26 Glamping Nuggets for Christmas

Welcome to the last dispatch of 2024! Tomorrow, I head home to the UK for a whole lot of family, food, and time in the pub.

I couldn’t leave without sending a gift to you Insiders. 

Here are 26 pieces of hard-earned glamping wisdom to think about over the holidays. I’ve included links where added context may be useful.

1) In the long run, agonizing over guest experience is a 10x better investment of time than agonizing over unit selection

2) Buying a property in a bad market is a decision to swim against the tide

3) This industry is evolving fast. What works now may not in 10 years. Plan ahead

4) There’s more than one operating model that works in this business. Study the industry and pick a model that works for you

5) SBA loans are your friend

6) Cheap units become expensive mistakes

7) You can spend millions on state-of-the-art amenities, but nature is the best amenity of them all

8) A good general contractor won’t guarantee success. A bad one will guarantee failure

9) The best resorts have traces of their founder’s personality everywhere you look

10) Little touches mean more to guests than grand gestures

11) Guestbooks are great. Use them properly

12) The booking experience should be seamless. There’s no excuse for messing it up

13) Guests love stories, so find a story to tell

14) Influencers are cheat codes. Use them

15) Master the art of Instagram Reels. You’ll hold the key to virality

16) Create an Instagrammable spot on your property, or leave money on the table

17) Email marketing is underrated

18) So are website popups

19) Winter photos in winter, summer photos in summer. Don’t be the guy advertising a mall Santa in July

20) Testimonials give you the holy trifecta of (1) marketing juice; (2) staff motivation; (3) happiness

21) Don’t reveal all your secrets ahead of time. Surprising a guest can turn them evangelical 

22) If upsells aren’t at least 20% of your revenue, make it so

23) Good public outreach is kryptonite to NIMBYs

24) Extortionate insurance kills glamping dreams. Speak to Chris Hipple early 

25) Every operator gets knocked down. Get up. Go again

26) Just do it. You won’t regret it

If I could ask Santa for one thing this year, it would be for you to share the newsletter with someone who’d find it useful. The referral link is below.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

The Glamping Insider