Glamping Business

[mtfb7285]

Hi everyone, my partner and I have been brainstorming ideas for a business as we have some money to invest and want to use it to go self employed.

Today we discussed setting up a glamping business, as we have potentially got some land we could use in the countryside.

We’re thinking wooden huts with beds, electricity supply for kettle, heater. Water supply and maybe hot tubs.

The question is, how much would we be looking at spending on getting the water and electricity supply set up?
And would we need to build a toilet block for guests too, or would it be cheaper to install toilets into the huts?

It’s a very vague idea at the moment and we have a lot of research to do, but thought we’d ask here to see if anyone had any experience with this kind of business.

Thank you

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

You're going to need to get some quotes. Be specific about what you want, we tradesmen can smell a timewaster a mile off.

Or you could engage the services of a consultant. This will cost, but be much more specific and give you options.

Here are some points to get you started.

Without planning permission you are going nowhere.

Electricity supplies to remote fields, especially large enough to support multiple hot tubs and water heaters/showers will be very expensive. I would personally use a gas boiler. Very cheap to setup (portable gas boiler and trolley, as used in stable etcs for horse showers)

You will need either a mains sewerage connection or a treatment plant. Again, not cheap. Whether you have a toilet block or individual toilets depends upon how upmarket you are aiming. How could multiple toilets and connections possibly be cheaper than one toilet block? Use some common sense! You can even buy a pre fabricated toilet block, which will always command a value if you sell up.

 

[Scalloway]

One of the organisations I am involved in is planning a campsite. I've had a look at one of the estimates we got from our QS and connecting water and electricity will be over £10,000. We are just planning to have toilets in the amenity building, none in the individual units.

 

[The Byre]

Bog-house block = camping (a few quid a night).

En-suite shower and loo = glamping (up-market B&B prices).

DIYing a wooden hut - c.a. £10k.

Having it built for you - c.a. £20k+.

Installation of bog and shower - £3k per hut or DIY £1k.

Common septic tank with soak-away for four huts - c.a. £5-10k.

Mains water and electricity - £6k-40k depending on distance to supply.

Architect, planning and other incidentals - £10k+.

 

[Mark T Jones]

It's a sector I'm working with a lot at the moment

What you really need to be aware of is that we are destined for a boom over the next 12 or 24 months, after which there is likely to excess supply- which probably won't matter if you have superb location or a really innovative theme, but if you are 'just another' you will be opening at exactly the wrong time

As others have suggested, it is almost certainly worth bring a consultant on board - there really is a lot to consider and you may be shocked at the pre-start costs.

As light entertainment its worth watching Johnny Vegas setting up a glamping business on ITV - if nothing else it will tell you what not to do. By luck rather than judgement his timing is bang on

 

[fisicx]

My mate has got a glamping business. Apart from all the above the most important things are WiFi and catering. The sort of people who are happy to pay the exorbitant fees will want a decent internet service so they can update their instagram pages every 5 minutes. They will also want feeding and a constant supply of chilled drinks. Which means you need a kitchen and chef.

If you are in the middle of the countryside it just becomes a pain.

You need to be close to existing facilities - ideally a farmhouse or similar as they have hardstanding for the vehicles and connecting to utilities is a lot cheaper.

 

[Mitch3473]

Have you been round and stayed on Glamping sites, have you asked questions to total strangers interested in that sort of thing, have you asked questions to the owners..... We're involved directly with the tourist trade in Snowdonia and only one of our clients has anything remotely connected to Glamping but they do have a huge static site and a couple of rental cottages, I doubt they even know they have Glampers on site to be honest. No one else has anything like it and there's a reason for that. It's had its brief 15 minutes of glory.
It's a life style living, hardly, if at all, sustainable on it's own.
Get a holiday rental cottage, get an agency to deal with it then flog it in 10 years. It's a lot easier and slightly more cost effective.

 

[Mark T Jones]

. It's had its brief 15 minutes of glory.
It's a life style living, hardly, if at all, sustainable on it's own.

I'd strongly dispute that. In fact I'd say that if you have a glamping site and aren't fully booked this summer you need to ask yourself what you are doing wrong

The term glamping has been stretched to its absolute limit- covering pretty much every type of accommodation between a ridge tent and bricks & mortar (except caravans) - Even Center Parcs come under the glamping banner and their premium units are currently fetching £7k a week!

There will be a short term spike in demand- followed by the inevitable drop, but glamping will be with us for many years to come

 

[Socio South West]

Some excellent pointers in the above posts: I have a self catering rentals business in my current portfolio, and two things strike me:

1) There is increasingly a demand for high quality accommodation, and guests frequently expect hotel style service and facilities. For some reason that increasingly escapes me people also want to work when they are away, and as someone pointed out, the highest possible internet speed will be a sound investment.

2) You will have times in the year - usually around Easter and then from early July until the end of August when you wont have time to turn around, let alone do anything else, before the next enquiry or issue arises. Conversely you should be able to jet off to the sun in the later autumn or early spring withminimal worries about anything needing desperate attention.

And of course - you are at the mercy of the good old British weather.... I am reminded of that old American song 'Hello Mother, Hello Father' You will receive far less complaints and aggro when the sun is out!

 

[Paul Norman]

Any kind of camping/ motorhome/glamping site is going to need a fair bit of investment.

People no longer think living in a tent with no power a 5 inches of mud is fun. Neither is a cold motorhome stuck in a muddy rut having to be towed out. And as someone who travels around and does work from a motorhome when in the UK, I don't so much need good internet as to be somewhere with decent 4G signal.

But there are two things I would do.

1. Hire a consultant. There are many things in this business that are obvious pitfalls. Obvious, of course, if you know about them.

2. Go and stay on sites offering broadly what you are thinking of offering. Go armed with notepads and write down all the things that work, and all the things that irk you slightly.

 

[Energise Accounting]

Your idea of a glamping business is a good one. Getting the services to the site could cost an absolute fortune if you are in the middle of nowhere.

• Make sure you pick an area with loads to do in the local area.
• Make sure the site itself is set in an area with nice views walks etc
• As always customer service with this type of business is paramount.
• Be prepared to lay out some serious cash