GLAMPING BUSINESS AND RETREAT EVENT SUCCESS

In the world of experiential travel, your property’s design does more than offer comfort… it tells a story. A story that gets shared in photos, reels, and tags. And that story can help you build you a fully booked calendar.

So how do you design your glamping site, retreat or unique hospitality not just for rest, but for where guests do the storytelling for you?

The secret? Intentional design that encourages connection and content.

Here's how you can tailor your glamping stay to attract modern guests and inspire user-generated content that sells your space without you lifting a finger.

Whether you're a glamping business owner, unique hospitality host, or building a short-stay eco-retreat, these strategies will elevate your brand, attract your dream guests, and help your property stand out.

1. Create Photographable Moments in Unexpected Places

Guests love capturing the unseen details. Think beyond the obvious.

• Add a winding woodland path dappled in fairy lights (or an army of ga
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In the Start Up And Grow Club, an accelerator program for glamping businesses and unique holiday rental hosts, we have been talking about negative practices being used by OTAs to the detriment of small business owners. One such practice is ‘ghosting’.

This is such an unscrupulous activity it definitely supports the case for generating more direct bookings between the hosts and guests and relying less on OTAs (online travel agents).

Listen to podcast episode #44 on your favourite platform here.

Ghosting is becoming increasingly common within the hospitality industry but it’s likely you haven’t heard of it before as OTAs are doing a great job of covering their tracks with this underhand technique, which they are using to boost their profits.  

With many OTAs changing their terms and conditions to allow them to carry this out legally, it is incredibly important that hospitality owners are aware of the negative impact that ghosting can have on their business and, crucially, the acti...

The Book Direct Show is a virtual event designed to share insider knowledge of how accommodation owners can attract guest bookings without having to pay significant commissions to online travel agents (OTA's) and you can register to take part today from anywhere in the world.

There are currently about 400 OTA's globally, selling travel-related products from glamping, resort, hotel, B&B, long and short-stay rental accommodation, to airline tickets and car hire.

We are all very familiar with Booking, Expedia, Agoda and Airbnb and more than aware of the advantages that utilising a 3rd party company brings to our travel plans. However, there are many disadvantages for guests and service providers when not dealing directly with each other. 

Why Booking Direct Is So Important

The OTA's business model is based on the fact the guest and service provider do not communicate until they arrive at the accommodation and this is bad for everyone apart from the OTA!

The guest relationship is key!...