How To Start A Glamping Business

Wondering how to start a glamping business and the income you might be able to achieve in hospitality? The key, as with any new industry or lifestyle business choice is research. Understanding what this means for your future prospects can help answer those questions about profitability or potential success in an increasingly competitive world marketplace!

How To Start A Glamping Business Or Eco-Retreat 

Here, we have given you everything you need to kick off your lifestyle business dreams, including access to a definitive glamping business course that will take you through all the steps for starting this style of eco-accommodation from scratch. This will help to guide you through the development of your campground business plan and making navigating this new journey easier. 

Is Glamping A Good Business?

We are huge advocates of glamping and believe we’re not alone in this with the growth of the emerging market being drawn into the tourism and camping sector.

There is a new appeal for those individuals who love the concept of camping but dread the idea of roughing it. So all the evidence points to a continuous boost in this industry, which has been particularly evident since the pandemic shook up the tourism and staycation market.

Glamping Statistics: Is The Glamping Industry Growing?

The current data suggests the following about the Global Glamping Market:

The global glamping market size was valued at USD 1.88 billion in 2020 with the pandemic causing havoc in the tourism industry. However, the glamping market is expected to hit an approximate size of USD 6.32 billion by 2027, with a growth of 12.30% for the forecast period from 2020 to 2027.

Source: Grand View Research & Data Bridge Market Research

If this has captured your attention and you are interested in joining the unique holiday rental and staycation team in the hospitality sector, then you’re in the right place!

To help you understand how to create a glamping site, we have included all you need to know about this rising trend. Furthermore, we’ve included the reasons why it has been so well-received to date.

So, if after absorbing all the amazing information below, you want to find out more about how to set up and successfully promote a glamping business, unique vacation rental or eco-accommodation retreat, check out the Inspired Courses Glamping Business Start-Up Guide or click the link in the main menu for start-up advice.

Sarah Riley is the face behind this extensive independent guide, which is as fun and inspirational to complete as it is informative. The glamping business course has been over a decade in the making and is based on expertise gained from helping to establish multiple glamping businesses that are all currently operating successfully in the marketplace while giving their owners a unique lifestyle.

Sarah has an enormous amount of experience and expertise in the unique glamping and experiential holiday sector and is invited to speak around the world on this topic.

In what has become the most exciting new venture for lovers of the great outdoors who dream of freeing themselves from the rat race, she is your go-to glamping consultant; carefully assisting and advising you on your glamping business plan and service startup.

Starting A Glamping Business

Start-up phases in brief:

1. Know the glamping business models and options available to you
2. Understand the advantages and costs of each
3. Focus on land feasibility considerations before setting up a site
4. Seek advice for obtaining permissions in your country
5. Do your sums to understand the income you can expect to generate – especially cash flow projections
6. Complete a business plan template and use real examples and a checklist to help
7. Know the maintenance considerations you need to make
8. Focus on what makes what you offer so unique and promote, promote, promote!
   
   

Detailed Steps:

1. Identify the glamping business models and options accessible to you
   

   It’s all about finding the right business model and accommodation at the research level. As a business owner, this is also about knowing your lifestyle and what your customers are likely to enjoy the most. The main factor here is to select something that matches your budget, potential clients, and your location. It should also be something that suits you! Never underestimate this when you are starting a glamping business.
   
   Therefore, when you begin to think of how to start a camping business as well as the setup costs, ask yourself this: What is the result I want to see from this venture with regards to MY lifestyle and MY work-life balance?

2. Understand the expenses and advantages of setting up a glamping business
   

   Trust me on this. Every business model or mode of glamping has its pros and cons, setup costs, season duration, maintenance costs and thus turnover. For instance, setting up a glamping pod business will give a very different return on investment and associated maintenance expenses in comparison to a lotus belle tent business.
   
   Hence, understanding this in your cash flow estimates and set-up budget is critical to knowing your business profitability and return on investment. Furthermore, it’s important to consider the value of reselling what you purchase in case you wish to enforce your exit plan at any stage (see the Glamping business for sale section below).
   
   

3. Ask for advice on legal requirements in your country of choice
   

   Guidelines for individual countries are not the same and therefore, health/safety regulations and getting authorisation for your type of vacation rental is paramount.
   
   Among the major problems reported by new owners of businesses in the networking group is the period it takes to obtain planning permission, zoning or permits.  Most permission and planning departments propose it will take at least six months, in reality, it could take a lot longer and can often stretch to one or two years. Being aware of the possible pitfalls for your site will assist you to complete this more swiftly.

4. Concentrate on land practicability considerations prior to starting a site
   

   This is all about vistas and views along with the kind of tourism naturally present in your region of choice already. Additionally, it’s about what will naturally exist side by side with the present terrain of the land. But equally, it can as well be as easy as knowing how your visitors will engage with the land, its fauna and flora, the regional area and all it has to offer them while they are visiting during their vacation. 

5. Do your maths, know your income expectations, glamping revenue and if it will cover your existing salary
   

   Knowing if your glamping business will be profitable is an essential step in the process. This is a pre-set-up stage of your business, so make sure you have created a comprehensive cash-flow spreadsheet prediction of no less than 3 years. It should include expenses like staffing, land rental costs, office fees, booking agents charges, and infrastructure costs. All of these will present a robust reference check about the continuing finance and profitability of the business you will have access to; in terms of running costs and the potential to grow and expand your site further in the future. This is made simple for you in The Ultimate Glamping Business Start Up Guide.

6. Create a glamping business plan and utilise practical examples to assist you
   

   Any owner in the early development of their new business needs to know that this is a crucial task. Document everything you will need to spend and any income you propose to make with your individual site. Not only is this important for your financial tracking but is also compulsory when seeking funding or investment in your business dreams. Knowing your glamping set-up costs will help you start up successfully.
   
   Therefore, if you are thinking about the cost of starting a glamping site business, the possible income you can generate and the duration between start-up and success, begin with a robust and comprehensive glamping site business plan. The benefit of this type of plan is it becomes a useful decision-making tool to help you create the business you want.

7. Understand the maintenance choices you have to make
   

   Different modes of glamping, your land and buildings, attract differing maintenance costs. This is a significant factor in understanding and considering your future business decisions. For example, certain glamping tents cost a lot more than others and yet both of these can have high maintenance costs over a certain number of years.

8. Concentrate on what makes your offers unique and promote it
   

   Since the industry is becoming more competitive, it’s critical to understand how you can stand out from the crowd and maintain your “wow factor”. This is where you can exploit your distinctiveness within marketing and promotional methods to guarantee the victory of your unique project when it launches and develops into a legacy business for you and your family.
   
   

Click here for the podcast episode that discusses what you need to do when there is growing competition in the market and an economic slowdown. 

Keep in mind you need to consider what your visitors want and in such a manner that you encourage them to come back year after year. Usually, this is as much about the service you offer as the different options you provide them, giving them the ability to try something new each time they return. 

Unique Vacation Rental Start-up support, ideas and advice

Glamping Worldwide

To find out why this is the perfect time to set up a glamping business and how it has shifted from a trend to a significant sector in the tourism industry, listen to The Glamping Business Podcast available on all the popular channels.

The podcast also includes interviews and examples to help you ascertain if you need planning permission for your glamping structure build and the steps on how to acquire this. This is specifically useful to know if you require planning for your wooden pods, treehouses, yurts, bell tents, cabin & wagons, safari tents, or whichever business model you plan to create.  You will also find more information on the 28-day camping rule as well as campsite license in the United Kingdom. 

Find out the way in which landowners and farmers are utilising glamping to effectively handle income changes, which is also highlighted in the podcast

Glamping And Luxury Camping Site Set-Up Tips

Adapting An Existing Campground For The Glamping Trend

If you need more details about how to start a glamping business or if you are thinking of buying campgrounds for sale by owner, and adapting it to take advantage of the luxury camping trend, read this article about what you need to think about and the checks you need to make.

Article: Camping sites for sale and what you need to check before you buy

The Glamping Business Course

When wondering how to start a glamping business it is wise to benefit from the experience of others. This is what the glamping business course helps you with by offering business planning templates and downloadable PDFs, financial estimates, and glamping statistics, land feasibility tips and much more. Check out The Ultimate Glamping Business Start Up Guide in the Glamping Academy, hosted by Inspired Courses. This is a cost-effective way to begin a thriving glamping business fast while doing away with the costly pitfalls. 

Join Sarah Riley’s Start Up And Grow Club to keep up with the industry news, training and get weekly face to face support with like-minded business owners. The community has glamping business experts and visionaries who are working extra hard to achieve their dreams so if you need to have answers for your questions and that bit of extra support to bounce ideas around, this is the best community to join. 

Finally, to grab some amazing free resources that have been created to support new business owners in this industry, complete the box on the side of this page. These glamping business resources include: 

• Six accelerators that result in glamping business and vacation rental success when starting a glamping business
• Five blunders hospitality owners usually make, which hinders their projected growth, wastes time and sends them back to square one!

The Glamping Business And Unique Holiday Rental Podcast

We are also meeting and interviewing some extremely knowledgeable people who are already deeply embedded into the glamping business market, allowing us to experience their knowledge and even learn from their mistakes as they’ve “been there and tried that.”

Planning on starting a glamping business but concerned about the current impact of the pandemic or the rise in competition? 

More and more often we are asked these questions by our podcast listeners and readers, who are understandably concerned about global instability. 

 As mentioned previously, we addressed this and more on The Glamping Business Podcast, which you can listen to on your favourite podcasting platform here. This helps you multi-task your research time as you can listen in the car, while you’re exercising or working (perfect!).

Lastly, considering the impact of Covid on the glamping industry, we have put together a series of training sessions, workshops and tools to highlight the issues and what you need to know, including WHO Guidance. You can find everything here: Tourism support and advice regarding the pandemic

How To Find A Glamping Business For Sale

Rarely an opportunity emerges that lets you take over and profit from an already well-established business, but this is often a wise move to make, removing the start-up stress! However, bear in mind you will likely miss out on a large chunk of the initial profits gained at the initial start-up phase. The benefit of course is having a glamping site with full permissions in place. 

How to find a glamping business for sale

• Contact your local estate agent, land agent or realtor
• Visit online auction companies
• Search the Internet
• Contact owners direct to explore if they are interested in selling

If you are set on purchasing a ready-made package, here’s a quick list of what you need to find out before you dive in

Your handy glamping business checklist

Undertake due diligence checks to find out:

1. If it will be freehold or leasehold.
2. If any branding assets, websites and/or booking systems are included.
3. What capital assets are included.
4. Annual revenue and net profit after costs since the business was set up
5. If there are any outstanding debtors.
6. If it will deliver the lifestyle you want - this is important!
7. If previous customer booking details are included.
8. Finally, consider if you have an exit strategy and a way of building value on your investment?
   

For more inspiration and information, visit The Glamping Business Podcast, read the many blogs on this topic, or get in touch with Sarah directly.

Inspired Courses