The TGS Living The Dream campaign was created by the Glamping Show team to connect with all the people who have registered to attend the Glamping Show to see whether they fulfilled their goal of setting up a glamping site.
Past visitors of the show were invited to take part in an online survey and post pictures of their sites to the glamping show Facebook page: “This is Glamping”, or Instagram with #TGSlivingthedream. The results have been fantastic and the Glamping Show team have shared some of the information to give us a better idea of what it takes to start a glamping site.
A fantastic 80% have gone on to achieve their goal of starting their dream glamping site. Glamping’s popularity has grown substantially over the last decade and it is great to see that more and more people are getting involved and creating their vision of a perfect glamping site.
With more exhibitors than ever before, expert speakers, seminar sessions and more, the Glamping Show is the perfect place to go if you are thinking about starting your own site. Any questions that you may have can be answered by one of the many exhibitors in attendance and whatever type of accommodation you are looking for, the Glamping Show has it covered.
How long does it take to start a Glamping Site? It’s one of the most commonly asked questions at the Glamping Show, and one that varies depending on the vision that you have in mind and the land that you have available.
While there is no one answer to this question, the results from the survey give a pretty good overview. The majority of survey takers completed the task in under three years. It may not be a quick undertaking, but it is a worthwhile one!
The number of units that you operate on your site will depend on a number of factors such as how much space you have available and what your budget is. Around 50% of the survey takers are currently operating 1-3 units on their site with the second most popular group being 3-5 and then 5-10.
If you are thinking about starting a site, or have recently opened one, a good move is to start small and scale up. Starting with 1-3 units means that the initial start-up costs are manageable and if you are new to the hospitality industry, gives you time to settle in a bit. Once you are successfully running those 1-3 units, there’s nothing stopping you from adding more.
Setbacks
When it comes to the biggest hurdles faced when setting up the site, there are more than a few to choose from. Planning seems to be the biggest pain, it’s not often that I can feel anger in a written answer to a question. Setting up facilities like shower rooms and toilets also seems to cause some headaches along with land management such as levelling and drainage. Marketing your newly created sites is also a common answer, and a few have mentioned choosing the right accommodation.
Setting up your site is arguably the most difficult part of creating your dream business and there WILL be hurdles along the way. It is encouraging to see though, that even though the survey takers faced these problems, they were able to overcome them.
Treehouse, Tents or Pods?
Talking about accommodation types, the results are fantastic. From pods to treehouses, bell tents to yurts, and cabins to domes there really is no right answer to this question. It’s important to consider the weather at your site and installation methods but beyond that it really is up to you! This is great to see, as the diversity from one glamping site to another is what makes this industry so exciting when compared to other accommodation businesses.
Glamping Addition
Many of the survey takers set up their glamping site as its own existing business, however a number have created their site to work alongside an existing business. Among these existing businesses are: farms, hotels, holiday cottages, vineyards, caravan sites and fishing lake complexes. Glamping is a great way to add accommodation to an existing business, and more importantly, an extra source of income. In comparison to more traditional brick and mortar accommodation types, glamping has much lower start-up costs and planning is far easier to obtain.
The Glamping Show 2019 is fast approaching being held from the 19th to the 21st of September. If you are thinking about setting up a Glamping Site, or already have one and are thinking of adding to it, the Glamping Show is the place to be. With structures, accessories, expert speakers, and seminar sessions, the Glamping Show is a valuable resource for anyone in the industry. And the best part? It’s absolutely free. If you’d like to head along, you can register at the Glamping Show website.
