan Pink
- Firewood and firelighters
- Milk, bread, eggs
- BBQ charcoal
- Camping essentials (torches, guy ropes, midge spray)
- Ice cream (seasonal)
None of these need a barcode scanner or a retail EPOS. They need a simple "in stock / out of stock" toggle and a way to record when you sell one.
The Bottom Line
The Gas Cage Walk of Shame isn't about laziness. It's about not having the right information at the right time. A 90-second phone check replaces a 10-minute round trip — and saves you from ever saying "sorry, I didn't realise we'd run out" again.
Site Essentials is included in every PayCamp plan. No extra charge, no add-on, no setup fee. Just enable it in your settings and start tracking.
Ready to retire the Walk of Shame?
Start your free trial and enable Site Essentials in under 2 minutes.
Start Free Trial →📱 End the Walk of Shame With Portal Essentials
Let guests pre-order gas online from their phone. They get a notification when it's ready. You get stock tracking and payment in one system. No more gas cage walks of shame.
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See how holiday parks and campsites manage bookings, pitches, and guests effortlessly.