The Glamping Business Round Up

S2. Ep7 - Crazy Guest Stories & what to expect when you run a glamping site!

• Vicki Jones and John Maddy • Season 2 • Episode 7

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In this episode of The Glamping Business Roundup, hosts Vicki Jones and John Maddy share hilarious and insightful stories from the field while discussing how to improve your glamping site, handle emergencies, and enhance guest experience. If you're a glamping site owner or considering joining the industry, this episode offers real-world lessons, creative ideas, and a healthy dose of humour.

Main insights include:

  • Crazy guest stories, including naked people and mistaken hot tub expectations
  • The importance of high-quality, easy-to-clean facilities and logistics for quick turnovers
  • Innovations in lighting and decor that boost guest experiences and Instagramability
  • Managing weather challenges, especially wind, and strategies for safe storm management
  • Balancing different market segments—family, couples, luxury—and strategic site expansion
  • Practical tips for creating a memorable site with unexpected, delightful touches
  • How to streamline site maintenance and staff training for efficiency and quality
  • Encouragement for newcomers: starting small with testing phases, and the value of enjoying your own site

 

Thanks so much for listening. 

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SPEAKER_03

For the Glamping Business Roundup, the podcast where we grab a cutter, dive into the glamping world, and get straight to the honest practical stuff.

SPEAKER_00

I'm John Maddy.

SPEAKER_03

And I'm Vicky Jones. Every week we're here to share the latest stories, tough lessons, and crucial conversations from inside the glamping industry.

SPEAKER_00

Before we jump in, a quick nod to our partners. This podcast is brought to you in association with the Glaming Industries Trade Association, Gita. They are the voice and support system of our entire sector.

SPEAKER_03

So whether you're battling laundry, figuring out your next investment, or just need a dose of relatable insight, you're exactly where you need to be. So how are the Easter holidays, John? Because we've just come out of like busy season Easter holidays, and now kids are back at school and it's well, for me it's calmed down a bit. I don't know how you find it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, certainly the house is quieter. Um the site, yeah, the site's quieter as well. Um it was nice to to to see everything kind of in full swing over over Easter. Um I think always it's a good it's a good testing board to see if all that initial work that that you've done over the winter period is uh is is gonna work for the rest of the season. Um so that that that was nice to see. Um and also I think it gives you a little bit of catching up time so you can either change things before you get into the May bank holiday or you um you can finish what you're doing.

SPEAKER_03

We are 100% on finishing what we're doing. So we didn't get around to painting the decks. I wanted to repaint all the decks, so we're now in mid repaint the decks because it's nice weather, like I look, it's great. It's this is the time where we can get all those extra jobs done because sometimes before Easter, you just can't get it all done. Yeah, so I'm hoping by this weekend the site will be has as I want it because tomorrow I want to re-film our virtual tour. So I did we did a virtual tour in 2023 where we like filmed the whole thing, like from check-in, walking through everywhere, showing off all the drones that I think and put it on YouTube. So I want to redo that 2026 version because it just looks a bit pants when you send in, oh look at the 2023 version, and there's loads of changed. Um, yeah, I want everything looking good. Tomorrow's weather's looking lovely, so we're gonna do loads of content filming tomorrow is my plan before the guests arrive.

SPEAKER_00

That sounds great, yeah. Yeah, brilliant. Yeah, and is the weather good this week with you as well?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, yeah, and it always makes me sad when there's like there's like nobody in tonight. And I'm like, it's such nice weather, come and glamp.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, we had we had uh when was it, Tuesday, but uh we had a a night where there was nobody on site. Sorry, m uh Monday. Monday it was, yeah. And um it was one of them kind of decisions that you think I I can only do this when nobody else is on site. Am I gonna get it done in time? And there was these fence posts down by reception that I thought, yeah, sod it, I'm gonna rip them out and you know, I'm gonna rip them all out, I'm gonna redig all the holes and I'm gonna get it back in in time tomorrow. But you know when you do a job and it just opens up a can of worms for everything else. It is, it is yeah, so it was it was kind of skin of skin of my teeth territory. There was there was they they I think they arrived about 15 minutes later when I was just kind of raking all of the gravel back into place again. Standard um yeah, yeah, standard, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Always by the skin of my teeth. I don't do anything that's not by the skin of my teeth.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, this is it. I mean, you know if you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space, right? Yeah. It's probably worth acknowledging as well, um, Vicky, how we we we chat a lot about this podcast and how we uh we we we kind of get get this out as uh as skin of our teeth territory as well, don't we?

SPEAKER_03

For sure. Like we're recording this on a Thursday and we're supposed to be releasing it tomorrow morning.

SPEAKER_00

So Yeah. And I I think I think everybody out there will appreciate, you know, they're in the trenches as well. And um, I think us, you know, when we started this podcast, it was uh it was it was something that we're interested in and we thought we'd share it. And the reality of actually getting it out every single week um is quite a difficult, difficult feat, even for people that have got dedicated just podcasts, I think. So uh so yeah, there's a there's a bit of an apology as well for us not not maintaining that weekly drop, but uh I think you can understand that you know when when when you do hear us chat about things, you know, we've got some good content to uh to share with you as well.

SPEAKER_03

It's like content creation. I mean, we all need it for our businesses, don't we? But it it is hugely time consuming. And even like I was trying to make a YouTube video every week as well, and I haven't released a video for three weeks now, and I've got this like nagging, you know, it's just nags like you need to get a video out there Sunday because you haven't done one for so long. And so I did a whole like post on YouTube. I was saying it's not a video that I haven't but I don't think anybody really gives a shit anyway.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. It's funny, isn't it? You know, you you end up I mean, you it's great to create that content because it it just creates that whole picture about you and your site and and and sets that kind of level, doesn't it? But yeah, it it it is difficult. It is difficult to to to get all that together. I mean, if I get you know a a couple of posts out on socials, that that's uh that's like you know, best best best effort. I normally get to Friday and go, oh shit, I haven't I haven't done anything on there yet. You know, yeah, I better better just stick a post out. So or or Rich Rich will normally stick one out.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so but I think it's good, like I think you'll probably agree, like thank goodness we're doing this together, because there's no way I would have been able to do a podcast on my own, and I'd probably I don't think you would have been able to do a podcast anyway, just oh we're then like, ah John, we haven't done we haven't recorded this Yeah, it just shows that anybody can do it as well.

SPEAKER_00

So uh, you know, I I enjoy listening to lots of different podcasts, especially in this industry. So if you are thinking about doing it, then uh you know, either reach out or uh or or crack on. I'd like to listen to more. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. Um and this week we're kind of going to be talking a bit, we've we've had some questions in. So obviously we've had the um the podcast email address, glampingpodcast at gmail.com, if you want to email us. Um so we've had a couple of questions from people, um, and we've had some crazy guest stories as well. So we thought this week we would do like let's hear some tales from the glamping site, from different people's sites, from our site, so the crazy things happen just in case you're new to the industry and you're thinking, oh, what can I expect? And um, and yeah, um, shall we start with some uh some crazy stories?

SPEAKER_00

Sounds great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

There's loads of different glamping related groups on Facebook. So you've got the Glamping Sight Owners Club, the Glamping Sight Owners Group, the Glamping Group UK, Glamping Owners Discussion, Glamping Connect. Oh my goodness, there's so many.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. Um Well, I don't think I'm on half of them.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. If you're looking for information on uh to connect with people who run glamping sites and you've gush got random questions, these groups are uh a gold mile of information. So um so I just went on one of the one of the groups and asked for some crazy stories. So a lot of them seem to involve like naked people.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Our first story is from Vicky Pettigrew, who runs uh Big Skies Cotswold mapping. So um I've been up to her site, it's really beautiful. She's got these stunning views over the Cotswold landscape. Um, she's got failed tents, I think she's got and sapphire tents. I think she's got changed for years now. So do go check out her site. Um and I remember talking to her about this actually. So she's had inquiries from nudists, so she keeps getting these regular inquiries saying, Oh, we're nudists, and we're here you're a nudist site. And for whatever reason, she's ranking really high on Google when people search glamping for nudist, nudist glamping, and she has absolutely no idea why, but she just keeps getting those requests. Um people wanting to film each other, uh, which I'm assuming is you know, more adult content, possibly.

SPEAKER_01

Right, well.

SPEAKER_03

Um, we've never had that. We were a family-friendly site. Well, then she's pretty family friendly, so I'm surprised that. Um and uh she said our first cabin guest, so she's bought along with our Safari tents um and her years, she's put this beautiful cabin um in the woods, a little bit separated, and which is kind of um adults only, I think. And her first cabin guest selected the dog fee, and they genuinely thought that they were gonna provide a dog for them for their stay, and they asked what type of dog they were getting and how and how much they give them stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Uh brilliant.

SPEAKER_03

Like, really? I can't get over that.

SPEAKER_01

That's unreal.

SPEAKER_03

But now I'm thinking, oh, this is this could be a good thing, rent your dog. You know, people do um rent chickens, so you can like hire three chickens and you take all their eggs. So maybe you can just, you know, if you've got a dog, you just say, Oh, pay for pay for the dog for the weekend and you can just carry on.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, that that that sounds great. And um, people are paying you rather than you paying them. You could you could do some sort of yeah, yeah, uh rent, yeah, rent a dog.

SPEAKER_03

Rent a dog, rent a goat. People I think people do it with sheep, don't they? Who rent the sheep for the weekend.

SPEAKER_00

Rent what about r renting your kids out? That'd be brilliant, wouldn't it? You could look after my kids for the weekend.

SPEAKER_03

So I should rent William out, right? Because he is always at the clamping site and he is the entertainment for the kids. So we've got so many families that have maybe have an only child, like an only boy, and they come specifically because their child plays with William and they don't have to parent.

SPEAKER_00

There you go.

SPEAKER_03

I should be charging for this.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. You could be his manager. Yeah. Brilliant. Dylan does a similar thing when um when they come down to the site, and he just, yeah, he he goes off and plays with people and yeah, it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's so good for them as well. They like the socialization and like just learning about customer service and how to talk to new people and stuff. It's such a life skill for kids, I think.

SPEAKER_00

Definitely. The problem the problem that Dylan has is he's like, Oh, do you want to do you wanna see the you know, the forklift truck or the ride on mower? And he'll just kind of take them through into the back of the barn where no guests are allowed, you know. I turn around and he's like there with the sitting on the ride on mower. I'm like, come on now, Dylan and the children, come on out.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we'd have that exact same problem because our house is on site, and obviously we've got all like the kids have got their own like play area and trampoline. Is the trampoline we've we've come back from like you know, we've been in the house and we've come outside, and there's like 17 kids on the trampoline, and Brian's like, I just didn't want to do all the clamping site down to the trampoline. I was like, No, I don't have insurance for this kind of shenanigans. So end up putting the trampoline on the field so that now they have no excuse to come down to my house.

SPEAKER_00

I think uh that that's brilliant about Vicky, but absolutely fantastic. Uh I mean, do you do you think there's there's obviously some SCO somewhere down the line there, isn't there? Or or she's been put on a site, maybe it's a membership only site that's or maybe she should just start a nudist festival.

SPEAKER_03

We got asked um here actually whether we would host a nudist festival, but they wanted like 700 to a thousand people, and I was like, Wow, we don't have that capacity.

SPEAKER_01

That's unreal.

SPEAKER_03

Because they go to a campsite locally and they'd kind of got a bit fed up with it. Um, and they were like, you know, you can be fully clothed, you don't have to be naked. I was like, of course I'm not going to be naked. You you carry on. No, I thought I said though I just can't do that volume of people. Imagine 700 naked people, what do you mind a clocking side?

SPEAKER_00

That's unreal.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I don't I wouldn't worth a look.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, brilliant. If anybody's out there is uh struggling to get the customers in, then uh there's a there's an untapped market there.

SPEAKER_03

Definitely, there definitely is demand for it. You get people from all over the country, I reckon.

SPEAKER_00

Brilliant. So what's what's what's next then, Vicky? What we got?

SPEAKER_03

So we had another one from Nicola Young who is from Lint Mill Lodges. So uh they had um they had a young couple who text late one night asking when would the lights come on around the tub, around the hot tub. Um, and she couldn't work out what they were asking for. And after a bit of back and forth, um asking them if the outside lights were lit up on the shepherd's tart or did they have electricity, it turns out they thought their hot tub pre-lights, you know, we all like offer a hot tub sometimes for an add-on, um, was a fairy light package around the hot tub. So they weren't, they didn't know that it had to be lit, as in to get it hot. They thought the pre-light was like a whole light up, like fairy light shenanigans all around the hot tub. And they were a bit disappointed that they didn't have fairy lights around their hot tub. And I was like, well, here we go. Here's another, you know, if people are gonna pay money for a let's say let's have a pre-light or like a fairy light extras. I mean, most most places have kind of got festoon lights and stuff around their hot tubs and stuff, haven't they? But there are a market for like Uber cool lighting. Let's say, let's take Derry as again for an example at Secret Garden. He charges, I don't know, probably£10, maybe it's more than that now, to put a neon sign that says happy birthday. And he it just continually has to keep buying more neon signs because pretty much everybody wants a neon sign that says happy birthday for or you know, it's normally an occasion, isn't it? You good to go and do something. So he's just putting his neon signs everywhere. So it's better than balloons because they just disappear that they're not very environmentally friendly. So maybe there is a thing there, maybe that's an add-on to like blow your lamping unit.

SPEAKER_00

Definitely, definitely. We've we uh well, not necessarily on the pre-light, but on the expectation of light. We've had guests complain before because it was too dark.

SPEAKER_03

Uh so you can see the stars, what a shame.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, yeah, they weren't they weren't used to that level of darkness. Although, you know, we do we do actually say that it's you know it's um dark skies and we have low level lighting around the site, but I think and asked people to bring head torches and things um with them. But they um yeah, it was it was virgin on a complaint about how dark, dark it was at night.

SPEAKER_03

So our next one is from uh my friend Helen from Frau and Field. She's got uh True Domes Domes as well. That's how we know them. We've been up to her site as well. Um she's in West Wales. Um, hers is actually like a proper hardcore mum. So she had a really hardcore mum sleep with her two kids in the dome in a proper storm and a tree fell and blocked the exit path and had to go out a different way. And she would just couldn't believe how hardcore this mum was that she would just carry on sleeping in a tent in a crazy storm. I mean, what do you do? This is a good question, really. Like, what do you do in the case of you know, if the storm's coming in, do you ever cancel camping guests? Do you like how do you work that?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, for us, we've got a wind policy, it's a kind of a standard policy, but we we also um track um how how the you know the wind directions affect each one of well, what was our our other locations? So we we generally know because we get some bad storms in the lakes, you know. So for example, we had a quite a bad storm coming a few weeks ago, um, and it was giving about 73 mile an hour um gusts, which um on a southwesterly, which it which it turned out to be, would never have hit our site in the same way. We we kind of you know kept our eye on it and and it was fine and it was below 50 actually, so we were able to to to keep going. But we've got a we've got a about a 55 mile an hour limit on site, but yeah, we've closed sites before. We've turned guests back on their way up because of that. In the what 18 years we've been doing it, I think that we've only closed sites less than a handful of times.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So it it's something that doesn't happen very often. Um when we used to work with the National Trust, they they were very strict policy on on wind and how the sites behaved. And I think they were even 50, I think they were. Um, but it was it was standard, you know, BBC weather 50. They they they weren't looking on the ground and seeing what was actually happening. Um and I think you know, if you you are, I think I did, oh uh, I did a podcast or a webinar a few years ago on on designs and wind and things, but um it it really depends on the type of structure that you've got and how it works in wind. And we've made several changes to our design and the way we build our yurts to you know make make it comfortable for guests in buffering. So, you know, even in 40, 40 to 50 mile an hour winds, it it can be quite an uncomfortable experience, especially if they're sleeping. Um, so it's it's about changing, changing that and asking, you know, understanding the product, asking more from your manufacturers, all of that sort of stuff. That if anybody you know wants to get in contact with me to talk about that, what what they would need to ask for, or how how they look at managing wind and and storms on site, more than happy to chat with them about it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I mean I've got some wind stories. Like wind is the biggest enemy to the Glenping site, I think. Our yurts, okay. We didn't we don't have posh yurts, like you, John. Um but I remember we left our yurts that one year and the whole of this was in the winter, there's nobody in there, but the whole of the like door blew in. So we end up tethering the whole yurt to the tractor just so it didn't blow away. I don't know if that would have helped or not. Um, and then we have to take the whole thing down and rebuild it because obviously you can't do anything once it's all blown around inside. Um, but that's why we ended up with donuts because they're just so wind resistant because of you know it's all triangles, it's it's aluminium frame. Um bell tent that came down the wind, that was a disaster. We wrecked a few bell tents over our over the time.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, we've we've we've wrecked wrecked bell tents, yeah. Yeah, the b bell tents, they uh they they probably gave me the most problems early on, you know, before we we made and refined it. Wood burning stoves in there, and you know, they they they they they they sold this wood burning stove years ago. It's not there's not I'm not gonna say what it is, but um I'm sure people will know when when bell tents first came out, there were these wood burning stoves that were um cast iron and enamel and they were an absolute nightmare. Um and the way that were designed, you know, they leaked smoke out. They were oh they were they were they were horrendous. They just you know come over on a pallet and people were buying them, and they used to smoke out the uh uh the the bell tents and they used to get so hot they had these stainless steel pipes that came out the back of the stove and then went up, and the the there was a silicon flashing on there, and the silicon flashing that the company had provided just wasn't up to to to crack. So I'd got to the site once, and a couple of uh ladies were staying with us and they were crying, you know, oh the the the things burnt down. I'm like, oh my god, you know, so I fly up to the site, they're outside kind of shaking, and and and what had happened was um they they'd put something to dry on top of the stove classic, you know, put something to dry, it'd start it'd start melting. Uh I think it was like a sock, a plastic, you know, like a poly sock or something like that to dry out. Um, and then they thought it was on fire. It wasn't, it was smoking and melting, but it was yeah, so they set off then the fire extinguisher and they couldn't see, and the whole place was covered with powder and yeah, it was a nightmare. So I was I was really peed off with them. It's like, yeah, but anyway, it was uh yeah. So that was Bell Tennis.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, Charlie from K Neck Lamping, so she's actually got a story about wood burners. They had somebody leave a lighter on top of the wood burner, which then exploded, bluming frightening that. And they've had plenty of guests that just can't figure out how to light a fire, despite the fact they've got a full video in the touchdown guide showing exactly what to do. And then you get the opposite, the guests that go like full on survival mode and build these absolutely massive fires in the fire pit that you could probably see from space. But she does say she thinks they're helping people because if there's ever an apocalypse, then at least if you get up another five. We actually had one guest work that day. Um, he was like, Vicki, uh yeah, I'm totally fine with fires. I've got a wood burn at home, totally fine. I was like, Yes, great, fantastic. And then nine o'clock, he calls me and says, Vicki, there's smoke coming into the dome. Um, I don't know what to do. I think the chimney's blocked. So I was like raced up there. And then he'd actually stacked the fire up so high that he'd blocked his own chimney. So I was like, let's just move that log out of the way. And uh and it all worked funny, was so embarrassing.

SPEAKER_00

That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_03

Chai's actually got another story, John. Um, but this one's about naked people. Um, so they had a couple who managed to lock themselves out of the dome completely naked, like full-on, no clothes. I think they had a towel maybe, um, so there was at least some dignity preserved. But they were actually meant to be leaving on that day, and the hosts had gone out, and the couple decided, well, let's just go and have one more go in the hot tub because Charlie had said like, don't rush. Uh, next thing they're locked down. They ended up having to use next door's guest's phone to call for help. And then Charlie had to go and get a friend to literally break into the house and get the spare keys. Um, they were a lovely young couple, she said, and they toast on the funniest side, but less than that, and then now leave spare keys in the bathroom. She actually had another one where she went to drop off some dry robes for some guests doing a cold water dip, and um, they knocked on the door like They knew she was coming. She knocked on the door and there was a man completely naked standing there holding a tiny knitted blanket to preserve some modesty. So yeah, naked people. You've got any naked people at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_00

We that that's brilliant. Yeah, we've we've had um so one of our um one of our our camper vans that we hire out, they're uh they're Volkswagen California. And I had a phone call off a uh a guest once and they'd gone up to a site over uh over in Yorkshire. And these sites you can kind of, you know, it's a glamping site with hard standing pitches, and they've got some um hot tubs alongside the uh the the hard standing pitches, so you kind of rent that space out and things. And um so they'd got you know it was it was fairly quiet, they they just closed a van, took their stuff off and hot footed it into the into the hot tub naked. Um you know, spent however long in there drinking and whatever, and and went to get out and thought, oh, you know, it's well, it's dark, it's not a problem. We'll get out and get the towels out of the van. So the van was locked. I think what had happened was, you know, and I I've done it before and I I'm super conscious now, you keep your keys in your pocket, you sit down, and it just kind of locks it, doesn't it? It presses the button on it. So when you close the van or your car or whatever, you you've you've essentially locked everything in. He was he was completely naked, but they'd had a phone outside. So got this phone call, and I'm thinking, God, I've got I've now got to drive to work, pick up the keys, and then drive over to Yorkshire to sort this out, you know, which is gonna be a couple of hours, you know, and they're gonna be in a hot tub, basically shriveling like a prune, you know. So anyway, so I had this kind of idea. I was like, well, you know, um, right, is there any way you can get warm? Anyway, 20 minutes later, I get a phone call saying, Don't worry, we've got back into the van, we'll we'll chat to you, you know, when we see you. So what had happened was he'd then he'd decided that on, you know, on these on these vans, obviously there's the roofs up, isn't it? And you've got the zipper front, so you can undo the zip on the on the on the roof section. So we'd climb, yeah. So they've obviously got you on a camper van, the roof comes up and you've got a bed in the roof and it's surrounded by canvas. There's a little zip on there. He'd he basically climbed naked on onto the bonnet, he'd unz unzipped the front of the tent on the roof bed, climbed in and set the alarm off then because the alarm went off. So then the then the sights kind of you know, all this. And then he's he's then drastically trying to find the key in all of this, the alarms going off, and you know, but they they managed to get in, nobody got hurt, and I was absolutely wetting myself. I was thinking to myself, imagine if he'd like fell and hurt himself. Like, so he's now on the floor completely naked, you know, the the alarms going off, you know, there's all this like hoo-ha. Yeah, so that was that was brilliant. We've had we've had guests come back from the toilet and um go back into the yurt um and go back into the wrong yurt and try to get in bed with people. That that that's been quite funny.

SPEAKER_03

So, next up we've got a question from Phil. Um, he sent this through on an email, so it's a little bit longer, but he's hoping for some advice.

SPEAKER_01

Sure.

SPEAKER_03

I'm looking at branching out our large family-oriented campsite into alternative accommodation to help build business in our low and off season and ultimately improve the profits for the business. It's very early stages at the moment. I'm considering everything from bell tents to luxury tree houses. What I'm struggling with is knowing which market to aim for. The obvious train of thought is to play to our strengths and aim for the family market. My concern with this is it might not bring in the bookings in the off season like I'm hoping. The counter to this is to market it to couples, but it won't gel the business as well during the kids' holidays, but that's only for seven or eight weeks. The campsite's very popular, and I'm confident we'd fill the accommodation anyway with our base of returning guests. Would going after the remaining 45 weeks of the year bear more fruit, or do I risk confusing our brand too much? So the site is large at around 180 pitches, and our long-term potential for more accommodation is large too. We've got a 30-acre estate and have plenty of options where to put lodges, pods, etc. Although this is a lovely problem to have, it does mean that we have lots of options on where to take the business. Initially, we've been looking to add two to four as a proof of concept, but I would hope our five to ten year plan will be more like 12 to 16. So, John, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00

Well, firstly, thanks, Phil, for sending that in. Um yeah, I can I can definitely see the predicament. Um, we've spoken to to various people over the years and done site surveys and gone through a similar similar thing, really, with this. So there's there's, you know, there is no easy feat, and I can understand you're probably deliberate deliberating about quite a few things. Um, but there's I suppose a lot to unpick, and the most important thing is what's going to work for you and your budget and fit around your lifestyle and and how you want it to run. So that I suppose that's the first thing. Um there isn't a kind of one deciding route to it all, you know, that that will kind of swing everything round, but like you, you've you've rightly said, you know, you you're kind of considering lots of different options, and you've obviously got an existing business. So um, you know, it's whether or not the site is big enough to separate a completely different offering out there, um, or or to to include it alongside, um, and that accommodation or the market or the demographic that you aim for will respond accordingly to to how that that pans out on the site. Um one I suppose an example that I've got is that we we acquired the campsite um from the partner three years ago, and we had some legacy um lodges that were that were in. Um I I I wasn't really keen on them if I'm honest. Um they were they were great, but um yeah, I wasn't entirely keen on them. Um and thinking I was just gonna kind of rip them out and swap them round for something else. Um at that point we were we were strong into yurts and uh I I I thought the space needed to be bigger because it was predominantly a family campsite. The lodges only slept um couples in, so I didn't think that the two were were gonna gel on the site at all, if I'm honest. Um, how wrong I was. Um they are fantastic additions to the site, they give us income um in the in what we would class for the glamping or the family market is quiet. Um they sit alongside the family campsite really, really well. Um they're they're not top-end luxury um lodges by any means. They're comfortable, fairly basic. They've got a nice, lovely bed in there, like a cabin style bed and fresh duvets and sheets and all of that. They've got an outdoor kind of kitchen, really nice kitchen area, um uh two-person hot tubs, that that that type of thing. Um, and they're kind of orientated, so they do have a little bit of uh exclusivity to them, but essentially they're still they're still on the campsite. Um but they work tremendously well. Um, and part of that is to do with um is the pricing on them as well. You know, we're not asking for the same sort of pricing per night as we do for the the other glamping units, um, and they uh they tick away really, really well. So, you know, I I can vouch for for them both, you know, working in unison on a site, but that is, you know, uh up to£100 a night rather than several hundred pounds a night. Um, and that and that you know, you would need to create more of a an exclusive offering if you were going down the the higher budget lines, like you were talking about the tree houses and um the the this there's food for thought there. But what what what about you, Vicky?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that was my thinking that if you've got a campsite and you've got that demographic already, it is really easy just to keep going with that same demographic and putting in pods that sleep four. But from experience we both run family sites, um we just it's a real struggle to get people in the midweek in term time because all the kids are at school. Um and so if you can do a couples offering, but it sounds like on a 30-acre estate, you've got space to create some more exclus an exclusive area of couples-only pods that keep you ticking over the rest of the year. But there's no reason why you can't have a section for couples, and then you have a section on your on your website that is dedicated to couple days and romantic getaways and higher-end stuff, yeah. And then also have a section about families and camping, and we've got these other pods that are, yeah, more basic, lower price point that appeal to the same demographic that are coming camping. Um, I think there are loads and loads of super high-end clamping at the moment that it's costing three to five hundred pounds a night. And I think if you can do a slightly lower offering, then especially in the current climate that we're in, I think that's probably a better bet, especially with the demographic that you've got already. Like you think of, you know, if you can get those email addresses of all those campers that come and stay every year and then market the pods to them, you've got a massive audience there that you can say, Oh, look at our upgraded pods. Because, you know, even going from a camping pitch to a bell tent is, you know, you can charge£100 and that's that. Definitely.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So I think that would be a much easier sell, and you'd fill it a much easier than like spending£200,000 doing the high-end treehouse that will sell, but you're gonna have to, you know, the the maintenance that goes along with that, the the fact that you're gonna need the bathrobes and the slippers and the toiletries and like it's like a whole different ballgame. And so that would be my thought is go for the kind of mid to lower end of the glamping market because it's a much easier price point for entry. Um, and then you can kind of yeah, see how that goes. So those two to four pods that you're thinking of as like an entry-level or like test the water sort of thing would be perfect. And then you think, okay, that's going really well. Maybe we'll now separate out another area that we can do for higher-end couples. But yeah, I would say it's so difficult to get your investment back on like a 200,000 pound build. And like it might even be more than that, because you can buy a 200,000 pound chapter. So, you know, completely.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think, I think um I I'm I'm with you. I, you know, there's a lot to be said for that the top end of the market, but there's a lot of um other infrastructure that that goes with having something of that value, um, you know, more of a dedicated marketing strategy that is over and above just just the usual. Um, you know, and you really have to set yourself apart um and and and spend considerable amount of time building on that uh and and money as well. Um with the lower end. I mean, we've we've we've said it many times on this podcast that there's nothing wrong with creating uh a, you know, dare I say basic, a more basic offering or a lower end offering. And that market is is a really stable market. It's people that have time on their hands, they're quite frugal with how they spend their money, but happy to spend a couple of days away. The other thing that works really well for us in our lodges is because of the nature of the the lack of luxury, I suppose, um, and the lack of all of the furniture fixtures and fittings and you know, they I mean they are nice by all means, but they don't take long to change over. And you know, I talk talk to a lot of people about this with with glamping accommodation, is that, you know, when when people are selling glamping units, whether they're solid structures or or or canvas or you know, PVC or what whatever they are, they look brilliant at the shows, they look fantastic, and they put, you know, everything in the world in them to make you feel like there's absolute luxury when you're walking into them. But on a changeover, it's an absolute nightmare, you know, and you could never, you know, it would take you hours to clean something like that. And there's not a great deal of thought or um or handholding from I think manufacturers sometimes in or consideration around how that space is changed over efficiently. And the one thing that works for us is that we change that lodge over in 45 minutes, an hour with the hot tub. It is it is super, super quick. You know, we can have somebody out of there and it changed and cleaned, ready to go, you know, or a little, a little spruce up or what whatever we need. And also if there's anything that needs to be changed or replaced or something's broken, it can be done within that changeover period. Or if it's not been used, let's say for several days, or some, you know, the the the staff on site manage it. So it it fits in alongside their normal daily routine. So although it is an added extra, it's a really, really easy added extra. So they get, you know, they get the time to do that. And I think that that that's important to consider when you're when you're looking at the accommodation. If you're fitting it in with your existing staff team and you don't want to grow that staff team, you know, or or there's not enough work to grow it and you know, employ somebody else, then then the accommodation needs to reflect that as well.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, absolutely. Because, you know, it is hard to find cleaning staff and them to do it to a certain standard, especially if it's like a high-end treehouse. You know, you need to have them to have the attention to detail that you do as a host. And I had a big conversation with them. Um, so I was at the Short Stay Summit yesterday, uh, which is in London, and it's for like any short-term rentals, um, mainly like holiday lets and property managers and that kind of thing. Anyway, I had a good chat with somebody who has a very high-end 16, sleep 16 house, and he was saying that he has to pay his staff way more than he would pay a normal cleaner for a normal house, because he expects them to go through the cutlery drawer and make sure the knives are in the right place and the forks and things that you wouldn't do if you were cleaning a normal house. And so they just ask him for a 20% pay rise because they're fed up with him nagging them for all these different things that he wants because they don't turn around and look at the room and and see are like are the bedside tables neat. Um so if when you have a high end, you have to have the staff that are ready to do that attention to detail, and therefore you're having to pay them a lot more to have that attention to detail. And so I think from that point of view, unless you're gonna do it yourself, um, then yeah, if you've got campsite staff that are cleaning the shower block and the toilet and they can just go in and do a changeover really easily, it's gonna make your life so much easier and stream them and everything a bit more if it's not going for like the uber uber hype.

SPEAKER_00

Definitely, yeah. I go, I go round in circles with that point, is that you know, we we created our accommodation so that anybody could clean it and anybody could clean it to a high standard that dare I say it didn't really care about their job. You know, we do employ people that value their job, we look after them, you know, but we also understand that people are are not robots. You know, they might come in and they might have stuff going on at home, and they think, oh god, you know, it it is a job essentially at the end of the day. As much as they love it, it is a job. And people have bad days. And we need to be able to create accommodation that people can clean on their bad days and still and still deliver that that top-end luxury service. You know, we shouldn't necessarily need to be able to have people working at their absolute upper echelon every single changeover. I know, I know we do in our our heads because we own the business and we want it to be absolutely perfect. But when I'm laying out a site or when I'm looking at how accommodation's going to work, I always think, can this be cleaned by absolutely anybody that is trained up and you know, not necessarily bothered about their job? You know, I know that sounds harsh, but it it we need to create, we need to create systems that, you know, uh help us deliver what we want to deliver at the at a very basic level. And and it is it is a juggling act, it really is. You know, you're convincing people that are used to cleaning cottages potentially to walk across a field in wellies or crocs, in waterproofs, carrying hotel laundry, you know, when it's absolutely pissing it down, to walk inside a clamping unit, you know, for the same price as they would walk working in a hotel. It's uh it's crazy, isn't it? But um, but some people love it. Some people love that that that way of working. And you know, what we do is we just employ people for the whole day, every Monday and every Friday. And, you know, they they they work their way through the accommodation on them days, and it fits around, you know, people that have got school age children, local people, um, you know, it fits really well, they've got other jobs going on, and we've just built a really solid team from that. Um that that that helps, I think. Having having a, you know, not an odd hour here and there and they're rushing round doing other holiday cottages. They just know on that day they're gonna be working for you. And if you haven't got enough accommodation to clean because you haven't filled it all, you commit to that time. So, you know, they're doing other stuff on site.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah, always something to do.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I hope that answers your question, Phil. Um, so I've just got one more question, which was something I was asked yesterday at the Short Stay Summit. So I on my ResMexa stand, I had my laptop there with a picture of the dome. And these people came up to me and they were like, Oh my goodness, you've got domes. This is what we need to do. And I was like, Oh, are you starting a glamping site? And they were like, Yes, we're starting, we've got bell tents, you know, we want to start some domes at some point, but we're not brand new into it, we're not sure what we're doing. Um give me your top five tips of things that you would have that you should have at a glamping site. And so, um, yeah, what what are your top five things that you would have at your glamping site?

SPEAKER_00

So my top five would be uh a really nice loo and shower. So whether that's you know, private use or whether it's communal, really, you know, really nice. Invest invest the money in creating nice facilities for people. That's that's definitely one of them. Um access to alcohol.

SPEAKER_03

Hence the couch is Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I've definitely seen that flourish, you know, in just in the last couple of months, really. That um having having a a social a social area has you know, not only with the food offering, but um but having a social area where people can can you know congregate. I mean you you you have that which sounds idyllic with around the fire pit, you know, and I think maybe it's just a communal area where people can go and hang out.

SPEAKER_03

One of my things was fire pit. Have a have a lovely fire pit area where people can yeah, co congregate and hang out. And um they had they've got bell tents. Um basically they've bought a campsite and so they're turning it into a grumping set. So they've already got an existing shower and toilet block and just ruin the bases for the bell tents at the moment. Um, so we all I also talked about, well, it depends on the demographic because if you're going for couples, it's gonna be something different from if you're going for families. Like if you're going for families, having a play area is a massive advantage, having a nice swing hanging from a big tree, or having a slide down a hill, or you know, s things like that. But obviously, if you're just having couples, I mean you can still put a big swinging in the slides, there's not like things that that delight the guest and it's unexpected. What makes a site memorable is those unexpected things um that people can take photos in front of and Instagram or moments because that helps you use generated content. There's a glamping site in America where they've got this the r long um at the end of a really long, dusty road. And they've got signs like all along the road, like big signs up, signs on the side saying the worst is behind you, you're nearly there, paradise is just waiting for you, like all the way down the the track. So you kind of like get a feeling that you're nearly there. And then they've got someone playing the guitar on the porch when you get there, and you know, things like that. Also, one of mine was f like, as you say, like not just drink, but food as well.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Like having something when they arrive, something edible. Um, because normally you're a bit hungry, you've been on a long trip, you're a bit miserable, you want a bit of chop some kind of yummy-ness. You know, that's why the um Doubletree, Hilton Doubletree Hotel, they give you a warm cookie when you check it.

SPEAKER_00

Nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Like, is that kind of thing, like leaving nice brow we leave brownies, just something that when they get there, they're like, oh, it's a treat for me, like some sort of treat.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Because I know like lots of places do lovely welcome hampers, but at the same time, like that can be quite costly. You know, you're you when you're putting a hamper together, you can't just put one thing, one or two things that looks a bit pants. So you end up putting like a bottle of wine and a milk and a you know, cookies and whatever, and it gets quite it can get uh expensive.

SPEAKER_01

Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So if you just have one lovely little thing that you leave them, that's a bit more budget-friendly.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think I think a big, big, big thing for me is uh is is the bed, the mattress, especially. Um and having, you know, nice pillows, a nice duvet and mattress is is is so important. You know, we are encouraging people to to relax and take that time and just just enjoy their their free time. Uh we need to we need to help them get into that. And you know, if they've woken up in the morning and they've had a crap night's sleep because the mattress is too hard, or um, and that happened to us, you know, early on. We bought some cheap futon mattresses and futons, and people were like, oh, these are crap, you know, and they were, you know, they were they were just the usual futon mattresses. So we we needed to use futons, so we built our own and worked with a mattress manufacturer to make some super, super comfy futon mattresses for us that are like normal, they're they're essentially normal mattresses, but but they can bend. Um and that transformed, you know, how how people rested and felt felt rested. Um, because if they're still catching up on sleep or not getting decent sleep, you know, they're not able to enjoy their time. So that that that's that's really important.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Kate Morel's super hot on that. She came around when she came around to my site, she was like sitting down on the beds and checking out the mattresses. She's like, matches it's so important. Everybody forgets the mattresses.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Oh, yeah, completely. You know, and I I I think also as well, staying in your own accommodation. I know we've said it before, it really helps you, you know, sense check everything and yeah, just enjoying joining that space. I love, I'm I mean, I love staying on my site. I really do. I've created a site that I just want to, I just want to go to all the time. You know, I was there last last weekend and yeah, I'm kind of looking round going, oh, this my my my heart was absolutely full when I when I left there. You know, it's it that's what it's about, essentially. You're doing it because you want you you want to recreate that feeling yourself, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03

So if um we go and sleep up in the dames and make us all take a sleeping bag, so I'd have to change a bedding.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_03

Changing another bed that I don't need to change.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. So how many we got there, Vicky? Have we got is that four or five we've got?

SPEAKER_03

So we've yeah, definitely, definitely done our five or maybe even six. So yeah, I hope that was helpful.

SPEAKER_00

So thanks for listening. We hope you've picked up some great insights and ideas on how to um protect your business and uh understand the uh the the nature of the beast.

SPEAKER_03

And I kind of hope that you feel a bit in solidarity with all these people that have naked people and uh stuff going on with woods.

SPEAKER_01

Definitely.

SPEAKER_03

This podcast is brought to you in association with the Glamping Industries Trade Association, Gita, the voice supporting your business and growing our industry.

SPEAKER_00

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SPEAKER_03

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SPEAKER_00

See you in the next episode.