You're standing alone at the front of a packed community hall. The air is thick with bubbling resentment. Hundreds of pairs of eyes burn into you—angry, distrustful, and determined to stop your development at all costs.

As you stumble through your presentation, a cold realization hits you. Nothing you say will sway them. The rumors have already taken root. The locals have made up their minds.

Your glamping dreams are officially over.

NIMBYs. They're pretty much unavoidable if you're starting a glamping business. Fail to account for them and you'll find yourself in this exact scenario.

For those unfamiliar, NIMBY stands for "Not In My Back Yard." It's a term that describes a particular type of person. The kind that creates a Facebook group to oppose a tiny glamping development in the middle of nowhere. Or, as one of my earliest podcast guests experienced, someone who repeatedly fires a gun outside your glamping site in an attempt to shut it down.

Not everyone who opposes a development is a NIMBY. Most people have rational explanations for why they're not a fan of a particular project. 

But NIMBYs aren't rational. They oppose any form of change in their area and refuse to consider that new developments might actually benefit the community. 

You can't reason with NIMBYs, but you can neutralize them. And I'm going to teach you how.

The Glamping Insider, reporting for duty.

NIMBYs - The Weeds of Glamping

t's a Friday and you're reading The Glamping Insider, which means it's wacky analogy time.

NIMBYs work like weeds.

You've spent a warm summer afternoon tending the backyard. As you're finishing up, you spot a lonely weed poking out of the soil. "It's nothing," you tell yourself. "I'll deal with it next time." You put your gardening gear away and head inside.

A few weeks pass and you're out in the backyard again. You glance over at the spot where the weed was. Except it's no longer a lonely weed. It's now an untamed jungle. Through your failure to be proactive, the weed, once a harmless little thing, has become a huge problem.

NIMBYs, like weeds, spread rapidly if they're not quickly dealt with. If they hear about your glamping plans, they'll get the rumor mill spinning faster than you can say "glamping". They'll do it through word of mouth, Facebook groups, and any other method they can think of.

Seriously, it can get crazy. One operator told me that NIMBYs spun a micro-resort development into rumors of a Chinese corporation trying to take over the town. 

Once the rumor mill starts spinning, it's difficult to stop. Given the choice of a real estate developer versus a local resident claiming to stand up for the community, most will side with the latter. 

This is why it's important to get ahead of the message. But how do you do it?

Neutralizing the NIMBYs

Before we start, you need to understand this is about neutralizing the NIMBYs, not changing their mind. Sure, you may convince a few along the way, but the hardcore NIMBYs will oppose your development no matter what. 

The way to win against NIMBYs is by presenting your plans on your own terms. This means engaging with the community early, before the rumor mill starts spinning.

Host a town hall meeting for local residents, where you outline your development plans and what it means for them. Do this long before the county puts out a notice for a public hearing.

This allows you to set the narrative. Residents will learn about your project from the horse's mouth, and not someone stoking the fire in an angry Facebook Group. 

It's like trimming the weed before it spreads. 

This isn't my idea. It's been part of the playbook for Postcard Cabins (formerly Getaway) across their 30 locations, and it's standard practice among outdoor hospitality architects.

There are some best practices for these community meetings. Here's what you need to know:

• Be hospitable - At the very least, provide food and drink. You can even make it fun. For example, you could let people walk inside the glamping tents you plan to use

• Be empathetic - Developments always bring legitimate concerns. Acknowledge these and explain how you intend to address them

• Present the benefits - Your glamping site will probably benefit the community! Talk about the jobs it will create and the local businesses it will help. Check out this 1-minute clip of Andrew Murphy from Sojourner Glamping explaining how he did this. 

• Be personal - Open up to the audience about who you are and why you're doing this. Show them you're not a heartless developer

• Be patient - Don't expect everyone to be convinced straight away. You'll need to answer lots of questions and give people time to think about it

• Be realistic - You won't ever get 100% support. Your goal is to convince the rational people that your development isn't the demonic project that the NIMBYs will make it out to be

Holding a community meeting won't guarantee permitting approval, but it will improve your chances.

By controlling the narrative, you limit the wild conspiracy theories and stand a chance of winning the residents over. The NIMBYs will continue to shriek, but you can outflank them.

I hope you liked this one. If you did, please share it with someone that would find it useful. That could be your business partner, friend, family member, or pet dog if they have an email address. Refer it to two people and you'll get my industry contact book. The referral link is below.

💡Idea of the Week - Coffee Table Guestbook

This comes from Robert Slaybers, a vaction rental host who replied to the guestbook dispatch with this:

Take pictures from social media (with permission) and assemble them into a coffee table picture guestbook. Your guests will look through it and want to be a part of it.

If given the next little nudge, they’ll follow the QR code and post their adventure pictures to your glamping site’s Instagram page, and you’ll have a good supply of new pictures! They’ll feel so good seeing the post, and you’ll get the best free advertising in the world!

If you have a suggestion for the next Idea of the Week, hit me up!

🎧️ On the Pod

Former employees of the big glamping companies make the best podcast guests. In recent weeks, we’ve had early hires from AutoCamp and Getaway on the pod, and this week it was Under Canvas’ turn.

Jeremy Budge was one of the first employees at Under Canvas, is now the owner of Backland Glamping in Arizona. He joined Connor and me to discuss everything from site selection to sustainability. Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Youtube.