MC Fireside Chats – March 12th, 2025

Brian Searl: [00:00:00] Welcome everybody to another episode of MC Fireside Chats. My name is Brian Searl with Insider Perks, super excited to be here with you for one of our amazing episodes. It’s new topical focus for 2025, focused on enhancing the guest experience. So got a couple of our recurring guests here. Zach from Clockwork. We’ve got, not Clockwork. Oh my God, 

Zach Stoltenberg: Not anymore 

Brian Searl: What is the new company?

Zach Stoltenberg: LJA. 

Brian Searl: LJA. What does LJA stand for? 

Zach Stoltenberg: Initials of the man who started the firm 

Brian Searl: Partners?. Okay. All right. One of the law firm people that doesn’t really have. Okay. I gotcha. That’s that means it’s important and it’s a good job. So congratulations. I will not forget it again. Although clockwork does roll easier off the tongue.

I’m just going to say it out loud. I’m not saying it’s a better company, but it’s a catchier name for a podcast host who’s not as intelligent as he should be. Joe Duemig is here from App My Community excited to welcome him as a recurring guest back here. And then Scott Foos from Horizon Outdoor Hospitality.

And then we got Quentin from Q Hospitality Management is one of our special guests this week. We’re supposed to have a another woman, Linda [00:01:00] Williamson, who hopefully will be able to join us in another week. But she had a last minute thing come up and then we have a couple of people missing this week who could not make the show.

But I think I want to show that just put this out to our recurring guests. First, is there anything that you guys have seen come across your desk in the last month since we’ve been on the show together that you feel needs brought up or talked about nobody? We’re all going to be quiet?

Zach Stoltenberg: I’ll go first. Seeing a couple of interesting trends lately, especially in the last week or 2. I think something that we need to keep our finger on the pulse of or keep an eye down the road for is off grid solutions. Recently had some calls with. Some folks about resort development that are on absolutely incredible sites, great locations but areas where kind of traditional utility infrastructure is either not possible or cost prohibitive, or, yeah, you can do it, but it’s going to take [00:02:00] 2 years to permit it.

And so I’ve learned more about composting toilets in the last 2 weeks than I ever thought I would need to know. I think for the longest time related to guest experience, when those questions came up, we just said, no, don’t do it. There’s better alternatives.

Let’s build a bath house or shower house or do full flush toilets. It’s a better guest experience, better ADR. But I think that’s starting to change a little bit. And if it gets folks into some of these incredible locations. I think they’re willing to deal with some of that.

Off grid solutions solar for power, wind for power even generators. We just got back last week from a site on an island in the Bahamas and talk about some logistical challenges of building and constructing. There’s not a Home Depot down the road that you can go get whatever it is that you need.

Yeah, I’d say one of the emerging trends I’m seeing it just keeps recurring is some of these off grid solutions for development. 

Brian Searl: Yeah, I’m really interested in that. I’ve come across some of that and I’m not as deep [00:03:00] into it as you are. Certainly not from an infrastructure standpoint, but it definitely interests me to see where We talk a lot I’m obsessed with future tech, as you guys all know, but I’m really interested to see where the technology takes us from an off grid perspective, allowing us to get closer to nature as we’re already there with some of the things like solar and composting toilets and stuff like that.

But as it becomes more affordable and more easier to fit into your logistics and your build plans and your architecture and all that kind of stuff. I think that has a big, broad appeal. I think sometimes and I’m not accusing any of you on the show, but sometimes from my perspective, and some of the people I talk to, we lose sight of all the people who still like to go camping, but not necessarily at a luxury RV resort or in a $500 a night glamping tent or resort.

And I think that not everybody likes that experience, one. There’s another piece for maybe a lot of people can’t afford that all the time at least. But like I came across this the other day to where we’re running like we do our other show Outwired that’s gonna come up after [00:04:00] this and one of the things we’re gonna talk about is turning five dollars into a trillion dollars solely by owning campgrounds later and one of the things that took me through is like bootstrapping and crowdfunding like Off grid, like super cheap tent sites right in the woods because they can be high margin.

If you can market to the right people, even though they’re not high margin by luxury RV resort standards, right? So yeah, that, that stuff. Anybody else wanna weigh in on off grid?. 

Joe Duemig: I was gonna say to Zach’s que to Zach putting it out there though, is this actually, is he talking about rustic camping?

Like you’re talking about Brian, or is he

Brian Searl: No, I don’t think so. Yeah. 

Joe Duemig: Luxury glamping unit in a place with no services. Because that’s the question is what do, have you, Zach, have you been involved with the market research on the amount of people that want to have all those services, but be out in a place that wouldn’t normally have them. Are they building it because of a destination or are they building these because of cheap land?

Are they building it because that somebody wants that? And if they do want it, I’m surprised they want the [00:05:00] glamping units with it. I would think they more what Brian’s thinking. 

Zach Stoltenberg: No, I think the focus is still on a luxury high end. I think back to one of the first examples of this that I saw that was working and working really well is a location off the coast of South Carolina.

It’s called a Little Raccoon Key. And it’s a private island. There’s one tent, one unit. They, it’s only accessible by boat. They bring a private chef out to, to cook dinner. You can walk the oyster reefs and harvest your own oysters. And it’s that exclusivity, right? It’s, you have your own private island for 24 hours.

And really building a very high end experience out of that. They’re still using a port body. There, there’s not huge amenity spend. There’s nothing like that. And I think the last time I looked there over $1,000 a night for that location. So I think it, it’s a different market.

Is it as broad? [00:06:00] Of an appeal to some of the other kind of more concentrated, 15, 20, 30 glamping units. I don’t think it has the same mass appeal, but I don’t think it has to. I think it’s a different customer base. That’s looking for that. They really want something unique, something exclusive, something maybe that does book a year out, and I don’t think there’s ever going to be tens of thousands of these things that takes the specialness away from what it is, but that doesn’t mean that it’s any less viable from a business perspective, right? If you think about doing a regular glamping unit at 100 or 150 bucks a night versus one of these exclusive stays, 1000 dollars a night, I have to rent that regular glamping unit 10 times to make the same amount of money and I have 10 times the amount of work and staff.

And turnover and housekeeping and all the rest, for the same revenue potential. And so I think that’s another trend that we’re seeing is really a focus on maybe fewer [00:07:00] units, but doing them to a much higher level and trying to capture a higher ADR. And I think back to guest experience, which is what this episode’s about.

I think if you can create something that is unique. It’s experiential that is immersive and in this case exclusive that there’s some kind of scarcity to it. I think it’s still it boils down to that guest experience. And if you’re able to deliver that, even a one very high end unit, you still have the same revenue potential.

Brian Searl: Yeah, I, this interests me from a niche standpoint to you’re talking about it’s maybe not that mass market appeal. But it has enough people to fill your glamping resort, and that’s what you need, and if you’re marketing correctly and doing your market research correctly and you’re targeting and understanding your audience correctly and obviously providing a great experience at that place for the type of people you want, you can easily fill up. This idea of the mass market appeal to, [00:08:00] and you know this, Scott I’m not saying you do this at your company, but you know this because you’ve talked to so many people.

That there’s a default tendency, like I’m an hour and a half from San Antonio, just making up a place, right? You gotta put all my Google ads in San Antonio. No, you don’t want that. You’re gonna waste a bunch of money. But they all, by default, want to go after the biggest, most mass market possible.

And I think if they just put a little bit more thought into the experience they were offering, and whether that’s niche glamping, or a niche RV resort or backcountry camping or whatever then I think if you find and narrow down to your market, then you can make that happen. Would you agree, Scott, or 

Scott Foos: Yeah, no, it what comes to mind is the adage of selling a story versus selling a place to, to lay your head or park your park, your RV, you’re really crafting a narrative and that narrative can fit. 

Every type of camping and outdoor hospitality can apply in that sense of having a [00:09:00] narrative that’s important to to sell the story of your property, but in a way that resonates with your guest demographic. And so it’s applicable if you’re, a more primitive campground or seasonal campground with fewer amenities, or if you’re something that’s certainly much more exclusive and curated, if you will, like what Zach is saying.

Scott Foos: Ultimately, if you end up trying to sell the space or sell the room you’re competing on price and your that feels like a race to the bottom. Every time you compete on price, it’s a race to the bottom. But when you can compete on the story and you can compete on the emotional piece and how the guests will feel when they come stay with you, it’s certainly more advantageous and unique for your property.

Brian Searl: And I don’t think this has to be hard for people, right? Like I think. Often, and not everybody and not [00:10:00] even saying this is a majority of people, but I think often when you hear enhancing the guest experience, there’s a default tendency to say this means building a huge water park or adding a miniature golf course or redoing my swimming pool or adding cabins.

And it doesn’t have to be that expensive or that dramatic of a change. The answer, though, starts with understanding who your audience is, who is your ideal customer. Then what does that ideal customer want from you and then breaking it down into what amenities would they like to see what are the small things that I can do?

What are the big things? What are the medium stuff? And then tackling that and creating an ideal guest experience for your customer and not just what you think will drive mass market attention. Like a water park, for example, not that water parks are bad they’re just not for everybody. 

Scott Foos: That’s right.

Not for every guest and not for every budget. That’s certainly right. And I think the, to your point, Brian, and I know I’m reaching to the choir again. We’ve said, we’ve brought this up. I wasn’t on the last show, but I know two [00:11:00] shows ago utilizing AI to help generate and spur those ideas.

Just really understanding that it, a lot of this can be human led. And in today’s world, it’s exceptionally difficult to find really great people. But, if you the more time you spend in the more you invest in your people, the better return you’ll have, of course. And if you invest in the time for people to be able to lead activities and hosted on site experiences, like nature walks or stargazing or something like that, that, or just even hosting a campfire on the weekends, it can be very simple, but if you utilize AI to help generate some ideas for your property and plugging in your area and your average guest, it’s amazing.

The the results that get returned and the ideas that can be produced for you and broken down in practical ways also. 

Brian Searl: Yeah. And if you don’t do that, then you’re going to and sorry, [00:12:00] Zach, just one second, but then if you don’t do that if you don’t, whether you use AI or a company or whatever else, right?

But if you don’t do that, then you end up with the people standing around, waiting to give the tours of the stargazing to people who just want to be left alone. Yeah, go ahead. Zach. 

Zach Stoltenberg: Yeah, I was going to add to that and say, it doesn’t always have to be something that you do as a host or an owner either.

I think part of that guest experience, part of what we approach with every site is, what’s here, what’s in the area? Is there a partnership, a kind of a strategic partnership that you can make with folks that are in your area that are already doing some of those things.

I worked with a client last year. We were talking about what are people going to do when they’re here when they get to this property? What’s there? And they had taken a trip recently and signed up for a mushroom hunting class. Where literally they took a group of people out, walked them through.

I think it was like state forest service land. And just taught them about all the different [00:13:00] mushrooms that we’re growing in this area and what a mushroom needs to grow and which ones are safe to eat and which ones you might want to stay away from because I’ll make you sick and which ones might be a lot of fun, but you know still make you sick.

And they came home and they were walking their property like, oh, we see these and now we know what it is and we’ve learned all about it. And I think it doesn’t always have to be something that you are facilitating or hosting or creating on your property. Sometimes it’s finding what’s in your area, finding what’s in that season finding somebody that’s doing those things already and just being the facilitator.

Connecting your guests when they book with you. Hey, for the next three weeks, we have this local craftsperson that does this and they’re willing to come to our site and do it. And so when you book your stay with us, you can book that experience as well. 

Joe Duemig: On top of that. Oh, sorry. I thought you were done.

Zach Stoltenberg: No, Joe, this would be good for you to weigh in 

Joe Duemig: I just wanted to say, on top of that, we one of the things we recommend to our customers, especially if they don’t have a lot of on site [00:14:00] events and activities is working with those people in the local area, especially if they’re using a product that already has affiliate marketing and stuff built into it.

So not only are you providing the guests and experience they wouldn’t have otherwise, but you’re getting some revenue out of it. You’re using a fair harbor or something like that, where you’re just getting a cut just by sending them in that direction. It benefits all 3 parties.

And so that’s something great to have. This is more so for our chamber business than our RV resort business, but we recently partnered with a company that builds event calendars for a local area. And they go through and they find all of the different groups and all disparate calendars and puts them together in one spot.

And originally we were only talking to them about that, but there are certain RV parks that are not places that are going to host a lot of events or ones that are, you’re there for what’s going on in that area, then it would still work well for them, and so that’s another place where.

Maybe you’re not providing the [00:15:00] experience, but you’re the catalyst, you’re what brings them to the experience and lets them know that it’s there and that’s providing value. 

Scott Foos: And 

Brian Searl: One 

Scott Foos: of the, oh, I’m sorry. Quick. 

Brian Searl: No, go ahead, Scott . And then I just, I, we were ignoring Quentin and we weren’t really ignoring you, Quentin.

What I was doing is just kinda saving you for the big entrance. Like the anticipation of everybody was building up. I really wanna hear from Quentin. I got, that’s the only way I can keep people watching the show. After they hear me start talking is to leave like the best guest for last. No offense to the other.

But go ahead, Scott, and then we can ask them, Quentin, please. Yeah. 

Scott Foos: Yeah. I was just going to share that. In our space, it feels like one of the biggest disconnects is how you incorporate that local area and local, local immersive experience optionality into the booking process and making it flow.

really well. And that’s, we’re excited about, it’s no secret. There’s the flip to [00:16:00] product. That’s an overlay into the booking process. It doesn’t replace it, but it overlays and it does more than just help share what’s going on in the area during certain booking periods. But certainly recommend that is a great first step.

But I think the sooner that we can as an industry truly solve that disconnect between the local experiences and the booking process and being able to help drive awareness, help complete bookings with it. Bookings for those local experiences within the booking process of kind of the mainstay PMS is that we work with in the industry will certainly be a game changer.

We’re getting closer, but I don’t know if a great solution yet, 

Brian Searl: But it starts with finding that, right? It starts with understanding what your local experiences are. And there are so many cool things like I can’t remember what the name of the park now, but it was maybe a couple of months ago. I was talking to somebody and they were telling me there’s a local milk farm in the area that is like completely run by robots, not humanoids, but like robotic production and all that.

And they give [00:17:00] tours. It’s like in the middle of nowhere in some rural area like and so you just have to go out and find these places. They exist whether they’re local artisan cheese stuff that makes from grass fed whatever right. Like it’s there It doesn’t matter how rural you are. You just gotta look for it.

Quentin. What do you think of all this? 

Quentin Incao: I couldn’t agree more and everything That Zach said, and certainly Scott brought up as an operator is spot on with what we think and where we are. Speaking of really crazy remote, experiences with your robotic farm there, we have a wasabi farm just down the road from this property.

This this property we just opened on the Oregon coast. It’s called Two Capes Lookout. It’s between Pacific City and Tillamook, and to Scott’s point, people aren’t coming here for the lodging. They’re not coming for the geodesic domes, the amazing, ÖÖD mirror cabins, and maybe they are, but they’re coming for the view behind me.

They’re coming to sit on the [00:18:00] deck. They’re coming to hear the ocean roar, even when the doors are closed 24/7, whether it’s stormy or sunny, they’re coming. For that experience that they can’t get at another property, in the general area of where we are, or on the Oregon coast. If I want to be so cocky, but we have, some of those cool, unique experiences as well, like the wasabi farmer, like a cheese farmer just down the road.

From us as well that we can, send folks down to do tours. We have the Dory fishermen, taking people out going Dory fishing for those that want a really cool experience of walking in the waves and holding on for your life to the boat and then getting out there and catching fish and bringing it back at the end of the day.

That’s for us, really what it’s about. We’re selling the view. We’re selling this amazing experience, which is, I think, why guests come and stay with us with as well. The full understanding that we have no cars on property. They have to walk to their unit. We have to drive [00:19:00] them with an electric car.

It’s really meant to be peaceful, quiet. You look at the stars. You look at the ocean. You enjoy the storm and you walk down your car. If you want stabilization and go into town. Oh, I’m all about the experience, whatever it is. And for us, then the lodging is a cool layer on top of whatever else we’re really creating around to attract the guests to stay with us.

Brian Searl: I will tell you that one of the things that shocked me, I think more than anything was the lack of cars enhancing a guest experience somewhere. And I never expected it to, but it happened to me. We went to Slovenia last year and we stayed at a hotel in downtown Ljubljana is the capital city there.

And we had to park it was in an old town area of the area, like the city with cobblestone streets and all that kind of had streets, but they didn’t allow cars anywhere for I don’t know. 20, 30 blocks around this old town and so we had to actually park our car and then the like three [00:20:00] people from the hotel walked up to the garage to meet us and carried all their bags and we’re talking to us the whole way but like then you just you didn’t have your car and the amount of just change in mindset that gives you and I’m a hiker like I like the outdoors I don’t mind walking all over downtown I would have done that anyway but just the fact that you don’t have that car parked right outside I think changes your whole approach to the vacation 

Quentin Incao: It does totally and the property behind me is only 19 units and, the no car is a side effect of, the, we are on an old, quarry with a very tight dirt road.

We don’t really want people driving around on, and so we drive people in the golf carts, but I’m in Massachusetts right now on a 49 unit landscape hotel project over in the Berkshires in Massachusetts, and even here on this property, which is easily accessible by cars, we’ve eliminated as part of the experience and we have people drive in, we pick them up at the entrance from our little, check in [00:21:00] booth, shack, if you will. We hopped them in the electric car. We drive them down the paths through the woods by the lake to their beautiful cabin. And everyone has an incredible view of the lake from where these cabins, these 49 cabins are positioned and you don’t see cars parking in front of you, driving in front of you.

There’s no cars on the road that you have to worry about. And it’s just part of,

Brian Searl: Oh, did we lose Quentin? It was going to be a good close. I feel like he was just there. It was going to be really impactful. Amber, we have Amber here who joined us late. Hi, Amber. How are you? 

Amber Tyrell: Hello. Can you hear me okay? 

Brian Searl: Yes, we can hear you. 

Amber Tyrell: Oh, that’s good. I’m very sorry. I’m late. I initially had the day wrong.

So I was here yesterday because we’re something like 20 hours ahead. And so it’s Thursday for us now. And so I’m very sorry. I got the time wrong this time as well. [00:22:00] 

Brian Searl: We’d love to hear just a little I just, I don’t want to switch topics guys, but we’re. For to catch you up, Amber, we’re talking about enhancing guest experiences.

We’ve been talking about the different ways that you can do so both at like luxury RV resorts and off grid places and just the ways that you can meet those guest expectations based on both who your target audience is and who you want them to be, which is shaped through your branding and things like that.

But just catering to those people in a unique way that differentiates your property. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. But first, can you just tell us a little bit about Valley View Glamping and where you guys are from? 

Amber Tyrell: Sure. It’s Valley Views Glamping and we are in the South Island of New Zealand.

We are about three hours drive south of Christchurch and a couple of hours drive from Queenstown. We have six geodesic domes and we are located on a, small farm which is in the hills above [00:23:00] the Waitaki Valley. And we have a communal lodge. I’ve put a picture behind me you can see, you can see it, but we have a lodge which has a kitchen and dining and bathroom facilities were completely off grid.

So we have solar panels for to run everything in the lodge and but for the domes, we, there’s no electricity in the domes that people can charge cell phones and computers and drones and that sort of thing. But we have a focus on exceptional hosting and sustainability. And so with regard to enhancing guest experiences, I think one of the most important things, we believe is the hosting.

We check everyone in so either myself or my husband’s usually my husband because I’m [00:24:00] cooking. I’m I cook a lot for guests as well. And so we greet people and we show them to the dome and we show them how everything works. And then in the morning they come into the lodge and they have their breakfast and I’m always there and we’re chatting to people and you get to know people and we just we just have such a lovely time with them.

It’s all about human connection, and we meet people from all over the world and New Zealand, but such interesting people. And we’ve had this season because we just come into autumn now and we, so we’re just coming out of our summer season and we, but we’re still really busy and we’ve had more people from the US stay this year than any other year.

I think because the American dollar is so strong against the Kiwi dollar for one reason. So we, and it’s, [00:25:00] we didn’t realize when we first opened eight years ago, we didn’t realize how much the hosting would be so impactful. We just thought, Oh, we’ll set up something really nice. And it’s got fabulous views from here.

And that’s what people will comment on and reviews. But the overriding thing about the comments and the reviews is about Patrick and I in the hosting. So Patrick’s my husband, by the way. And so we were quite surprised about that because you have to be a social person. That, that is key. 

Brian Searl: Which is why I will never run a glamping resort.

I’m just too grumpy. 

Amber Tyrell: Yeah, you can’t be grumpy. So we, I think that’s enhancing a guest experience is having that human connection. You, if you have something that, that’s [00:26:00] unique as well, and we the domes, we’ve decorated them really nicely, and it’s such a welcoming, warm space that people absolutely love. 

Brian Searl: For all our returning guests, do you have any questions from our friend in New Zealand? 

Scott Foos: I just, I loved how she was Amber, how you were so crystal clear on what you focus on. Exceptional hosting and sustainability. That’s it. And that seems to be working really well for you. I think a lot of operators could.

Could take away from that just being very clear about what you focus on. It sounds like an amazing place. 

Amber Tyrell: We think it is. Yes. And a lot of people do. We’ve had, we opened eight years ago and we’ve had about 14, 000 people stay with us. And we have a lot of people coming back. We even international people, they’ve stayed with us before a few years ago, and they’ve come back to us, and [00:27:00] it’s really amazing.

We’ve got new friends all over the world, and one day we’ll have time to go and see them, but not just yet. Yes, and the sustainability is just an extension of how we live. We, our house is on the, we have a 40 hectare with 100 acre property, and we, our house is about 350 meters away from the glamping.

And we are completely off grid at home. Our water comes from a spring in the mountains behind us. And we have, for example, our septic tank at the Glamping is a worm farm, so all the solids are turned, processed by the worms, and then it goes out into a greywater system, which then goes out onto the land and we recycle everything we grow some of our own veggies There’s just, there’s, it’s just how we’ve always lived.

It’s how we were both brought [00:28:00] up. And so we, this is natural and naturally just how we like to run our glamping as well. And in that way, we try and inspire people about not wasting, because at the end of the day waste of electricity or products or anything is just helping out, helping the planet in a small way.

So yes we just extend that to the glamping and we, we don’t try and educate people. We try and inspire them to perhaps take this home and start doing that sort of thing themselves. 

Quentin Incao: Scott, she hit the nail on the head for experience. You were talking about that. Talk about experience everything.

She just said the reason they like being there is clearly the experience. Both Amber and her husband, the view, the no power, the location. That’s what’s spot on. 

Scott Foos: And it’s so sustainable, right? That’s their [00:29:00] life. And so they’re, you’re not manufacturing anything. It’s the way that they’re treating their guests, the way that they live their life.

And that’s sustainable for keeping them focused and engaged in the day to day, since it is so reliant on them. That’s, it’s pretty incredible, Amber. 

Brian Searl: Do you think that comes naturally do you think that comes naturally not just to, to people who grew up that way and live their lives around that way, but does it come more naturally to people like that who, I don’t want to stereotype it and say small town, but I think you guys understand what I mean.

Do you think that the hospitality aspect of being more friendly in a close knit, tighter community comes easier to people? Obviously, everybody can do it. Everybody can learn it. There are lots of great people in all aspects of life. But do you feel like it comes easier to people who grow up in a small town or grow up in that way of life to embrace what they’re already doing?

Amber Tyrell: I think it’s all about education. There’s definitely a people from certain [00:30:00] countries I won’t name them, but they are definitely far more wasteful and actually have no concept. about not wasting and they create a huge amount of rubbish. While they’re here, and, but then there’s, other people that from other countries that are very aware it’s, it becomes part of your psyche if it’s just, part of your thinking it depends how you are educated about, around it.

Brian Searl: Yeah. 

Amber Tyrell: And for example, Patrick grew up on a farm in South Africa. I grew up on a farm here in the Waitaki Valley, and we had very similar fathers who was always saying, turn the lights off, and and he couldn’t go where our local little village is only six, was six kilometers from the farm.

And you could only go there Transcribed If you have a list of about 10 things to do, don’t drive the [00:31:00] car there for one thing, and Patrick’s father was the same. So it was ingrained in us. And, but, now it’s become very important for the world. The people are being educated about it, but it’s just the simple little things they may not know about and so we do our best to try and just let people know that, these things you can do to stop the wastage and stop buying things in plastic and Yeah, we have our own chickens as well.

So all of our scrap food goes to the chickens and people get their eggs for breakfast. So it’s it’s, yeah, back to your question. I think it’s all about education and at the end of the day 

Brian Searl: For the hospitality portion to Scott or Zach or Joe or Quentin, do you have any thoughts on that?

Yeah. Is there any kind of discernible pattern there? I’m not saying anybody’s better or worse at it. Just does it come more naturally to some people? [00:32:00] 

Zach Stoltenberg: I think I’m always reminded of what I’ve heard Chris do the guy say so many times and that is it’s a calling. You have to have, I think he calls it a heart for hospitality, right?

That heart for people. And yes, I think that there’s some people that, because the way they grew up, the values that their parents instilled their family or their community, the circumstances of their environment where I think that comes more natural and easy for them. And I certainly think that the people who have the best, the best experience or delivering the best experience, certainly have that heart for hospitality. It doesn’t mean that Brian, you’ve said, I’m not that guy, right? I don’t wanna do that. And that doesn’t mean that you’re not able to be in this space.

Brian Searl: Yeah, like I couldn’t do it. I just wouldn’t love it. 

Zach Stoltenberg: But I think authenticity is also key to, this guest experience that we’ve been talking about. I also think it’s really interesting. They started the [00:33:00] show and we said, what are the trends? And the two things I said were off grid utilities and focus on sustainability and these curated guest experiences.

And then Amber comes on and says, we have an off grid site and I got a big smile on my face. So it’s 

Brian Searl: I think you’re somebody that’s 

Zach Stoltenberg: doing it. 

Brian Searl: You started walking. I called Amber and I said, hey, hop on the show. 

Zach Stoltenberg: And then what was the thing that she said. Resonates with their guests more than anything else it’s that hosted personalized experience. And that goes back to just what we were talking about before I jumped on the website real quick. Amber, I’ve got to ask you about these two outdoor bathtubs. One of the pictures on your image gallery, if you guys haven’t checked out the site, by the way, this place looks incredible.

I’m already looking at flights. I wish my American dollar went as far with the airlines as it would. Once I get there but yeah, I’m already trying to figure out how I book a stay down here. Yeah, there’s this one image with the twin clawfoot tubs on the [00:34:00] outside. 

Amber Tyrell: So that we have a forest just that backs onto the glamping just a pine forest.

And we’ve got two sets of two outdoor baths in the forest. And we’ve also got two outdoor baths in front of our biggest dome, Dome 4. If you go on to our Instagram, it’s probably the best visual Valley Views Glamping on Instagram. And 

Brian Searl: We’re looking at, 

Amber Tyrell: Oh yes. And the clawfoot baths are old baths, so they’re re recycled, repurposed we one of them someone gave us that was in their paddock in the field on their farm and so they’re very rustic and but they add to the guest experience for sure.

And people love just the views from the baths are fantastic. And people love soaking in the hot tub in the bath when they arrive. And they’re open all night so people can go anytime [00:35:00] and the night the stargaze from the baths as well. They are definitely a one of the attractions of staying here.

Zach Stoltenberg: By the way, I also looked at the bookings. 3 months, 3 months lead time right now. If you wanted, if you said today, I love this. I want to go stay. You’re looking at June or July for the 1st weekend availability. So bravo. 

Brian Searl: I think this is a great example though of the, not necessarily the easiness, but the ways that you can enhance the guest experience so easily that you don’t think about, right?

Like the outdoor Clawfoot bathtub like this was something that we experienced in Iceland when we went there a few years ago. Where just the hot tubs were outside the back of the hotel like individual hot tubs outside two rooms would share it right or something but in a field where you could just see the starry night sky or they had hot springs out in the middle of nature where you could just, you’re in a field and it just is so easy to change the perception of how special something [00:36:00] is.

By just doing something as simple as putting a bathtub outside and obviously that’s logistically not as easy as putting a bathtub outside, but it’s not as hard as it seems either. 

Quentin Incao: It feels like authentic hospitality specific to, and I know that word is overused, but it feels very authentic to a New Zealand experience.

And, they’ve done exactly that, which I think is the key. Back again to selling experiences, not necessarily. Heads in beds or a place to sleep for the night 

Amber Tyrell: When Patrick and I were setting up our glamping. We tried to base it on what we like specifically. And so if we book a place, if we book accommodation.

I usually look for something that has a hot tub or an outdoor bath and so we thought, okay, we need that. The beds must be exceptionally comfortable. If you, if we’ve been to accommodation places before, which was [00:37:00] perfect, but the bed was uncomfortable. It wasn’t perfect, so it was the only thing that was, they didn’t get right.

So we would never go back because the bed was so uncomfortable. So the beds had to be super comfortable. And we don’t like trinkety things all around the place. So we, if there’s anything in the domes, they have a purpose. And so comfort, good shower outdoor baths. You can order dinner with us.

We, breakfast is included we cater a lot for the cyclists. So we have the Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail, which runs from our highest mountain Mount Cook to the east coast town of Oamaru. It’s 300 kilometers long. It goes down our valley. And so we also make packed lunches for cyclists. And so it, the other thing is that to one thing we didn’t want to do [00:38:00] was put all of our eggs in one basket and only focus on a target market of say, just young couples, which is what we mainly get is young couples, but we wanted to welcome families and people with children stay here a lot.

And we run retreats as well. So people can book the whole place out and we have retreats here quite often. I’ve got one in about two weeks. And also people will book the whole place and have a party. They’ll come and have a party with, might be celebrating a 50th birthday party or something.

Yes. We, it’s, we initially wanted to set it up as something that we would, enjoy ourselves and we believe that what we would enjoy, most people would enjoy it too. Yeah. 

Brian Searl: I think it’s interesting and I want to just circle back to your bed comments specifically, but obviously extends to other things beyond that.

We talk [00:39:00] a lot about enhancing the guest experiences and adding things like outdoor bathtubs and all that stuff, right? But if you don’t have the basics covered Scott, you’ve been managing parks for 20 years now, like, how many times did you go in and manage a park for the first time and find the inch thick blue mattresses in the cabin?

And you’re like, what? 

Scott Foos: I know exactly what you’re talking about. I guarantee there was probably a bed bug in there too. Yeah, it makes a huge difference. And when you focus on those things that. Are the non negotiables like, a clean room or a comfortable mattress people can be really forgiving about many other things, but when they didn’t get a good night’s sleep, they’re not going to be very comfortable or not going to be very forgiving for that.

So that makes a lot of sense. 

Brian Searl: Yeah. And so let’s talk about, let’s spend the last few minutes here. Let’s talk about some of the basics that like, before you go into this, because it is important to get here to enhance the guest experience. But you’ve got to set a baseline for the [00:40:00] guest experience first, right?

Joe, you’ve been quiet. Obviously, an app is one way you can set the best guest experience. That was my way of shouting out to you since we haven’t talked to you too much. But let’s set what is the baseline of the fundamentals? Joe, you travel with a lot of parks, do a lot of parks with your family.

What are the non negotiables that you have to have? Forget the nice water park, which certainly can enhance the appeal for, especially families like your kids, or the amenities, or things like that. But what are the basic non negotiables that you have to have 

Joe Duemig: Well, in terms of guest experience, so when we started our company, we went out on the road for three months.

Rose who used to work at the Ritz Carlton walked into 313 RV resorts over that three months. And she was astounded at how few people even looked up much less smiled at her. So I would say number one is friendly staff. Having the staff acknowledge that you exist is probably number one on the list in our world.

I don’t need somebody to be, taking [00:41:00] me to my site. I don’t need somebody to be around me at all times. But just to ignore a guest walking in fresh. 

Brian Searl: Showing me you care, yeah. 

Joe Duemig: Yeah, that was that’s the one that by far stood out. I almost said this before we even got the Quentin earlier when we were talking about the little things that don’t cost anything.

You’re not setting things up. It’s making your staff, like their job enough that they’re happy and they smile at people, obviously, if you’re paying $7 or $10 an hour and you’re mean to your employees, they’re never going to do that. So you gotta put them in the mindset that they are, that they’re talking to guests and that they are hospitable just as you are.

So I think that’s that’s probably the biggest one for us. 

Brian Searl: Yeah, it’s such a little thing, but it’s also such a hard thing too. If you’re an owner who doesn’t have that personality, like me, right? I can have that personality. I do at conferences, but it’s not my favorite thing to do.

But understanding your weaknesses and then hiring for those, but it’s not as [00:42:00] easy and you can probably testify to this, Scott to find those people they exist for sure, but it’s not easy to find them always. 

Scott Foos: Especially in I think about a lot of the locations that we manage in are not, that different from where, many other people operate into and there can be very small town or very remote.

The labor markets can be very challenging. We have a handful of those. And. You what you end up. You have to create that culture from the very top. You have to show and extend the hospitality to your employees in every sense of the way that you want them to be extending it on to the guests.

Otherwise, they don’t. They if they don’t feel it themselves, they don’t feel welcomed or supported in their roles and with the tools and training and resources to do their job. That’s baseline, right? That’s difficult. It will always be difficult for them to do a great job. But then on top of that, seeing how you interact with [00:43:00] them when they have a question or when they might have a challenge with something that they’re working through.

How you resolve that for them will set the standard for how they should be resolving guest experiences as well. It’s, it is an art. I think more than it is a science. There are ways and things that you can do to create some, some system around it. But at the end of the day, it does come from the heart and it does come from the heart, we used to say and still say that you get bitten by the hospitality bug for a lack of better words like you, you love it and you enjoy it or you don’t. It’s really important to have those people in top leadership positions that can help carry that out for the rest of the team. But certainly always putting your team first above your guests, they will put your guests first as a result, and that will drive sustainability in your profits as well.

Brian Searl: And part of that [00:44:00] is understanding who your team members are too, because you don’t have to hire all the happy go lucky people. You just have to put the happy go lucky people at the front desk and the other people can do maintenance and mow the lawn and 

Scott Foos: But here’s the thing. I know I agree with you, but the maintenance folks and housekeeping folks 

Brian Searl: Both need to be somewhat cheerful.

They don’t need to be as cheerful, right? 

Scott Foos: They interact with guests almost more than the front desk staff does. 

Brian Searl: All right, you’ve heard it here from 

Zach Stoltenberg: And when they do, it’s usually becuase there’s a problem. 

Brian Searl: Horizon Outdoor Hospitality, grumpy people at the desk. Happy people with the mechanics. 

Scott Foos: Yeah, we’re good with grumpy accountants. But 

Joe Duemig: Marketing professionals. 

Zach Stoltenberg: The one thing I would add to this, though, to it was build on that whole piece, right?

The staff. I think, when we look at outdoor hospitality, especially as a whole there’s certain things that we can control. We can control our staff and making sure that we’re building a team of people that have that heart for [00:45:00] hospitality. We can control the accommodation type, right? Is it a dome or a tent or a tree house? Those are all decisions that we’re making. You don’t always get to pick your site. Quentin, I’ve been seeing everything that you’ve been sharing about the new resort opening. That is an incredible view.

That is an incredible site. And in a lot of ways, like that is part of the marketing that is part of the strategy. But there’s a lot of folks are out there and probably some listening to this podcast that will say I don’t have that. I don’t have this panoramic ocean view.

I don’t, how do I make it work? And I think obsessing over your guest experience and the brand and what you want to build creating that in a lot of ways can supplement maybe a site that isn’t perfect. Maybe a site that is closer to a more metropolitan area has a bigger draw has that kind of built in demand, right?

I think back, Scott, what you said, it’s all about telling the story, right? Letting that be the thing that guides you that they from [00:46:00] day one that you set that out. Here’s our story reflect that on your social media, push that out there. A lot of times, if you can nail guest experience.

If you can provide that hosted piece and you can tell a consistent story. And push that out on your socials and through your marketing campaign and everything else. If you can get those two things right, you don’t have to have a perfect site. If you can get those two things right, there could be something that goes wrong.

Some problems, some, this wouldn’t start or we couldn’t figure this out or whatever. You don’t have to be perfect about everything, but if we can do those two things, perfect, you’re going to be all right. And you can figure out the rest of it as you go. 

Scott Foos: I’d love, totally, Zach, that’s so well said.

And I think you just embodied everything. That Amber and Patrick have done and hearing their story and then I went to their website and was like, holy cow. This place is 

Zach Stoltenberg: Go to the instagram. The photos are 10 [00:47:00] times better. 

Scott Foos: It’s amazing. Yeah, it’s, you just described everything that Amber and Patrick have been up to and embody so well. 

Brian Searl: Joe, I’m curious. We have a couple minutes left. What’s number two on your list after staff? 

Joe Duemig: What’s funny is it goes in the pace of Amber’s. I was thinking about it, I was like this kind of goes in the pace of that. Very unmanicured site like land. If and there’s one thing if there’s a, there’s, obviously it’s supposed to be, but when we roll up to a place and it’s just overgrown and you can’t tell where the site ends and the grass begins and then, the grass is as high as my two year old we’re probably in the wrong place yeah, we’ve been to a few of those and it’s you can’t, the kids go out and play and they’re going to come back all itchy.

And it’s just not going to be a good experience for anybody 

Brian Searl: And this is unforgivable, right? I’m so like, you can say you have trouble hiring staff and stuff like that. But if you have the overgrown [00:48:00] sites, it’s unforgivable. Like, even if you can’t hire somebody to mow your lawn just get a couple of goats and put them out there.

They’ll keep it manicured like strategies. Come on, but seriously, no, that’s it. It’s easy. 

Quentin Incao: And to Joe’s point, that attention to detail is so important. It’s part of the experience is part of the service. It’s the first thing you see when you come to the property. And I’ve found staying in a couple of places similar to what Joe fortunately mentioned is the first look and vibe and feel and or the lack of attention detail on the landscaping translated honestly to the whole entire experience both inside the units, the property, the level of service and what have you, because it was just that complete lack of attention to detail.

They didn’t even care about the presentation. The property, the rest, was not bad. And unfortunately, I see that translate sometimes and that’s really. That’s, that’s a sign of hospitality, but it is [00:49:00] unfortunate when that happens. 

Brian Searl: I just had to chat GPT myself to make sure I was correct whether goats eat grass or not.

They do, they prefer a very dieted meal. 

Weeds, leaves, and even tree bark. So that’s actually maintenance. Yep. 

Amber Tyrell: Goats eat anything. 

Brian Searl: If you want a natural lawn mower, I ask a follow up if I want to naturally mow my lawn, what’s the best animal? Sheep. 

Amber Tyrell: Yeah. 

Zach Stoltenberg: But then what you do is you get the goats out there to manicure everything.

Then you build a guest experience around milking the goats. And then you do fresh homemade mozzarella with the goat’s milk and then Amber brings in the charcuterie board with all of the cured meats and the, and now somebody’s going home with this whole experience of you’re not going to believe what we did in New Zealand.

Joe Duemig: My aunt drives from Florida to our house about once a year and every time she stops at a goat farm and [00:50:00] has like that’s where they stay and their camper is a goat farm that has, I don’t know, 15, 20 sites and they stay there and then buy soap and stuff like that and just enjoy being around the goats.

That’s something that she did one time and I’m going to do that every time I come up now. 

Brian Searl: And I will say I usually save the controversial stuff for Outwired later, but I will say this there’s so many people who are so mad at HipCamp and Harvest Hosts and all these places who provide these unique experiences, like staying overnight in your RV at a goat farm.

And the honest to God truth is you only have to be mad at yourself for not providing an experience that not just not matches that, but provides something that makes your place special. You’re not competing with the goat farm, but you have the ability to tell a story to do your branding to provide a unique niche experience, whatever that may be like they are competitors. But if you’re doing your work the way we’ve talked about on this [00:51:00] show and all you guys have given great advice for, you don’t have to worry about that, do you?

Nobody wants to comment on that? 

Joe Duemig: You have to be doing a lot of things right, too. 

Zach Stoltenberg: Again, I’m always a big fan of kind of the rising tide gathers all ships, right? I think the more of those kind of activities that are in an area, the more attractive it is for potential guests. If you can bring them in and partner with them, build those collabs, book those experiences for, I wouldn’t look at it as competition or a threat to what you’re doing.

I think that’s the wrong view to take of it. 

Brian Searl: I agree. 

Zach Stoltenberg: You should see it as opportunity and potential. 

Brian Searl: Yeah, 100%. I reach out like before the goat farm has their own RV sites on HipCamp or wherever else like you if you partner with them and you send them a bunch of business to buy their cheese or whatever, then you both win.

It’s a win situation. 

Scott Foos: That’s right. And if you focus on process and standards, [00:52:00] then in addition to the collaboration, I think you can offer a really great experience in addition to you. A clean organized property as well. On a more professional level if you want to. So there’s ways to ways to partner and level up and challenge yourself instead of just say that growing trend is a problem.

Brian Searl: 100%. All right. We are over time, but let’s have just go around real quick and for final thoughts. We wanna start with Zach, you’re up at the top of my screen. 

Zach Stoltenberg: Oh, I don’t know if I have any final thoughts or parting thoughts. I really enjoyed this this kind of discussion.

I think it’s really important. I think there’s certainly more that can be done, but hope, hopefully we hit some of the highlights for today. I’m excited to find a time that I can bring my wife down and stay with Amber and Patrick. And Q too, I know, like I said, I’ve been following everything on your new project.

I know we rain out of time here. [00:53:00] But definitely check out all the socials. Quentin’s been sharing great stuff about what they’re doing and bringing on board. And it’s absolutely stunning property. I think these two guests that we had for focus on guest experience couldn’t have been better. 

Brian Searl: Quentin. Go ahead. Yeah. Cause I, I’m sorry, we didn’t get to your property to talk about it in depth and detail. We’ll have you back on the show and we’ll do that. But yeah, I’ll go look on your social afterward, intentionally, but tell us like briefly about that. And then 

Quentin Incao: Sure. I enjoyed learning so much about Amber that I’m not sorry.

So that’s okay. But feel free to have us back. I’m with Q Hospitality Management. We opened Two Capes Lookout, which is a glamping property on the Oregon coast. It’s 58 acres and old. Rugged quarry 19 units, 15 of these geodesic domes facing the ocean, and For cabins just beautiful for stargazing and hearing the ocean 24/7, whether it’s stormy or sunny, it’s a really beautiful [00:54:00] property.

Feel free to check us out. And honestly, last thoughts would be for anyone getting into this business. It is all about the experience and what have you, but be a different, to the, and. You. Next point, you can’t pick your location, but be unique with your location, be distinctive, be different, have goats, be on the side of the cliff, do what Amber’s doing, do just create a really memorable experience as opposed to just being another one that is doing it because it’s popular.

And I think you’ll be very successful and you’ll stand out from what everyone else is doing. 

Brian Searl: 100%. Where can they find out more about Q Hospitality and then give the link to your property too, so they can check that out. 

Quentin Incao: Absolutely. Q Hospitality Management provides consulting operational support and third party management to smaller unique independent hotels and to the outdoor hospitality world of higher end and higher end RV resorts and parks. [00:55:00] Were based out of Missoula, Montana, and we can be found at qhospitalitymanagement.com. 

Brian Searl: Awesome. And Zach, I forgot LJA, you’re going to learn more about your new consulting and work. 

Zach Stoltenberg: Yeah, it’s best to reach out to me on linkedin.

Just under my, me who I am, Zachary Stoltenberg. You can go to lja.com. They said this is somewhat a new venture. We just launched the architectural division, which is a new thing for an engineering firm. They’ve got a really strong landscape division, landscape and site design division.

Some really talented urban planners that we’re working with just a really well rounded team from architecture to design to landscape to civil engineering to be able to handle, site design permitting entitlements and really everything all the way through construction.

And that was why I made the change was really to build, much more comprehensive team of all these different disciplines, everybody working together to make our clients projects the best. And that’s what we do. We design and build glamping, camping luxury RV [00:56:00] parks boutique hotels and resorts.

And we’ve got projects all around the world. So you can find me on LinkedIn. You can go to lja.com or email me at [email protected]. 

Brian Searl: Awesome. Thanks for being here, Zach. Joe? 

Joe Duemig: Yeah. I’m Joe Dueming with App My Community we make mobile apps for RV parks and campgrounds. You can find us appmycommunity.com 

Brian Searl: Final thoughts or, 

Joe Duemig: Oh, my final thoughts, sorry.

I thought we were going over pretty heavy. So 

Brian Searl: Everybody gets an equal chance, right? 

Joe Duemig: My final thoughts would be, I can’t wait till my kids are older and I actually get to go to glamping units instead of large RV resorts. 

I love those. 

Brian Searl: You have to start. You have to stop starting over. That’s the key.

Joe Duemig: We’re four years into not starting over, so all right. 

Quentin Incao: We welcome children. So come on. 

Joe Duemig: There’s a lot of them. There’s six. So there’s eight of us. 

Zach Stoltenberg: Secretly building his [00:57:00] future staff. 

Brian Searl: No, stay away 

Zach Stoltenberg: From the ground up. 

Joe Duemig: We fit in our RV just fine. But but the glamping tends to, I don’t think they come with enough beds.

Quentin Incao: No 

Brian Searl: Scott. 

Scott Foos: Yeah, final thoughts for me would be focused on building your authentic narrative, be similar to what Quentin said, be different, but be authentic. Yeah, I really love what Amber and Patrick have done. And, I know I’ve overshared that here, but, They’ve been true to who they are and who they were raised to be.

And they’re just extending themselves in their natural way to their guests. And it’s sustainable for them to be able to do that. And they can build a true story that you’re selling instead of selling geodesic domes or rooms or sites. You’re selling your story. So be authentic, understand exactly what your focus is and tell a great story around it.

Brian Searl: And we’re going to find [00:58:00] more about Horizon Outdoor Hospitality. 

Scott Foos: Sure! HorizonOutdoors.com. We’re a third party management and consulting and professional services firm exclusively serving the outdoor hospitality space. 

Brian Searl: Awesome. Thanks for being here as always, Scott. And last but not least, Amber, all the way from New Zealand, where can they find out more about your property?

Amber Tyrell: You can go to our website, which is valleyviews.co.nz. You can book through the website there if you’d like to come and stay. And I’ve forgotten your name, but the one with the six kids. I just wanted to let you know we are building a 10 meter dome this year and it will have a mezzanine floor in it and it will have a bed downstairs and a bed upstairs and a fold out sofa bed and we would be able to accommodate your family all in one dome.

We’re hoping to have that ready by the our spring, which is around October. And I just wanted to say, thank [00:59:00] you for having me on. This has been a great honor and I think for anyone that’s considering setting up a glamping business, for me, which was a big surprise was the hosting is, it’s very important, getting to know people, sharing your story and just, we just love meeting people and we love hearing their story and everyone has a story and it’s about that human connection. And people go away feeling like their love tank has been filled because they, because of the connection with us.

 And so I can’t emphasize enough how important it, the hosting is. 

Brian Searl: Thank you so much for being here, Amber. And I don’t want to speak for Joe, but Joe, just in case that tent isn’t lining up with your vacation plans, the bigger one, she said, I think she said she has six separate units in case you just want a kid in each one.

Joe Duemig: That’s nicer. [01:00:00] Yeah. 

Brian Searl: Yeah. 

Joe Duemig: I don’t think she wants a five year old in that one by himself. 

Brian Searl: Yeah. 

Scott Foos: That’s a retreat. 

Brian Searl: All right. Thank you guys for being here. We’re going to wrap up the show. For those of you who haven’t heard enough of me talking today, which is probably everybody. We have another show here in about 50 minutes called Outwired that we’re going to do live with Greg Emmert and Scott Bahr about 2 hours, a different style format here.

But we’re going to cover macro versus micro data trends. What you should pay attention to locally versus nationally. We’re going to talk about the difficulty finding work campers that some people are having. And then we’re going to talk about the thing we talked about earlier, like taking $5 to a trillion dollars.

And it’s going to be a really cool story. We took this into deep research in AI and we planned the whole thing out to being the king and queen of space tourism on Mars and owning the whole industry for glamping there so. Interesting conversation coming up on Outwired, but thank you guys all for being here for another episode of MC Fireside Chats to our current guests, Amber to Quentin.

We really appreciate you being here and we’ll see you next week for another episode. Take care guys. 

Quentin Incao: Thanks, Brian. 

Amber Tyrell: Thank you. [01:01:00] Bye.