Hotel owners and operators always need to figure out ways to cut costs while still delivering their guests the best possible experience. That’s how you conserve money you can use to expand into new territory, or you can allocate it toward your marketing campaigns or anywhere else you need it to go.
You might have heard of glamping before. It means glamorous camping. There are some ways you can cash in on it if you play your cards right. This is not the most spread-out way of traveling, yet the selected group insists on it and there’s definitely a way for you to get a piece of that cake.
Let’s talk more about what glamping is and how you can capitalize on it.
What Exactly is Glamping?
Glamping is “glamorous camping,” but what exactly does that mean? It’s essentially a situation where you have someone who wants to camp out, but they still want some luxuries or amenities.
Glamping is usually an option where you have a festival or some other outdoor event. Think about the Sturgis biker rally as an example. In that scenario, you have thousands of bikers congregating in the same place, and the available hotel rooms fill up fast.
E-Z UP states, there are forward-thinking individuals who set up canopy shelters near their hotels and offer them to the bikers. Now, they have a nice canopy overhead that protects them from the elements if it starts raining or the wind picks up.
You can also add an indoor portion with a mattress for sleeping. You can tell the people using it to bring their own sheets, blankets, etc.
How Can Hotel Owners Utilize this Model?
Sturgis is just one example. Any time you have an outdoor event and some extra land you can use, you can set up canopy tents for a glamping experience. You might get some musical guests to perform nearby, or organize some other form of entertainment.
As long as you can give the available accommodations a luxurious appearance, this is a business model that can do well. You can start a marketing campaign that emphasizes how nice it is to sleep outdoors with a nice ocean breeze blowing past. If your hotel is on the beach, it won’t be hard to convince some people to sign up for glamping there, especially if there’s a highly desirable event happening nearby.
You might not be able to charge people quite as much for a glamping experience as you can for a hotel room, but you should still be able to make a profit. As long as you frame the experience the right way, hotel owners worldwide have made glamping a profitable endeavor.
Of course, this isn’t possible for any hotel and there are several factors to consider. One of them is climate. Not many people would want to sleep in improvised tents outside while it’s freezing cold. However, if your hotel is located in warmer areas or near the beach, this can turn out to be quite an experience.
The great thing about it is that hotels don’t need to set aside a lot of money to organize, while they can attract people who do like to have some sort of luxury, but who are also adventurous a bit.
How Else Can You Monetize Glamping?
There are some additional ways this trend can deliver money for you. Advertising is one way. You can sell the canopy rights.
You might have a giant Budweiser or Burger King logo on each tent. You can approach local businesses and see if they want to put in a bid. These tents are very visible during the daytime, and thousands of people can see a company logo on dozens of them.
You can also have pricing tiers for your different glamping tents based on the extra perks that come with each one. For instance, you might allow the high-end glamping customers private beach or swimming pool access. You can give out special wristbands with the more expensive glamping packages.
You might say that the high-end glamping guests can get breakfast buffet access. They can mingle with the hotel guests, while those that paid less cannot. You could have a tiki lounge outside on the beach that only the top-paying glampers can access.
In these ways, you can have a whole new income stream for certain events, aside from what the hotel regularly brings in. If there’s a massive happening in town, like the Superbowl or WrestleMania, think how much people will be willing to pay for accommodations. If you run a brilliant marketing campaign, you might even be able to charge as much for the glamping experience as you can for some of your modestly-priced hotel rooms.
Remember that with glamping, the concept is that the people partaking want to make it seem like they’re roughing it, but they want a luxurious feel at the same time. It’s tricky getting that balance right, but exclusivity is a big part of it. The glampers want to feel like they’re getting some things that normal campers can’t, and they want to lord it over them.
Hoteliers take heed: glamping is a potentially profitable endeavor, and it’s usually not that difficult to set it up and start booking guests.
Conclusion
With all that being said, you should definitely consider glamping as an addition to your business. Not only can you profit from direct accommodation purchase, but you can also attract new tourists and develop an advertisement campaign. Furthermore, if done right, a large majority of people will come back next season and they will happy to recommend this to their friends.
Last but not least, you will have an edge over your competitors as you might be the only hotel that offers glamping in the area!
