Opening-day readiness: a pre-season checklist for German campsites

The first guest of the season is the worst time to find out that your TSE device is misconfigured or your accounting export hasn’t been tested. German campsites carry a layer of compliance obligations that Swiss sites don’t (KassenSichV, GoBD record-keeping, DATEV accounting), and each one has something that needs checking before you open.

This is the list we go through with every German campsite that launches on the platform.

1. Rates and the season calendar

Everything downstream (pricing, minimum stays, the accounting export) depends on rates being correct, so start here before anything else.

• Load high, shoulder and off-season rates for every pitch type and accommodation unit.
• Set minimum-stay and arrival-day rules for peak weekends and bank holidays.
• Enter this year’s exact season boundary dates: the night a shoulder rate turns into a peak rate is the night mistakes happen.
• Add any weekend surcharges and special-event premiums.

Then book a test stay across a season boundary and confirm that the displayed price matches what you intended.

2. TSE compliance: the most important tick-box for a German site

Under the Kassensicherungsverordnung (KassenSichV), every electronic till on your site must carry a certified TSE device. That covers your camp shop, kiosk, bar, restaurant and any reception terminal that takes payment. TSE fiscalisation is built in for German sites (compliant, signed receipts are produced without a bolt-on box), but you still need to verify a few things before opening day:

• Confirm the TSE module is active on every physical till. An offline till that has not synced since last autumn may need a manual reconnect.
• Run a test sale through each terminal and confirm the receipt carries the required TSE data: the transaction number, the device serial, the start and end time, and the signature value.
• Verify the DSFinV-K export works and covers the full transaction chain. This is the format a tax auditor will request; the first time you try it should not be during an inspection.
• Check that each device is still registered with the certification authority and that none of the TSE certificates have expired over the winter.

The till keeps selling when the wifi drops in a field and syncs the moment it is back. But a TSE that has not been verified since last season is a compliance risk from the first sale.

3. DATEV accounting export

German campsite operators submit to a Steuerberater or Treuhänder who almost universally works in DATEV. Before the season:

• Connect the DATEV export to your chart of accounts, or confirm last year’s mapping still matches after any account restructuring over the winter.
• Run a test export covering last November or December and open it in DATEV to confirm the debit/credit structure is clean and VAT lines are split correctly.
• Check VAT rates are current. Germany’s reduced rate and standard rate have been stable, but check them against the BMF list and update any pitch-type-specific rates if they have changed.

Every payment, tax line, deposit and refund can export in a DATEV-friendly, VAT-aware format your Treuhänder can import directly. That only works if the mapping was configured correctly in the first place.

4. GoBD record-keeping

Your software’s obligation under GoBD is to produce records that are complete, unaltered, properly ordered and auditable. Your obligation as the operator is to make sure it has been set up to do so.

• Confirm audit-log retention is switched on and that records from prior seasons are still accessible. GoBD requires ten years of retention for accounting documents.
• If any new payment types or extras were added last autumn, verify they are being written to the folio rather than handled outside the system: a side spreadsheet breaks the immutable audit trail GoBD requires.
• Verify that the GoBD export (if your Steuerberater requests it) covers the full prior-season record without gaps.

Note: GoBD is a German legal requirement for record-keeping. Your software can support the required structure, but official GoBD certification of software is not legally required and we do not claim it.

5. Pitch map and inventory

An inventory that reflects last season’s layout is a source of double-bookings.

• Retire pitches out of service: storm damage, infrastructure upgrades, new toilet block placement. If the pitch is gone from the ground, it must be gone from the system.
• Add any new pitches or accommodation units you built over winter: cabins, glamping tents, motorhome hardstandings.
• Confirm seasonal (Dauermieter) contracts are correctly flagged so those pitches are not released into the open booking pool.
• Check pitch types (size, hookup classification, motorhome vs tent designation) match how you are describing them on your website and in online listing sites.

6. Online booking and payment testing

• Confirm your direct booking widget is live and ends in a confirmed reservation. Test it on a phone; most guests book on a mobile.
• Verify the payment methods you offer are processing: card terminals, online card payment and any direct-debit methods you have configured.
• Run at least one real pre-payment through the system and confirm it reaches the correct bank account.
• Check deposit rules are configured per rate: peak-season rates often need a higher deposit percentage than shoulder.

7. Channel and availability sync

If you list on OTA platforms or pitch-booking marketplaces, your website booking widget and those channels must read the same availability. A pitch sold on one channel must disappear from all others in the same instant.

• Verify the OTA connection is live and that a test block placed in the system shows up as unavailable on any connected channel.
• If you have not listed on any external channels, this is the moment to check whether it is worth doing before the season opens. High-season slots are the ones worth selling through direct booking first, so consider whether you want to list them at all or hold them for direct.

8. Staff training and dry run

• Walk new reception staff through check-in, folio management, adding shop items, taking card payment and check-out before your first real guest arrives.
• Do a full dry run with a test booking: book, arrive, post a shop sale to the folio, take payment across all methods, check out, then run the accounting export. If any step surprises you, better now than in a queue on opening weekend.
• If you have a self-check-in terminal or kiosk, test the full self-service flow end to end: guest confirmation email, arrival notification, payment at the terminal.

The takeaway

A smooth German-campsite opening requires one extra layer of verification that a Swiss site doesn’t: the TSE across every till, the DATEV mapping, the GoBD audit trail. None of it is complicated, but all of it needs to be done before the first folio is opened, not discovered missing on the first busy weekend.

Run this list three weeks before you open. The season that starts without surprises was the one that was checked.