Surf Camp Pricing: How to Package Weekly Camps With Accommodation

Start with the cost of one guest-week

Before you look at what other camps charge, work out what a guest costs you for a week. Do it per guest, per week, and include everything.

• Accommodation. Rent, cleaning, laundry, utilities and wear divided by the beds you realistically fill, not the beds you have. A house that is 70% full across the season costs more per guest than one that is full.
• Lessons. Instructor hours for the number of sessions in the package, divided by your normal group size. If camp guests learn in their own groups, cost those groups separately.
• Transport. Van, fuel and driver time for the daily beach run and any airport transfers you include.
• Food. Whatever is included: breakfast, packed lunches, a group dinner.
• Equipment. Boards and wetsuits for the week, including repairs and replacements spread over the season.
• Staff and hosting. Someone has to run the house, answer messages at 22:00 and drive to the pharmacy.
• Overheads. Insurance, licences, marketing, software and payment costs, spread over the guest-weeks you expect to sell.

Add those together and you have your cost floor. Your price needs to sit well above it, because your quiet weeks, empty beds and refunds are paid for by your busy ones.

A worked example of the method

Here is the method with round, made-up numbers. They're not market prices, so swap in your own.

Say one guest-week costs you 200 in accommodation, 120 in lessons, 40 in transport, 60 in food, 20 in equipment and 60 in staff and overheads. Your cost floor is 500.

Now decide what margin the camp has to earn. If you need 30% of the price to be left after costs, divide the cost by 0.7: 500 ÷ 0.7 is about 715. Round it to a price that reads well, such as 719 or 725, and that is your starting point for a standard week in a shared room.

Then check it against the market. If similar camps nearby charge far more, you may be underpricing what you offer. If they charge far less, look at what they include before you cut. Camps often look cheaper because lessons, food or transfers are extras.

Finally, test the extremes. What do you earn on a week that is half full? What happens if you cancel two days for conditions? If either answer frightens you, the price or the cancellation policy needs work.

Per person or per room?

This is the decision that confuses guests most, so make it deliberately.

Price per person

Best for shared rooms and dorms, and for solo travellers who make up most camp bookings. The guest sees one number for their week. It's simple, and it's what most people expect from a surf camp.

Price per room

Best for private doubles, family rooms and couples. You price the room for the stay and the guests add their lessons. It stops two people in a double paying the same as two strangers in a dorm.

Single supplements

If you price a double room per room, one person staying alone takes the whole room. A single supplement covers that without forcing them into the full double price. Set it once and apply it automatically, so you aren't negotiating it in emails.

Many camps mix the two: per-person pricing for shared rooms and per-room pricing for private ones. That works, as long as the booking page makes it obvious which is which.

Fixed weeks or flexible stays?

Set camp dates (for example Saturday to Saturday) are easier to run. Everyone arrives together, the group surfs together, the lesson plan builds over the week and your changeover day stays the same. They also make seasonal pricing simple: you can set a different price on each camp date, higher for August and lower for May.

Flexible arrival sells more beds. Guests with three nights to spare or a cheap mid-week flight can still book, and you fill gaps between set weeks. The cost is a more complicated house, a lesson programme that has to work for people who arrive on a Wednesday, and more turnover cleaning.

A common middle way is set weeks in peak season and flexible stays, with a minimum number of nights, in the shoulder months. If you allow flexible stays, decide whether guests can join a fixed camp mid-week or not, and say so before they book.

Package the extras, don't bury them

Extras are where camps either lift their margin or annoy their guests. Rules that work:

• Include what everybody needs. Boards, wetsuits and the beach transfer should be in the price of a surf camp. Charging for them separately makes the headline price look dishonest.
• Offer what some people want. Airport transfers, extra private coaching, video analysis, a surf trip day, bike hire or an extra night all make sensible add-ons.
• Price each extra in the right unit. Some extras are per stay (an airport pick-up for the booking), some per person (a photo package), some per night (a room upgrade) and some per person per night (half board). Getting the unit wrong is how a family of four ends up paying for one airport pick-up four times.
• Reward longer stays. A length-of-stay discount, such as a percentage off stays of ten nights or more, fills the shoulder season with fewer changeovers.
• Offer room only, carefully. Non-surfing partners and friends staying without lessons are worth selling to, but price the bed so it doesn't undercut your camp package.

Keep the number of options small. Three or four extras that people actually buy beat a page of twenty they scroll past.

Deposits, balances and cancellations for camps

Camps tie up beds and staff weeks in advance, so they need firmer payment terms than a single lesson.

• Take a meaningful deposit at booking. For a week-long camp, a deposit of around 20-30% is a sensible starting point: enough to commit the guest without scaring them off. Peak weeks booked late can reasonably be paid in full.
• Collect the balance before arrival. Set a date, for example 30 days before arrival, and chase it automatically. Collecting balances on the first night is awkward for everyone.
• Use a longer cancellation window. You can resell a lesson seat in a day. You can't resell a week in a shared room in a day. Windows of several weeks for full refunds, with credit or partial refunds inside that, are sensible for accommodation.
• Have a conditions clause. Explain what happens if the surf is flat or blown out for part of the week: alternative spots, theory sessions, other activities. A camp guest has paid for a week, not a forecast.

For wording you can adapt, see our surf school cancellation and weather policy template and the guide to no-shows and deposit policies.

Selling camps online without the email ping-pong

Most camps still sell weeks through email threads: availability check, quote, bank details, reminder, balance, another reminder. Every step loses some guests.

SurfSlot's camp booking lets guests choose their dates and number of guests, see which rooms are free, pick a camp package or a set camp date, add extras and pay a deposit in one flow. You set it up once:

• rooms priced per person or per room, with an optional single supplement
• packages with a set number of nights or a minimum and maximum stay, and the number of lessons included, priced as a fixed bundle or as room plus lessons
• set camp dates with their own price, for peak and shoulder weeks
• extras charged per stay, per night, per person or per person per night
• length-of-stay discounts, and a room only option
• a deposit percentage with the balance due before arrival, plus your cancellation policy, house rules and check-in times on the booking page

There is no subscription, no setup fee and no lock-in. A SurfSlot booking fee is added at checkout, so we only earn when a guest books. See how camp bookings work on the surf camp booking software page, or read about seasonal pricing and payments.

Want to see a camp week priced end to end? Book a demo →