Editor’s be aware: Every month, we wish to introduce one in all our great Glamping Hub hosts and ask what impressed them to create a glamping website. This month, we’re showcasing Glamping Hub’s Host of the Month for January 2023, Ken from Jonson Metropolis, Texas. What began as a love of glamping and fascinating lodging, quickly developed into a singular lodging house within the Texas Hill Nation. Ken and his workforce share a ardour for nature and ecological property administration, which glampers can get pleasure from after they keep in one of many luxurious bell tents or the transformed gypsy wagon.
Inform us a bit about your self…
I spent nearly all of my profession in IT consulting and staffing. By a profession coach, I found a ardour and curiosity in creating a lodging vacation spot within the Texas Hill Nation. I’m an enormous fan of glamping, classic RVs, and distinctive lodging varieties. The pure surroundings, the outside, and the ecological points of property and land administration are actually necessary to me. I like to journey and discover totally different components of the world. To expertise the surroundings by way of an area lens as a substitute of staying in giant chains or inns and doing the preferred vacationer actions.
What attracted you to proudly owning a glamping property?
The artistic points of glamping and an curiosity within the outside surroundings actually drew me in. Incorporating nontraditional lodging varieties with a small footprint additionally appealed to me.
Each glamping website has a particular story, might you inform us about yours?
Whereas renting the property out, on a extra long-term foundation previous to leaping into offering shorter-term visitor lodging, we unintentionally harbored a fugitive who owned a journey trailer restoration enterprise. Fortunately the legislation caught up with him! It was a bumpy studying curve and required a big cleanup effort.
What are a number of the challenges you face and what have you ever discovered since opening?
There are numerous them. We’ve confronted septic points, and properly pump issues inflicting us to not have water. Some infrastructure and contractor points resulted in encroaching on our neighbor’s land. In addition to putting electrical energy and water in very inconvenient areas on the property. Additionally, managing bookings and the backend features of the enterprise was a battle till we integrated reserving engines and monitoring software program that made it simpler to handle.
The most important studying expertise has been in getting the correct workforce on board as it could possibly make or break each the standard of visitor experiences and actually each facet of working the enterprise.
How was your first time internet hosting?
A bit difficult! It took me longer than I assumed to scrub the unit and a few friends needed to wait 30-45 minutes whereas I mopped the ground and made beds. Fortunately, I’ve gotten a lot better at this!
Are you able to inform us about your most memorable visitor expertise so far?
Being woken up in the midst of the night time by a visitor that wanted first help! After getting dressed, fetching the equipment, and working to the glamping tent it turned out to be a small lower and one thing we might simply deal with on-site.
In the event you might have anyone keep at your lodging, who would it not be and why?
Willie Nelson and his band. It could be entertaining and fascinating to hang around with one in all our native musical icons.
The place is your very best vacation vacation spot? Aside from your glamping property after all!
That may be a lengthy record since I like to journey! Eco lodging on Saint John, one of many Virgin Islands. Visiting the small cities and villages of Belize, Italy, Greece, and France. I’d additionally like to go to Perth in Australia.
What do you like essentially the most about working a glamping website?
The friends and our workforce. It’s nice having constructive interactions whereas offering a pleasant visitor expertise. The workforce collaboration and dealing relationships have been enriching, each to myself and the enterprise.
What recommendation would you give to anybody trying to begin or enhance their very own glamping enterprise?
Get the correct workforce in place as you scale up. Holding in thoughts that dealing with bodily and structural issues, though a given, may be expensive. Get good electrical and plumbing contractors. Get a very good reserving engine and back-end help software program after getting a number of items.
Our neighborhood of hosts means every thing to us right here at Glamping Hub, which is why we like to share their tales in our Host of the Month function. In the event you love touring with pets then this transformed gypsy wagon, simply 1.5 miles from the doorway to Pedernales Falls State Park is for you! On the lookout for an adventure-filled glamping getaway close to Austin? Do that distinctive bell tent. Plan your subsequent romantic retreat to this tent surrounded by the superbly wild Texas countryside for an very best glamping getaway!
Have you ever stayed with one in all our unbelievable hosts just lately and want to nominate them for Glamping Hub’s Host of the Month? Ship us a message by way of Fb or Instagram explaining who you’ve chosen and why!
If you’re fascinated with making a glamping resort, discover out extra details about how we will help you develop or begin a glamping enterprise by way of Develop with Glamping Hub.
