Born on three Italian campsites
Estivotravel started in 2019 with just 40 mobile homes spread across three Italian campsites. The model was straightforward: own the accommodation, rent the pitch from the campsite, and share the upside of every night sold. Founder Marcel Janssen built it around a clear bet that German and Dutch families would pay for genuine comfort if every detail was right.
Quality and comfort that feel like home
Estivotravel invests heavily in product: generous layouts, comfortable mattresses, fully equipped kitchens, spacious covered verandas, and private Wi-Fi. "Quality and comfort should feel like home: not standard plastic bucket chairs, but luxury reclining chairs with comfortable cushions," says Marcel. That obsession with detail is what brings families back year after year.
Choosing a PMS that scales
During their COVID-era expansion into Luxembourg and the Netherlands, their old provider announced it was shutting down. Estivotravel needed a system that could keep up. After reviewing several vendors, they chose Maxxton for flexibility and scalability. "With Maxxton we set our profitability rules the way we want, not the way the system dictates," says Marcel.
Challenges of scaling a multi-country glamping operation
Manual planning for full occupancy
By the early 2020s, Estivotravel was hitting close to 100% occupancy in high season, with only last-minute cancellations leaving an occasional empty day. The planning behind that result was almost entirely manual. The team optimised planning boards by hand, and the weekend and midweek arrangements offered by their previous PMS were a poor fit for a brand selling week-plus stays to families driving south from Germany.
- Hand-built planning boards eating into staff time
- Inflexible weekend and midweek packages leaving orphan nights unsold
- No way to sell only the nights guests would actually book
A vendor shutting down
During the pandemic, Estivotravel opened sites in Luxembourg and the Netherlands to serve its core German and Dutch markets. At the same time, their existing PMS provider announced it was closing. With no IT department and active bookings to protect, the team faced a tight migration deadline and had to find a system that could accommodate rapid growth without slowing it down.
- Forced migration with no internal IT team
- More than a thousand active bookings at risk during the switch
- Two new countries opening at the same time
Scaling without an IT department
Estivotravel doesn't have an IT department, yet the business added 112 new accommodations in a single year and now operates across seven countries. Onboarding new campsites, configuring rentability sets, and training a fast-growing sales and back-office team all needed to happen at pace, using software the whole team could pick up without weeks of training.
- No IT specialists to manage configuration
- 112 new accommodations added in a single year
- Sales, back office, and operations all needed to onboard quickly
How Maxxton's PMS supports Estivotravel's multi-country glamping growth
Rentability rules tailored to glamping demand
Maxxton's rentability rules let Estivotravel define minimum stays, booking horizons, and gap rules as their travel patterns demand, rather than as a generic PMS dictates. If Marcel has ten open nights in Tuscany in July, he can sell exactly ten nights, not seven nights with three left over that nobody will drive from Germany for. "Flexibility was the most important thing. With Maxxton we can set our profitability rules the way we want, not the way the system dictates," he explains.
Dynamic pricing and smart reallocation
Smart reallocation and AI-driven dynamic pricing keep availability and rates in step with demand, so units don't sit empty even outside peak weeks. Marcel runs the engine alongside his own judgement rather than on full autopilot, testing scenarios against the system's price proposals. "I see it as a sport, getting the most out of our capacity. I like testing different monitors, watching price proposals, and then adjusting based on my own vision. It keeps us sharp."
Reallocation and preference booking
Around 25% of Estivotravel's bookings come from returning families, and most of them want a specific pitch. Maxxton's preference booking lets guests pick their favourite spot, while the reallocation engine quietly keeps the wider plan optimised. The combination protects loyalty without sacrificing occupancy, a balance Marcel calls "critical" for a brand built on repeat guests.
Fast site onboarding and scalability
Adding a new campsite or rentability set now takes about an hour, where the same task used to take days with the previous PMS. That speed is what allowed Estivotravel to add 112 new accommodations in a single year and expand into Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and beyond. Without it, growth at this pace would have required headcount the business doesn't have, especially in IT, where Estivotravel still operates without a dedicated team.
Notification Manager for multilingual guest communication
Maxxton's Notification Manager automates transactional guest communication across six languages with simple triggers. For a brand serving German, Dutch, and now Polish-speaking guests, that automation removes a huge amount of back-office work. "It saves us a huge amount of manual work," Marcel says. "Setting triggers and automatically sending transactional emails in six languages makes us look more professional and frees up staff time."
Results: higher occupancy and faster scaling
Key takeaways
- Direct bookings climbed from around 60% to 75% on the new Maxxton-powered booking flow
- New campsites and units now launch in hours rather than days
- 500+ luxury units live across 19 European campsites, with further growth planned
New sites live in hours
New campsites and units can be configured in hours rather than days, with rentability sets, pricing rules, and inventory all housed in a single PMS. That speed has let Estivotravel grow from three Italian campsites in 2019 to more than 500 luxury units across 19 European campsites, including expansions into Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and a new Polish-language market.
Occupancy close to 100% in high season
Rentability rules and smart reallocation keep units full, even outside peak weeks. Estivotravel hits close to 100% occupancy in high season, with only last-minute cancellations leaving the odd empty day. "Occupancy is everything for us. With Maxxton, we can keep our campsites full, scale faster, and give our guests the service they expect," Marcel says.
Direct bookings climbing to 75%
A new Maxxton-powered website and tighter channel management have lifted direct bookings from around 60% to 75%, reducing dependency on third-party channels and protecting margins. Repeat guests remain the backbone of the business, with three out of four bookings coming from returning families who pick their preferred pitch.
Multilingual guest comms without manual work
Notification Manager sends transactional emails in six languages on automatic triggers, so guests receive timely confirmations, payment reminders, and pre-arrival information without staff needing to step in. The team looks more professional in every market, including the new Polish audience served by a dedicated website and Polish-speaking staff, and back-office time is reinvested in higher-value work.
A team that adopted Maxxton quickly
Without an IT department, Estivotravel relies on Maxxton's usability and support to keep operations running. Sales, back office, and operations staff all picked up the system quickly, and the company is now building its own e-learning tools to onboard new hires and sales staff even faster. "That's why ease of use is so important. It makes their lives easier," Marcel says.
Partner
Marcel Janssen, Director
Marcel Janssen founded Estivotravel in 2019 after nearly 20 years in the travel and hospitality industry. He has grown the business from 40 mobile homes on three Italian campsites into a European glamping operator with more than 500 luxury units across 19 campsites, and counting. His leadership combines entrepreneurship with a sharp focus on quality, data, and guest experience. He describes revenue management as a sport, is hands-on with trackers and pricing scenarios, and led the Maxxton migration personally while building the team and tools needed for the next phase of growth.