So often we don’t know where to start with our dream eco-accommodation or glamping business. Whether it’s treehouses, bubble tents, domes, yurts or tipi, there are always challenges along the way and precious few people who are willing to share their knowledge and advice.
If you’ve experienced this frustration then this free Q&A session is for you. With industry experts and multiple business owners Sarah Riley and Kerry Roy, your opportunity to get some valuable inspiration, support and your questions answered will soon be kicking off.
The Business of Glamping And Unique Holiday Rentals, with Sarah Riley
In this podcast episode, we talk about what you can expect from the invitation-only event. If you want to attend, please sign up using this link:
Click Here To Sign Up For The Free SessionAbout Sarah Riley
Sarah Riley is a unique holiday rental expert and has been immersed in the world of entrepreneurship for over 20 years by helping thousands of students design their dream eco-accommodation business and the lifestyle they want. Think treehouses, bubble tents, domes, yurts and tipis and you’ll get the idea.
As a certified Performance Coach and CEO of Inspired Courses, she uses her experience to help others move to the next level in business and life. Her coaching programs help launch ideas quickly, start earning immediately and get ahead of the competition, without sacrificing life goals or the environment.
She has been featured by The Daily Mail, Eventbrite and Metro, and is the host of her own podcast ‘The Business of Glamping And Unique Holiday Rentals’. She also leads one of the largest business communities in the industry and is invited to travel the world to talk on these topics.
About Kerry Roy
Kerry is a retreat, wellness and festival organiser and the visionary behind Camp Katur in Yorkshire and Cerchio Del Desiderio in Italy. Both business models use a variety of glamping structures on her own property and by working in partnership with landowners.
Kerry’s award-winning site at The Camphill Estate offers weddings, wellness, corporate and team building events. She was also the first to introduce Geodome Glamping into Italy as a solo female entrepreneur with zero language skills!
As a trained Yogi organising various Wellness retreats at Cerchio Del Desiderio Glamping Retreat she draws on her experiences of organising an annual VW camper-van festival for 5000 guests.
Now with several TV appearances under her belt and as an influential speaker Kerry enjoys promoting and supporting the glamping industry whenever she can.
Today’s episode is brought to you by The Start Up And Grow Club, which offers an accelerator program and support group for those who want to set up their unique holiday rental or glamping businesses quickly.
The Glamping Business Podcast Shownotes
Additional Resources And Links Mentioned
- Glamping Business Start Up Q&A – FREE inspirational event with Sarah Riley & Kerry Roy
- Contact Sarah Riley through Inspired Courses
- The Ultimate Glamping Business Guide
- Guest Booking Success Marketing Masterclass
- The Glamping Business Facebook Group (+ Unique Holiday Rentals)
- Tools and resources in the Inspired Courses VIP Lounge
- How To Start A Glamping Business
Listen to the podcast here:
- iTunes (Apple)
- Stitcher (Android)
- Libsyn (App for smartphones)
- Spotify (Smart Player)
- Soundcloud (Smart Player)
Want To Feature On The Business Of Glamping And Unique Holiday Rentals Podcast?
If you have something inspiring to offer the world of Glamping and Unique Holiday Rentals then get in touch with Sarah Riley and share it on the Podcast. For more information contact Sarah here.
Listen to previous episodes here:
TRANSCRIPT
Sarah Riley: Many of us keep doing what we’ve always done because it feels scary to step outside of our comfort zone. We hesitate to take chances and to really tackle the change we need, because what if, but the reality is that most of the benefits wait for us just outside of our comfort zone, just outside of our reach, because that’s when we really begin to stretch ourselves. And that’s when we really begin to step up a level. Welcome to episode 40 glamping and unique holiday rentals are surging in popularity with the growing desire of customers to book holidays that deliver unexperience. They are also the new business of choice for those wanting to improve their work-life balance. So how do you build a strong business like this that gives you the life you need and a great investment. I am Sarah Riley, and I want to share what I’ve discovered after being immersed in this industry for over 20 years, to inspire you to find out more about what’s going on. Welcome. This is the business of glamping and unique holiday rentals.
Sarah Riley: Hello, and welcome to the show is fantastic that you’ve joined me. It’s really amazing taking some time out to hang out with me today, to learn and to be motivated and inspired about the amazing world of experiential eco accommodation and glamping. It’s something that is really starting to kick off since the pandemic. And everyone wants to have more time outside with each other, with friends and family, and just to have a little bit more time and space in nature. And I think that’s the key, isn’t it The space to be able to have a bit more personal space. And if you can do that in nature with the comfort of a five-star hotel, well, then we’re P and I think this is why things are really starting to kick off in this industry. So as you know, I like to speak to people who have done it today or yesterday to get their view on what they wish they’d known before they started, because there’s so much we can learn from those experiences and, you know, the generosity of everyone sharing what they know.
Sarah Riley: It’s just amazing. And I love the fact that people are so friendly and generous in this industry. And that’s part of the reason why I love being in it. So if you’re thinking of setting up your own business, maybe you’re thinking of a work life balance shift. Maybe it’s something you’ve started thinking that you can do from where you live now that you’re working from home and a little bit more, you know, maybe you just want to get out of the office. You want to start having people stay and enjoy the location that you have, or you just want to do something completely different. And you can really see the benefit that this industry has, but whatever the reason you want to have an owner’s perspective, we all do. It’s really important that we understand what it’s like to be an owner in this industry.
Sarah Riley: And that’s part of the reason why I’ve interviewed so many people for this podcast, but also so many people that I use their information and put it into a fantastic ebook, which most of you have downloaded already. If you haven’t go and check that out, that’s inspired courses.com forward slash wish. The reason it’s called wish is because the ebook talks about all of these lessons that people have to help us in our own journey to try to set up our own businesses in this industry. And some of the nuggets of gold are in there. And I would have to say that there are people who have shared so openly and have given advice that just that advice alone can make sure that someone is going to go down the right path with their decision-making. And some of the questions that I’ve been asking other business owners are things around getting their expert opinion about the industry and where it’s going, particularly because of what’s been going on over the last year.
Sarah Riley: Let’s not talk about it. We’re going to keep this positive and uplifting, but also, you know, what can the lessons of the past teach us about what we need to do in the future I was speaking to a glamping business owner the other day, and I was asking them what their most profitable type of glamping structure has been so far. And it’s really interesting to get that kind of inside knowledge, that those inner circle secrets and particularly around those strategies that are really important for attracting guests bookings, and more importantly than just attracting guests bookings, but attracting bookings that aren’t really expensive with loads of commission costs. So these are kind of bookings that come directly from the customer and in the trade they’re called direct guest bookings. But yeah, this is about how can we get guests to book directly with us through our websites.
Sarah Riley: So we don’t have to pay a third party fee. Obviously this is going to increase the profitability of our business and that’s important, but also, you know, how can we increase the amount of money guests are spending with us while they’re staying with us Again, this is all something that we can look at and we can tweak in our services to make sure that we are generating the maximum amount of money that we can. That means that we can have the best business that we can produce, but also we can have the best life as a result. Then there are really interesting kind of out of the box, thinking ideas about how we can wow, our guests. Again, this is something we can learn from existing hosts because they’re doing it. They are wowing their guests and they know what works best. And I know with everything that actually, there’s always a pattern.
Sarah Riley: There’s always a pattern about what works well and what doesn’t work so well. And so I was speaking to my startup and grow club the other day, and trying to share some of those insights from guests and getting their feedback as well. One of the things I shared, which works incredibly well is about you can wow, your guests by guessing into their home. Now that sounds a bit creepy, doesn’t it But no, what I’m talking about is giving the guests something that they can take with them, that they can take into their home, and it will continuously remind them of their stay with you, and we’ll encourage them to want to rebook another state and come back again. This is a fantastic technique to use, to get repeat guests bookings. And why do we want repeat guest bookings Because they are five to seven times less expensive than to get completely new guests to advertising other associated costs come back to your business.
Sarah Riley: So that’s why it’s really important to focus on that and wowing your guests by getting into their homes is a fantastic way of doing it. And actually know you can think about all these ideas. We were talking about some of the ideas in the club about what we could do to really engage our guests, connect them, help to remind them of their stay. What way can we do that And we were talking about sensory marketing, sensory marketing is when we’re using the five separate senses of the body to try to connect to memories and thoughts and all kinds of other things, to create a connection, a stronger connection with a customer, with a guest to encourage them to come back again. And some of the things that, the club members were talking about and some of the things from my own experience, you know, really amazing stuff.
Sarah Riley: One thing that we used to do in our business was to make the most of the amazing aromatic plants that we had around the doorway of our business. This meant that as guests were arriving, we would draw attention to certain things, a certain plant, a certain tree, you know, encourage them to smell, to touch, to understand about that particular type of tree. This is the, one of the reasons why people would stay because of the amazingness of the gardens. The gardens were really outstanding, you know, a Victorian, old gentleman’s house in the middle of very rural location in the UK. And these plants needed to be talked about and smell and touched. And that kind of cemented a memory of that happy arrival when guests came and we could do the same as well when they were leaving, you know, to give them a little gift of a card.
Sarah Riley: And in that gift where some leaves that people could actually take home with them, they would last for ages. They could, touch them. They could crush them and they would smell the amazing oils at this plant. And again, it would bring back the memories of staying with us. So this was one of the tricks that we use to kind of help people remember their time with joy, so that they would want to come back again and to repeat that time. And it works so well. And I know that there are lots of other techniques that can be used to, and, you know, not wanting to share trade secrets too openly. It’s really getting your imagination buzzing. And I suppose this is the benefit, isn’t it of having a small group of people who are all focused on the same thing, all understand the journey and what the outcome, the aim is of the action that we’re trying to take.
Sarah Riley: And to come up with these suggestions, which are amazing, and you know, what really wow for the guests. So of course, unless you are a member of the startup and grow club, you’re not going to be able to access all of this stuff, but I want to make sure that it is open to you. So that’s why I’ve invited somebody who I’ve been working with for many years and who has been running the most amazing sites in Italy and in the UK. And she’s basically a single, incredibly strong-minded, amazing female entrepreneur who is not scared about doing just amazing things like going to another country where she doesn’t even know the language and setting up a new style of business that isn’t even known in that country. She’s incredibly brave. She’s also a TV star. She was featured on UK channel a new life in the sun, her business set up and how she did that and what she did and the steps she took and the trials and tribulations, the challenges, the ups, and the downs were all covered on TV.
Sarah Riley: And it really was amazingly entertaining to watch her name is Carrie Roy. And I’ve worked with her. She’s also been on the podcast a few times already, and she’s just a joy to listen to. And I invited her into the startup and grow club. And we were talking about various things, getting her expert opinion and all kinds of stuff. And one of the club members said that he could have listened to her all night. She gave him so many tips and information that he needed, as he said, it was behind closed door, trade secrets that he received from her. And this is stuff that’s really hard to come by unless you’re able to join groups like this, but so that you don’t miss out, Carrie has very kindly agreed to give some of her time to offer you if you want to join us.
Sarah Riley: And we’re all jumping on a zoom call together, and we’re just going to chat about all of these things, what it takes to set up a glamping business, the different styles that you can go for, and the myths that are out there at the moment. And there are lots of myths. Believe me, what you need to listen to and what you don’t need to listen to. And instead what you need to do to make sure that you follow the well-worn and well-trodden success path to get your business up and running over the next few years. So if you want to join us, we would love to welcome you in it’s called the glamping business startup Q and a, and it’s just a place where you can come and bring your questions to get inspired about the information we’re going to share, to share some of Carrie’s journey to maybe even ask me a few questions and it’d be great if you join us.
Sarah Riley: So if you want to sign up for that, you can go over to inspired courses.com forward slash glamping startup. There is only a limited number of seats. So I’m attempting to record the session and I will make sure that’s available to anybody who signs up using that link. So that link again is inspired courses.com forward slash glamping startup. And, you know, it’d be really lovely if you joined us. Certainly, I think you will find that you’ll be incredibly inspired and motivated by what myself and Carrie are going to share. It’s going to help you jump ahead of the curve, hit the ground running. And just to, you know, to know that you’re not in this, on your own, and there are other people around who are doing this and you can share from each other and get ideas from each other. That’s the aim of this is to help you feel uplifted about your own journey and to maybe clear a few unknowns and frustrations or questions that you have so that you can move forward because those things might be pulsing your journey.
Sarah Riley: So that’s the aim of the session. And as I said, I would love you to join us. I know that you’ll get heaps of value from hanging out with Carrie as well, and there’s going to be other people in the group too. And I know from the sessions I run before, the kind of tips that are shared in the chat, you know, from everyone, from all the participants is just really motivating. And if you have questions, then we’re going to attempt to get through all the questions from the whole group at the end. So we’re planning that it’s only going to go on for an hour and a half max. I hope it doesn’t go on any longer than that. But like I say, there will be a recording sent out to everybody who signs up using that link. And I’m going to say the link again, just to make sure inspired courses.com forward slash glamping start-up. So, you know what I hope you put that in your diary. If you go to the link, you’ll see what date it is, and I’d really love you to join us. So I hope you do. And in the meantime, enjoy your week and see you back here again soon.
