MC Fireside Chats – October 4th, 2023

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Brian Searl: Welcome everybody to another episode of [00:01:00] MC Fireside Chats. My name is Brian Searl. I was behind the camera trying to figure out how we’re going to do this operationally. We are live at The Glamping Show. We’re inside this beautiful Eco Dome structure here, right? They had a nice little setup here. So we got the whole kind of gang together.

We’ve got a bunch of special guests, all kinds of things we’re going to talk about here, but super excited to be at The Glamping Show just so everyone knows, so we can get this out of the way. There will inevitably be some kind of technological. technological failure during the show either with the Wi Fi or one of the mics will die or the camera will fall off the thing that we have it on or something.

So if you can’t hear us and nothing works, just assume that we’re talking about something amazing that you should be at the glamping show in person to hear next year. Let’s just go around and have everybody introduce themselves. I’m going to step out of the way. We have Cara from Canada.

Cara Cizmadia: Yeah, hi again everyone. Cara Csizmadia, President of the Canadian Camping RV Council. Excited to be here. Happy for my second time at the Glamping Show USA. 

Candice McNamara: All right. Hey, I’m Candice Magdeburg. I’m with Staylist, which is a property management software. Where were [00:02:00] you? Pretty much innovating out to the next level also looking at food and beverage but contact us.

Melissa Meshey: Hey, I’m Melissa Meshey, I work as the Marketing Director at Zook Cabins, and we specialize in park models prefab homes, and we’re entering the glamping space, which we’re very excited about, debuting our new glamping pods this year at the show. It’s my first year at the show, and I’m thrilled, it’s very cool, very happy to be here and checking everything out.

Sandy Ellingson: Hi, I’m Sandy Ellingson. I’m a regular, so you may already know me, and I serve as an industry advocate for the manufacturers and suppliers in campgrounds. And this is my first time, I’m excited to be here. 

Joanna Reimann: Hi, my name is Joanna, and I’m from Abdoms Glamping, so all the way from Poland. And I’m a sales director, and I’m really happy to be here for the second year in a row.

Mike Harrison: Hi, I’m Mike Harrison. I am with CRR Hospitality. We own, operate, and develop. Outdoor hospitality assets as well as third party management services [00:03:00] for other owners as well. We’re excited to be here in beautiful, Colorado She wins the farthest traveled award. So he is gonna talk. We’re gonna make him talk.

Jake Barbati: He said he didn’t want to talk. Do I have to press the button? No, now you’re here. 

Hi, my name is Jake Barbati. I’m representing Forge and Foster. We’re real estate investors from Canada We 25 campgrounds in the area this is my first time at the event, and I’m super excited to be here, and I’ve learned a bunch already.

Brian Searl: Alright, so one other thing we should point out, they’re doing like this massive United States government emergency alert test at 12. 20 here, which is in about 18 minutes, so that for sure is gonna be alerted on the phone that we’re recording the show from. Probably cause everything to crash in mass chaos.

But just as long as you guys know that too, there for sure is going to be something that goes wrong. But here’s where I want to start at. I would love to start with you, Johanna, from F Domes, because I think it’s important to point out that although we are inside Eco Domes, which is one of the great, amazing vendors here at the show, right?

As you can see, there are literally like dozens of these [00:04:00] amazing accommodations. From cabins and yurts and tents and domes and safari tents and airstreams and all kinds of things all over here, right? And so the experience that people can have glamping is very huge, vast, and different. So talk a little bit about what you offer at F Domes.

Joanna Reimann: What we offer are fully equipped geodesic domes that can come either with just the domes, so a shell, the membrane, and the insulation, but if you want a business in a box, you can have a business in a box. Basically, it comes to your property, you just plug it in and you have a bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom, a loft, insulated dom with different types of insulation, different frame times that are adjusted to the location of the client.

So for us, the personalization is crucial. What we always do with our team, our sales team at FDOMS, when someone approaches us, when we have a client, We always ask questions. And based on that, we try to learn more about the project, learn more about the client, their [00:05:00] needs their location. And based on that, we are trying to find the best solution.

So it’s not about only selling a dom, it’s about advising and creating the space that is useful, that is best for the particular location. And even though they’re like, As you have said, they are amazing exhibitors here and the dome we are at, it’s also great. I think that all of the, like the market in the U.

1. is so big that everybody can find something for themselves, either a dome or a cabin. We are just trying to make it very personalized and we quite try to create a relationship with our clients. It’s very rewarding being here for the second year, traveling actually the world to come here and having clients from all over the States coming here and from Canada just to meet us because they want to see us in person after months of texting, messaging, sending emails, and it really makes this work and this show a unique occasion [00:06:00] for meeting with not only potential clients, but also our current clients.

Brian Searl: And I think we’ve, you’ve touched on something that’s really important here, right? Is that the, it’s not just the accommodation, although it’s part of it, but it is the experience you provide both inside the accommodation and outside the accommodation. Exactly. And so we’ve got Zach here, who’s behind you, Lisa, who snuck in.

If you want to pass the mic to Zach for a second, cause I think this is important, right? Zach was one of the speakers at The Glamping Show. He gave a really good session talking about how it’s really just the experience and I don’t want to butcher it by saying anything else. So just take it over. 

Zach Stoltenberg: No, I think that was the key takeaway, right?

That we were trying to get people to think about where, wherever their resort is, wherever their glamp site is, that we’re not in the business of accommodations. If that’s what we limit ourselves to, the traditional hotel industry, hospitality industry has perfected that, right? They know exactly the minimum delivery that they can, Give to a guest and the maximum amount that they can charge for that.

So if we’re trying to compete against that, we’re never going to beat out the machine that is [00:07:00] traditional hospitality. So the thing that differentiates glamping as an industry and as a whole is that it is an experience based. Hospitality model. So we have to focus on the guest experience on crafting those onside and offside experiences on connecting people with each other, connecting people with nature and creating memories.

That’s the business we’re in. We’re in the experience. Mentality world. And I think that was the key takeaway from the talk. Yeah. It’s just, there’s such a learning experience whenever you come to a show like this, right? You come in, whether it’s your first year, your third year, your fifth year, and you say I’ve heard everything every, I heard this last year, but it’s always different.

Brian Searl: It’s always nuanced. There’s always some kind of new research and things that you can take away from a show like this. Melissa, why don’t you introduce us and we’ll do the same kind of thing, right? Tell us what sets you guys apart. 

Melissa Meshey: Yeah, I’m Melissa Meshey Marketing Director at Zook Cabins and we specialize in park models, modern and rustic park models, as well as [00:08:00] prefab homes, and this year we’re debuting into the glamping space.

So we have glamping pods that are really designed to be plug and play, really easy for someone to start a income revenue very quickly and very easily, minimizing the setup experience, minimizing zoning requirements. Yeah, we offer, we like to think that we offer something for everyone we have something from as little as 170 square feet up to probably 2, 500 square feet yeah, so just a little bit of everything, we’re very excited to offer more glamping items as well we have some more things coming out next year that we’re pretty stoked about.

Brian Searl: So I’m curious, and the top of the mic actually is the mic, so I’m sure they can hear you anyway, but just from a cab perspective I assume you’ve been in business, how many Yeah, we have been in business since the early 2000s. Okay, so I’m curious what is the evolution of glamping from an accommodation standpoint, right?

Yeah. Because there’s some people who will tell you that glamping is a cabin. Yeah. And there’s some people who will tell you no, glamping has to be a tent, or it has to [00:09:00] be this, or it has to be that. Absolutely. So how do you see, you’re talking about getting into glamping, how do you see the evolution of the accommodation business go?

And we certainly want to hear your thoughts too, Joanna. 

Melissa Meshey: Yeah, I think Zach hit the nail on the head where it’s really just becoming about the experience. What we’re seeing is just an explosion in the unique stay experience. Everyone just wanting something

or a bike or a train. So that’s something new that we’re seeing a lot of. 

Brian Searl: Awesome. Joanna, do you want to give us your, just your thoughts on it? 

Joanna Reimann: Yeah, it’s I totally agree with all of you about the experience. We even have a client that transported the boxes with our domes because they come packed like Ikea, just larger and easier to set up to be honest.

And what he did, he rented a helicopter to transport [00:10:00] the boxes to the island in Canada. And the way he created all of this, how secluded it is, how remote, how totally everything is solar, and the sewage, there’s nothing there. And he was able to create a 95 percent occupation accommodation, which is spectacular.

And here when the first year was his first year with the COVID, like after COVID. So yeah, like experience totally. It’s not, of course, it’s about the the accommodation that is high quality, because people will pay more when they have all the assets that they don’t have to resign from the bathroom inside or this fancy stuff inside.

But at the end of the day, it’s all What you create around, what you give them, if you give them, I don’t know, the bikes, the views, the hiking, what you offer apart from the accommodation is the real glamping experience. I think we are just lucky to be a part of it, but when you see it at your client’s website, this is the experience.

It’s not about the… The [00:11:00] cabin, the dom, the trailer, I think so. Alright, so I think what I’d like to do is we’ll start with maybe Mike, unless Jacob really wants to talk more. Do you want to talk? Alright. 

Brian Searl: So we’re gonna start with Mike, like what I’d love to do, first I want to recruit each of you to be my little helpers, so when you get the mic, just do a little thing like this and make sure that the blue light is still on it, that nobody accidentally turned it off.

It is. Okay, cool, perfect. Alright, so from your perspective and everybody here, like we’ll go, Mike and Sandy and Candice and Cara, you have obviously you’ve been to The Glampy Show before what is your key takeaways that you’ve learned and experienced just generally speaking, and then talk about it too from a, I’m a campground management company provider of services, I have an exhibitor booth here, but how do you see. Like kind of your businesses, your business type fitting into that. 

Mike Harrison: Sure. I think, what I’ve seen is certainly they can continue to expansion and evolution of the glamping industry and all of the different type of players from private equity to mom and pop to somebody who has a dream and they got four units they want to put [00:12:00] on an acre it runs the gamut.

So I think, if you compare this to a national RV conference, the, there’s a lot more diversity just in terms of even vendors, you

Number one. Number two is there’s certainly a lot of discovery, a lot of exploration. Zach’s probably the busiest person here. Him and Sage Outdoor Advisory. Hey, I’m looking for a site, or hey, I don’t know how many sites I can put, or hey, there’s a lot of those questions of I’m just starting out, I’m just thinking, I need zoning, I need permitting, I don’t know all the regulations.

And Diana Kelly from California Outdoor Hospitality Association. CC did a lot of information on the regulations. So those are the things that definitely slow people down. That I think is a lot of discovery that’s happening at the conference. And then the second thing I see is just the the overall enthusiasm and excitement, from everybody here is really just fulfilling to see the passion for the outdoor [00:13:00] hospitality, the fun that, that everybody wants to have, pride, not that everybody doesn’t take pride in their RV resorts, they absolutely do, but the glamping is so cultivated and so cultured and, Zach mentioned experiential, that there’s a lot more intricacies and minutiae and details and personalized experiences to happen, emotionalism, with connections.

While it sounds esoteric, I think that’s part of what makes glamping such a unique experience. And then from a third party management, service standpoint, all I see is opportunities for us to help everybody. And whether it’s a call or a phone call or a visit or it’s just fun to really see the opportunities for folks to have to grow their own business.

And this really isn’t the right opportunity for me to talk about mine. But I want to see everybody succeed in the glamping industry. We’re happy to be a part of it. Awesome. Sandy, do you want to go next? Just talk about, so same type of question, right? What are your key takeaways? Things like that, but then delve into, you come at this from a more RV industry standpoint and your kind of thoughts on that.

Sandy Ellingson: Yes yeah, this is my first time here and my [00:14:00] focus has primarily been with the RV industry and campgrounds and creating the proactive communication that way. But what’s been, and of course campgrounds have been embracing glamping and adding one or two sites or cabins maybe. So they’ve been involved in some of the glamping.

But what’s interesting is… me experiencing the differences and there’s a lot of differences right between the operator who’s just doing glamping but also the similarities between the needs so when we talk about some of the things in the campground industry right now and how do we change our Operations based off of post COVID.

Where are we at? What are we doing with that? It’s the same thing with the glamping industry. When we talk about how we only have one technician for every 4, 000 rigs on the road, and so we’ve got a technical issue. Guess what? In the glamping industry, we’ve also got some issues with putting up some of these big, amazing units that we’re seeing.

I was talking to one vendor and he said, I can only sell as many as I can support [00:15:00] the construction of. And we really have a lot of similar challenges and there’s ways we can work together to solve all those industries all those issues. What’s your takeaway just with your vast experience in the RV industry, right?

Brian Searl: How does, how do these two industries converge in your mind? 

Sandy Ellingson: One of the things that I’ve noticed is, it’s funny because I don’t know that the RV industry has totally embraced the idea of glamping. We used to define glamping as… People who camped in an RV. I was called a glamper because I had a 42 foot diesel pusher, so we’ve got a difference in the terminology, but the whole idea of these tents have been a little bit threatening, honestly, to the industry, but quite honestly, I also still see this as a gateway drug, into true, RVing, because you can, most of the time, you’re not going to go build yourself one of these in the backyard. And these are great experiences. I RV all the time. I still love to glamp, but if I were [00:16:00] only glamping, just getting outdoors and the experience. Then that’s going to make me want to do it more.

And so it might lead me into purchasing my own RV to be able to do it. So I do think they’re very compatible. Awesome. Candace, do you want to go next? So from a, so same thing, your key takeaways. I think it’s your first time here, right? Emergency alert. You dismiss it. Are we still alive? Are we’ll figure it out, right?

Brian Searl: Okay, cool. So from your perspective your key takeaways. This is going to be a five minute test, so hopefully you guys can hear this and you’re enjoying it as much as we are. I will talk very deeply into the mic, yeah. But your key takeaway is things that you’ve learned the first year here, but then also from a property management perspective, right?

Candice McNamara: Absolutely. 

Brian Searl: A lot of these businesses will start up and they don’t realize some of the things that they need in addition to accommodations. So how do, generally speaking, reservation systems Providers fit into that. Absolutely. 

Candice McNamara: So I’m Candace McNamara. I’m the vice president at Staylist, which is a reservation software company traditionally used for Camping, but we also have a lot of glamping sites.

So I’m a first timer So this is like the first time i’ve been to the show. I would say [00:17:00] key takeaways just like From out the gate is I did not expect a lot of people from my hometown to be here. So I’ve ran into a lot of people that are stateside on the Southern Eastern side of the states where glamping just to the same sentiment as Sandy was saying is it’s like you have your, there was like a threatening agent there where now it’s really been embraced and it’s bringing in a whole new market.

So I would say key takeaways from that angle is just this is exciting. If this is a new place, this is a new environment this show itself has grown three times the X. We did not experience or expect this type of experience. From a software perspective, I would say that… Just like Mike was saying, this is a sentiment of there are so many different types of groups of people that are walking through here that it’s exciting and niched.

And I think that, from a software perspective, that’s where we can fit in to really help, where it’s like, where’s the customization come from? Because not every park is the same from a campground perspective, but I’m learning that also glamping is the exact same way, where it’s really unique to that persona.

So I think from a UI, UX perspective, meaning a user [00:18:00] experience, really the groups that are going to win. or how you’re really going to get, get your market out there is just really adapting your technology and your software to meet the customer where they are, the consumer where they are meaning like Glampers are going to look for that seamless interaction, they’re going to want that tokenization where they don’t even have to pull out their credit card, they’re not going to maybe want to call you, they want to get remote, just like you were saying, so I think from our perspective it’s just about meeting The consumer and also the customer where they are and then developing around that so for me This has been really eye opening and exciting I’m also learning that a lot of these groups have rev shares Which I had no idea So it’s a just a really cool experience of being able to tap into a market have a dream Which I have a dream.

I have eight acres of land So I’m a target market over here where I’m looking at some of these opportunities and saying, wow, I can live remote, have this beautiful life and also be able to do the software and exactly like you, Mike, I want to help people. So I think that’s that’s my key takeaways and where I think we could fit.

Brian Searl: So talk to us briefly about a [00:19:00] lot of companies like yours have been involved in the Campground RV marketplace for years, right? Yes. How do you generally adapt to a new market like glamping? What kind of changes are required for you to fit into that? New type of business, or are there any? I think we’re going to find the measurements as we go.

Candice McNamara: I don’t, I think this is a very tailored approach. I don’t think this is something that we just cookie cutter come and approach. I think it depends on, I think it’s going to depend on the physical location and then also understanding the environment and understanding that demographic. What happens in Canada is going to be totally different what’s going to happen in East Tennessee.

And I think it’s just it’s not necessarily something that I can really answer at the moment because it’s, it is so new, but I take that as a welcomed challenge. Because for me, what that means is that we can create something custom, understand the specs of what this industry needs, and then allow them to create around that kind of software or even just the environment itself, even with marketing.

Brian Searl: Go ahead. Yeah, Mike. 

Candice McNamara: Yeah. 

Mike Harrison: I think, you asked earlier about the convergence of the RV and the glamping. And while they’re both outdoor hospitality, they’re very different. We [00:20:00] speak to owners, developers, operators all the time. And what it takes to run glamping is highly different than what it takes to run RV.

The ADR threshold, the type of expectation, It’s much more like a lodging or traditional hotel and hospitality outlet. So where you have to market, where you have to distribute, are very different platforms than you would in an RV. So that’s part number one. And the operation is completely different.

What do you do for laundry service? You’re providing linens. You have laundry, and housekeeping services on property. Do you outsource them? Do you have amenities that you have to replenish every day? And you have to balance what the high ADR is with what the high operational cost is, but clearly the IRR of the glamping options is much, much higher than the RVs.

But I think a lot of people especially the people that we talked to I like to tell people, I think I talk more people out of business than I do in is we, have a discussion about, have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? The additional utility costs, the additional linen costs, additional labor costs, because you have to, they forget that they have to budget a [00:21:00] housekeeper to clean the unit, the next morning, or they forget they have to budget Linen costs to replenish the linen or somewhere to do their laundry.

And so those are the things that I think are very different where a lot of the people that are coming into the space are discovering and sometimes by accident and really blows up their model if they haven’t, thought of those things ahead of time. 

Brian Searl: That was good. Did you make sure the blue light was on?

Just so we, I’m kidding. 

Mike Harrison: That was your job. I haven’t. Pointed towards you. 

Brian Searl: All right. That’s fine. So Joanna, I’m curious just for your take, and then we’ll go, I want to get Zach and Cara’s for the same question, right? We’re from coming from Poland, coming from, is it fair to say that the European glamping market is more established than the United States is?

Joanna Reimann: Basically glamping started in the UK. So the very idea, I remember the first clients I had when I started at FDOMS American clients and Canadian clients when I was using, okay, so glamping domes and they were like. Glamping? What is glamping? No, we want geodesic domes. And I was like, yeah, you know this.

So like building the awareness of glamping took place [00:22:00] later in the U. S. and Canada, then in Europe, but not even in all Europe. The UK was a master. They did a great job with awareness and the glamping idea. They know what glamping really is. Then like South of Europe, they still like crawling in comparison to the U S and Canadian market.

So for example, at FDOMS. Half of our orders last year came from Canada and the U. S., even though we are, like, established in Europe, so Europe Europe is still crawling, even though the concept existed there earlier, and the U. S. and Canada, what happened is, like, when the concept emerged of glamping and the very word glamping started to take in, It developed very quickly.

Even looking at this show, I remember last year it was half of the size. It was half of the size when it comes to the exhibitors. It was half of the size when it comes to the people coming over. Like yesterday, I remember I came in here at seven. [00:23:00] I left like it stopped at four. We had clients still five and I couldn’t even leave the stand because it was all the time people coming over.

So at some point I just realized, oh my god, it’s already like four. It’s like… How did it happen? So the U. S., when they take the, I have this kind of impression, when the U. S. market grabs the idea and they like it, they develop it very quickly. And truly, most of our most spectacular locations are in Canada and the U.

1. The land that you have, the possibilities, even though the building permission, like three years ago, we had clients from the U. S. calling and they were like, I want doms, I want them now. Two weeks later, we were shipping the domes to the US or Canada. Now they’re like, listen, so I have land, but there is zoning, there are permissions, so how can you help us?

And we were like, okay, so what’s the issue? And we are trying to figure it out. So from the time of.[00:24:00] 

I have clients who have been with me for 2 3 years now, because the concepts changed. So American Glampic Association, it’s huge of a help, we are the members, we are trying to help the clients with static calculations, as snow and wind loads and all the stuff, probably you’re struggling with it as well.

So all of this, we are trying to help them out to shorten the process, but as much as the glamping concept has developed here, and it has been like very adapted to the land, also the permission process developed as quickly as the concept itself. So it is incredible. It is incredible. 

Brian Searl: So are there key takeaways that you’ve seen coming from? A market primarily that adopted glamping before us that you’ve learned from an accommodation standpoint that would help better serve us? What we’ve learned since the beginning of glamping kind of idea, because our company started with the event tents.

Joanna Reimann: So we were [00:25:00] doing, I don’t know, the Martian, the movie, Star Wars movie premiere and this kind of stuff. And we were like, when the, when glamping emerged in the UK, we were like, we need to introduce it and we need to build awareness. So if you look on our, I don’t know, social media or our social channels, we don’t sell doms.

We try to teach people the concept. So we are spending our money on marketing to build awareness, to teach people what glamping is. How can you use it? How can you earn on it? How the return on investment is like completely incomparable with the regular hotel or hospitality.

Industry. And I can see that the American clients and the Canadian clients are much more aware now when they contact us than they were like three, four years ago. And this is amazing. Like people come and they know what they want. They need the guidance sometimes, of course, but we have like clients from the clients who put one unit as an Airbnb up to the clients who are purchasing like [00:26:00] 20 domes because they are building the resort from the beginning.

The diversity that you guys have here, it’s just amazing and we can see that this market is the market to be invested in as the supplier, as the someone with the software. I had a meeting with my client yesterday and he’s now we are searching for the software. We want to have a booking system on our website.

So they are more and more aware of how much money they can earn versus how much money they can lose if they go with the booking systems. So I must say that I’m quite impressed with the shift in American market when it comes to glamping and all that’s around it. Awesome. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Brian Searl: Let’s go to Cara. Cara, president of the Canadian Camping RV Council, used to be a co host of the show. Welcome back. Thanks for gracing us with your presence again. But super excited to talk to you, right? She mentioned things like wind load and snow load, and I know you’ve had those conversations with accommodation providers, but first your key takeaways and then how you feel like an association fits in to this whole, like [00:27:00] we’ve been an association for campgrounds and RV parks for a long time. 

How do we adapt? 

Cara Cizmadia: Yeah I’ll echo the things, Mike everybody else has said about takeaways.

Last year was my first time attending the show and I absolutely left with a very kind of excited frame of mind specific to the glamping portion of the market because of the state of mind of everyone I met here at the show and I already feel that again this year. It’s super exciting and obviously, a great way for my members, RV park and campground owners to begin to diversify and they’re absolutely doing that.

Up in Canada, we have a significant appetite for it there. There’s lots of Canadian attendees and suppliers here too, which is great to see. I’ll agree for sure the biggest kind of thing I’m, a repetitive concept I’m hearing over and over is concern around the regulatory limitations and that kind of impacting, significantly impacting, Obviously business choices and [00:28:00] whether that’s the type of unit you purchase or where you place it or how long your operating season is, all those things are significantly impacted by that.

And I agree, we didn’t, we weren’t seeing that stuff even a year or two ago in Canada. The folks are paying attention now. It’s there’s obviously positives to that in, in some ways. There’s safety and compliance requirements that it makes perfect sense to, to see those regulations happen.

And it does often result in a little bit of standardization, which also tends to impact guest experience sometimes in a positive way. So there’s lots of kind of minutiae and take away from it. On the association side, I would say Attending this type of event, especially compared to an RV show.

It’s very interesting. Obviously the scope and size is bigger. But yeah, there’s a real diverse base of attendees coming from all walks of life and all over the planet. I met some folks from New Zealand yesterday and St. Lucia [00:29:00] and all over the place, so that’s exciting to be able to Just chat and compare markets and see what other folks are doing and, be able to take stuff home and grow with it too, which is great.

I also think, obviously, establishing relationships with all these incredible folks is one of the biggest and best outcomes for the association and for my members. I can go home now and say, have you heard about these incredible suppliers? I got to tour through their, here’s their contact information or connect you with great software providers and and other suppliers.

From the association side, it’s certainly all about providing support. I will echo to what Sandy said about the RV industry and the obvious gateway drug. I like that scenario that’s happening there. Yeah we do have this very interconnected, intertwined market and segment of demographic that has an appetite for both.

And I, I think there’s plenty of room for everybody in the sandbox, but it, it’s [00:30:00] given kind of the dynamic in the RV space right now and all of that for sure. There’s It’s a bit of a threatening, you I think a lot of operators are feeling like I have to embrace this this time and this necessity to diversify a little bit so that I can broaden my ability to be successful.

And it absolutely expands your access to market and ability to generate revenue and all of those things. As much as I’m similar to Sandy, I love to camp, but I also love to glamp. Not everybody does. There’s some folks that need, the amenities and are happy to pay for it.

And it’s great to be able, from the RV and campground resort space, to be able to capture those guys too and have opportunity there. So how do you, yeah that’s a great answer, but how do you, then as an association, if a campground comes to you and says, look I’m exploring glamping or I have extra land I can purchase and I want to do this, and so I’ve looked at Zook cabins and cabins are obviously a [00:31:00] great fit, but maybe I already have five of those and I want to expand it to a different type of accommodation.

Brian Searl: How do you walk them through the process of deciding what’s best for them, given that so many of them, or all of them, are different from each other. 

Cara Cizmadia: I think the number one thing to do, the first thing, is to connect them with the professionals that I meet in, at events like this. I was a campground operator for a long time, but I’ve been out at the game for a while.

I can comment on some things, but I wouldn’t call myself a professional in that arena anymore. But I do know that Mike is a champion. And is doing incredible work with CRR and managing some stunning properties. I know Zach could give me all kinds of data and stats and information on regulation and design and all of that stuff.

So I think harnessing the professionals around me and connecting them with members is probably the top way. And then I would say, I’m having these conversations regularly throughout this event, but also in [00:32:00] my day to day life with operators is. Paying attention to the regulations in your area and really being intimately aware of what permitting looks like and zoning requirements and all of those things to help guide your business decisions.

Because if you make them without that information, you may be making costly missteps. So those things from the association perspective, I think are valuable. And then obviously the advocacy side of that, I’m able to take the things I learn about. This industry at an event like this and utilize it when I’m supporting members in times where they may be having challenges, whether that’s in their counties or municipalities and really make sure things like understanding that each of these structures is not, they have a VIN.

Mike and I were talking about this yesterday. They have a VIN number. These are not buildings that there are. And maybe that’s part of your decision making strategy as an operator, to choose a unit in that way, because now your property tax is going to be impacted in different ways.

And [00:33:00] all those things are valuable and nuanced and maybe aren’t part of the initial conversations you’re having when you’re excited about… You’re eight acres and ready to go. You just want to get the guests in the door, but there’s lots of steps to get there. Sorry, Mike. We get calls on that all the time.

Mike Harrison: And I think the answer is, and I’m sure Zach, same thing is it depends, right? There, there is not one answer. I think it really depends on how much land you have. It depends on what your vision is. It depends what your, Capital resources are it depends on where you’re located. It depends on what experience you’re trying to provide.

But I think, you always start with, if you look at the highest ADR driving glamping options the park model cabins are always going to be rated as the highest ADR driving. And then it goes down from there depending on the type of glamping option. So depending on, but they’re also going to be the most expensive, right?

They’ll also be the most highly regulated. They’ll also be the hardest to install. So it depends on how much capital you have. It depends on what kind of location you have what kind of experience you’re trying to provide. So as Cara mentioned, park models are starting more and [00:34:00] more going to these cities that they don’t understand that they are classified as RVs and not homes.

So there’s a lot of tricky regulations around that. Right now where some of the covered wagons, those are simple, right? You can plug them into your pedestal. They come in on wheels. They’re clearly not structures. They’re some of the cheapest glamping options to buy. If they fit your DNA of your property you know a little bit easier to put in but the ADR is going to be You know lower than a park model or a lux tent, those are going to fall somewhere You know, to the mid to high range, depending on what level of lux tent.

Does it have the bathroom? Does it have electric? Does it have the platform, et cetera? But then do those end up having to be regulated if they’re structures and on a platform as well? So there’s not a one answer fits all. It’s a do your research and find out how much capital you have, how much space you have, how much money do you want to spend and what your performance says, what you’re trying to build out.

Sage Outdoor Advisory has a lot of information, all the statistics on, ADR per glamping. Structure, domes are, very good options. The cabins as well. And then [00:35:00] someone like Zach at Clockwork, if you’re, we get the second question, which is what can I put on my site?

Where, how do I build it? What do I design? They will do all the, research into entitlement and, figuring out how to lay out your site. And as Cara mentioned, use your resources. When you ask the question, there isn’t. One person that’s going to know the answer.

You want to go to the experts. I don’t know if you have anything you want to add to that, Zach. 

Brian Searl: And yeah, we’ll go back to Zach here because same question, right? We talked to you, you’re our speaker, but you’re also an expert. Lots of brains behind this man here. 

Zach Stoltenberg: So I want to close the circle because I agree with a lot of the things that were said.

I think Sandy made a great point. I really view the RV industry as the grandparents of glamping, right? Like they. They’ve paved the road, they’ve set the model, they’ve established kind of some of the model regulation and that entitlement and permitting process. A lot of the jurisdictions that we work in, we sit down with them for the first time, they don’t understand what glamping is.

And so if I can make that comparison and say this is very similar to a campground or an RV [00:36:00] resort, that kind of gives them from a regulatory planning and zoning, permitting stage, like some expectation of, okay, so I, if we treat it like this it’s not exactly an RV park, but it’s close, right? And then we can do some handholding and some education and kind of fill in those gaps and say this is how we’ve done this elsewhere in the country.

And this is what’s worked. So I really think the glamping industry as a whole has a lot to be thankful for. From the RV industry, and I’m always surprised when I hear those words that like they’re threatened by glamping, right? Because, when you look at those data, when you look at the North American Camping Report from KOA or the Glamping Report from SAGE we have the data, we know there’s, what, 92 million camping households in the US? No, this is a third of the population of the United States goes camping. But a very small percentage of that is RVers, and so if you own an RV park or a campground,[00:37:00] embracing glamping, this new model, is a way to reach the other 80, 75 million camping households in the United States that don’t own an RV.

When we look at the trends in the RV industry, we’re seeing I think this is the first year that we’re not going to break the record on sales, and there’s a lot of things that are impacting that, mainly RV shares or RV rentals. Over half of RV campers last year borrowed or rented the RV that they stayed in.

So that shows more people getting into it and trying it out, but I love the term of, glamping can be the gateway drug to embracing the larger camping model. And I think that campground owners should embrace it as an opportunity, not a threat to their no. Yeah if your drug is connecting with nature and spending time with your family and.

And reconnecting with, other people and unplugging. That’s a great drug to be on. I’d love to be hooked. So I think that from the regulatory perspective, the RV world has really led the charge [00:38:00] for us. And I think, my key takeaway from the show this year. The thing that I’m really excited about I can surmise it in one word and that’s innovation.

This is my, I think, fourth year with the show. And we see a lot of the same players. We see some of the folks that we saw three years ago. But we’re seeing so many new models and we’re seeing some of the manufacturers that have been around for a while really stepping up their game.

We look at the quality of NF domes or an Eco Dome where we’re sitting here compared to the domes that we had available three years or five years ago, like the bar has significantly been raised, right? These are beautiful units and I think all of the hard side units that we’re seeing here, groups like Zouk that they have that established 20 year, 25 year history of building modular units.

And they’re waking up and saying, Hey, how do we get involved in this glamping thing? All these RV parks that we deal with, they’re all asking us about this. One of the most exciting things for me was [00:39:00] seeing the little A frames that you guys have inside. I walked in, I was like, Oh my God, I’ve got three clients right now that are going to love these things.

And the price point that you’re hitting at, because you are so established and you have this model and you’ve perfected that with park models for decades extremely competitive, that, that was one of the. The things I was most excited to see at the show. Very cool. But, when we look out, we see a lot more hard sided units.

And I think part of that is due to the regulatory piece. That environment, again where I can go to a jurisdiction and say this is a campground. You’ve already permitted those. You understand what this is. And these are park models. RVs. They’re permitted in a campground. That becomes a very easy path.

through the planning and zoning and permitting piece. And we’re seeing that the industry is responding. That’s why we see so many of these park model and hardside units. And then on the innovation side, looking at what the GLAT guys brought this year, right? A beautiful canvas tent model that’s also an RVIC certified park model.

Those are, those, that [00:40:00] innovation piece, it’s yeah the guys inside that have the perfect s’more setup, these Kraft graham crackers these individual marshmallows and a simple alcohol burner. I’ve tested them at least twice. I’m not sold. I may have to go back a couple more times still.

That focus on guest experience, right? I no longer have to get dirty or messy. I don’t have to go and smell like smoke. I don’t have to build a campfire. And my operator’s not nickel and diming me, charging me 10 extra for a s’mores kit, right? This is on the coffee table, in the dome when I check in, and all I gotta do is light a match.

Yes. I don’t need shoes and a flashlight to go to the bathroom. And no, I think that the biggest takeaway for me is You know, if we compared kind of those industries, right? I mentioned like the RV industry was the grandparents of glamping, right? Three years ago, five years ago, glamping was an emerging industry.

We were little kids and we went through our kind of awkward teenage years, right? And now I think glamping is more of an established industry. [00:41:00] We’re going to college, we’re getting smart, we’re embracing the regulations, we’re doing things by the book. We’re raising the expectation on the guest piece.

We’re starting to mature a little bit and that’s really exciting. So talk to us about, same question everybody else, right? How does Clockwork fit into stitching all this together for someone? I think we’re a. I always try to stay humble because I feel like we, we’re a small piece in the overall industry that’s here and a large part of our success is due to all of our partners and the different people we work with.

We, we try to focus on doing what we do it well but we also leverage a lot of those relationships and partnerships and that’s been the key takeaway. And I think, as long as our, approach to business is the same as, Glamping’s approach to customer experience, right?

We want to take care of our clients. We want to do a good job. We want to each thing that we approach it’s personalized. It’s unique to that client, their site, what they do, what their goals are. And the other thing I think I was really excited about I, I [00:42:00] think I’ve met five different architects here and that’s good because it shows even my industry is starting to wake up and see the opportunity with this and getting more people out more players in the space is a great thing awesome does anybody have a watch on can we do a time check or 1246. 1246. I got to kill 14 more minutes.

Brian Searl: All right. Yeah, go ahead. I was just gonna say that the questions that I’ve had asked of me… And did you make sure the blue light’s on before you… It is on. Okay, those four, like if I’m talking with a campground owner and they’re here and they’re asking about glamping I think one of the things that’s interesting is…

Sandy Ellingson: I find myself going through exactly the same questions that I would if they were asking me just about general camping in that, what is your brand? What are you trying to offer? But what I think is unique about what we’re seeing in glamping is that we’ve had cabins. Our park models inside campgrounds for a long time.

And for the most part, those were there for the people [00:43:00] who had RVs and wanted their family to come and didn’t want their family to be in the RV with them. We stuck them in the cabin. But I don’t think that the cabins were there thinking we’re going to market just the cabins. They were there for those other family members.

Glamping is very unique, though, because some of these other glamping things, which is why you guys have created your own unit that’s not just the park model, because it’s about the experience. And that is what’s so important. So I asked the campground owner, What experience are you trying to create and what experience goes along with the brand you’re trying to, to project out to your customers?

But then it’s exactly the same thing. I’ve had a lot of people, even just like retired couples who have land that are going, I’d like a second income. We just want to put one thing out in the middle of our land. What are you starting with, right? What do you have? What assets do you have? Is there a beautiful stream where they can fish?

Are you in the mountains? Are you at the beach? Are you in Texas where the Conestoga wagons [00:44:00] are awesome, right? Because they just totally fit that. But think about what is the experience first that you want to offer. Because so many of them want to talk about the budget first. But you could spend a lot of money.

and never make it. Even though this dome is beautiful, if you’re not providing the right experience with the dome, right? And it could be the same way. You could buy the cheapest tent out there and then still not be successful because it doesn’t fit the experience. Everything focuses around the experience you want to create.

Melissa Meshey: Yeah, I love that and I think what you’re saying too, if you do it right, you can take, the cheapest tent and if you do the experience you can have a home run. And I think it’s really cool to see people’s wheels start spinning when they see something that’s more affordable and you don’t need a million dollar upstart on this project.

And you don’t have to have two years of zoning delays and building development. So it’s really cool here to see people walking around. Saying oh, I [00:45:00] could do that. I could do that. And to see something that’s repeatable, that they can copy and paste, because once it’s been figured out most of the hard work is done.

That was really cool to see this year. Actually, something had my mind really spinning when I was sitting here, because I was thinking the adaptation of, talking about the gateway drug into, one of the things that I’ve noticed, at least with our parks at Salist, are They are bringing on glamping sites, and I think what’s going to win is very similar to what’s happening in the industry in general, is data.

They’re going to use what’s coming from their reservation software systems, from their marketing agencies. When we start to capture that market share, using like the grandfather passed off, I think it shouldn’t be more threatening, more than it should be more innovation exciting. Because it’s like the younger generation stepping in but I think we’re going to see an adaptation of this, where people are going to say, wow.

I can do a rev share, or I can change the way that this environment goes, and as these campgrounds are being passed off generationally, Which we know is historically the case. I think we’re going to see a lot more of glamping. And I think it’s [00:46:00] going to attract both parties. And I think we’re going to see both of those worlds mirrored together.

But I think how they’re going to be making those decisions is going to be based off of, almost exclusively, everybody that’s come to our booth here has said, I need something that’s going to bring me return on investment. Now, I’m a return on investment expert. That’s what I do. That’s what I’ve always done.

When it comes down to it, I think it’s going to, the next iteration of what we’re going to see next year is probably going to be… Data analytics, understanding what the return investment was from this specific dome to that dome, to the casitas, to the wagons, and I think that’s where we’re going to start to see a threshold and a total transition of this industry, and then we’ll just see it go, because it’s already exploding.

I think it’s just going to be driven a little bit more by data. By consumer behavior. And I think these two worlds are going to really come together and collide. And you’re going to have the old and new generation. So I just I was just listening to pieces and hearing you saying, Hey, education really worked.

Everyone’s more educated. And I think that information, especially when it comes down to financing, because people like me, I want to do a rev share. Like I have the [00:47:00] land already. I want to do this. I enjoy that. It’s exciting. It’s almost like playing stock market. And I think that gamified action that’s occurring in the glamping industry.

We’ll be transitional to the RV industry. I think that the RV industry has just been a little bit more conservative in the sense of waiting and seeing the kind of what data sets are coming. And I think that’s our next wave into next year. And we’re also seeing that transition or that reposition is a really great word for it.

Zach Stoltenberg: When I look at all the different resorts that have opened, the different brands that have launched in the last year one of the ones that I’ve been the most impressed with, if you guys haven’t heard of them, check it out. It’s called Romestead. They recently opened in Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, and they bought an existing campground.

That was a, failing, shuttered, old, hadn’t had a lot of investment in it. And these guys… Just turned it into something absolutely incredible. They built a brand. They focused on the guest experience. They’ve got a mix of still some RV [00:48:00] campground sites, but beautiful bespoke cabins that are well designed, tailored to that guest experience, and they’re just absolutely nailing it.

And so I think that’s another sort of that bridge of the gap, right? Glamping is providing an opportunity to reposition some of these older kind of failing or closing RV parks, where other, traditional RVers look at that and say, we’re not interested in that. It failed. It failed for a reason, right?

It’s either mismanaged, or it’s not a great location, or it’s not a good site, or, for whatever reason, that was no longer a viable use on that property. But Applying the filter of glamping and repositioning that is giving a lot of these campgrounds the, that new life and that that reposition is a great word for it. I agree. 

Brian Searl: Okay, so I want to, sorry, okay, whoever wants to talk for a second first, and then what I want to do is we might go a little bit over, that’s okay. Jacob, you’re in the circle, so spend at least five minutes and [00:49:00] tell us briefly. About why you’re here at The Glamping Show, what kind of some of the takeaways you’ve been, and then Chris Jube walked in behind me, and even though he did not show up for drinks last night, and I invited him, I’m still gonna give him five minutes, and then, yeah, have a chair and then I guess we’ll go around and just everybody can prep for this to end the show, we’ll just say what’s one thing you want everybody to know who’s at home who didn’t attend this show that they need to know? about the glamping industry that you’ve heard and learned here. 

Mike Harrison: Awesome. I think this has been amazing sitting here. I’ve learned so much in the past 45 minutes here. It’s almost been the whole show packed into one hour, so that’s awesome. I think I was most excited to see the breadth and depth of these products.

Brian Searl: I’m not familiar with the glamping industry. This is all new to me. To see what was on the market here and then the alignment with understanding what your needs were. So Candice mentioned ROI. We, I’m an investment fund or we’re an investment fund. So we look at things from an ROI perspective and everywhere you walked, you’d mentioned, what your situation was.

And they’d be like, look, [00:50:00] we’ve got this broken down for you already. Here’s what you’re going to invest up front and here’s going to be your payback period and your return. So I found that quite unique. And then overall, I think the people I’ve met here seem incredibly excited about the industry as a whole.

And also align in the sense that these are also businesses and it’s not just like customer experience, but we’re also building businesses around these. So back to that original piece is people really understand what your needs are behind that. And I had a great conversation with Staylist. I know they’re a free service and that really, tuned our brains and thinking, wow, we don’t have to pay on a per site basis.

Now we can really scale this model a little bit faster. And then I also met people like Branch of Ventures who are doing these revenue sharing models. And I thought those were incredible because if you don’t have the capital up front to put down for these sites, they’ll help you out with that and put down the sites for you.

And now you have a management consulting partner with them as well. So these innovative solutions to help people get into business, the alignment with the overall industry, and then I’d say just The general enthusiasm [00:51:00] for the spaces and the booming industry. I know in Canada, we might lag a bit, the Us. And I love to see the U. S. markets always pushing ahead and people in the U. S. are super ambitious. And I think Canada hopes to rival that one day. You’re good at hockey. Yeah, we’re good. We’re good at hockey. Beautiful landscapes. Yeah, I agree. I’ll pass it over though. Let’s give it to Chris real quick.

Chris Jeub: Thank you. Hey, thanks Brian for pulling this guy. The reason I am late to this is that my lawyer showed up.

Okay. Not a politician. He used to be a border county commissioner, but I see that I own Monument Lamping in Monument, Colorado and and dealing with planning and zoning and it seems like the government is catching up to the lamping industry. In fact With the building department is trying to say that each of my tents and domes and container homes and everything need to meet a commercial standard [00:52:00] in, in development.

And we are going to make the argument, and my lawyer thinks we can win, make the argument and say, no, we’re, we are residential, and the standard for residential is way down here, commercial is way up here, there’s no need for a commercial. Dwell. All that to say I don’t wanna get into too many details, but the, all that to say, it seems like the world is catching up to the glamping world and we’re way ahead and I honestly believe it’s going to be one of the most exciting spaces in real estate.

I, I already think it is the most exciting space in real estate. Everyone wants to be doing a glamping site, . And So that’s who I am, and I apologize for being late, because you seem like a great group of people. What about for not showing up for drinks? Do you apologize for that? No excuse for that.

None. None. No excuse. No. So tell us about tell us a little bit about Glamping Guy and your presence in the industry and your experience. I put together a website called Glamping Guy. You can check it out at GlampingGuy. com. And I really am journaling the experiences I’m dealing with zoning.[00:53:00] 

I’m learning something new every day. And I learn it and I find out that a lot of people are learning these things together. I, in my local area, I did a, did an interview for a newspaper and stuff, and I had just purchased the domain glampingguy. com, thinking, thinking, I’m a teacher at heart.

Actually I left teaching to go into glamping, so that’s… I can’t help myself. I have to teach along with doing. And and so just how to do it was on my mind. So I bought glampingguy. com and at the end of the interview with the newspaper editor she leaned back. She said, so I suppose you’re the glamping guy.

And I’m like, Nailed it. Nailed it for the domain name. And so what it is YouTube videos and whatnot and some blog posts and things like that. Just tell them my story and how I’m setting up. My story is two properties, 12 units. We have a safari tents, container homes.

One tiny home and and everything along with that. So that’s what we do. 

Brian Searl: So [00:54:00] let me pass this on to the next holder. Okay. So go ahead, Cara. And then I want to like, you’re not going to do your final thought yet. I want to give you more time to think about that. If that’s what we, are we, yeah, I want to, I can’t be, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk to Sinan over here.

Did I pronounce your name right, Sinan? So Sinan is actually our host for this location and I want him to tell you a little bit about Ecodome, his business, before we go. 

Sinan Halic: Okay, so it’s great to know you guys. I had some meetings. Ecodome I founded the company to provide the industry with a different structure.

So instead of imitating others, I thought, what can we do better? So geodesic dome frames that can be installed with solid panels and self assembly kits without the professional support would be a good idea. And I think it worked. So we are continuously improving the frames. We started with the initial [00:55:00] series, non insulated version.

Then we moved to 24 hour value insulated geodesic dome frame steel. They can be installed by ordinary people. I was giving speeches about sustainable travel for the last 13 years. I’ve been in conferences in more than 59 countries all over the world. I’ve been in the World Ecotourism Network. And what I realized after I founded Ecodome is I can understand which glamping investor will succeed and who will pay.

It’s very interesting that when people, they want to invest in glamping business and they want to invest in your structure If they ask the right questions, you get that they will proceed. But if they are not aware of the hospitality and experience part of the business, [00:56:00] then you get that they will fail.

So it’s not a straightforward process. You put the structure on a beautiful land and you make it. No, you can’t. Like my colleague said, glamping industry started in the UK, but the occupancy rates this year is going down. Very fast. They miss one thing. It’s all about experiences, memories and the photos. I have a term, I call it poisoning.

If you poison people with love, hospitality and experience, they have no other chance but they have to come back to your site. If you can’t poison them, there’s no chance. It will be just an experience for the… We can get away now, let’s try something else. Repeating guests is the key in [00:57:00] sustainable travel.

That is very important and we just contribute with the structures, but we don’t know how they will respond to this hospitality part. We can only motivate them, we can tell them what is missing. If they ask us. We can do more than that. We educate them during the investing phase. We do all we can to to transfer some of our experiences, but not more than that, perhaps the industry needs, we need to come together, especially the manufacturers of the parts, tents, domes. We need to come together and we need some guideline to educate potential investors. about hospitality, experience building in the home. Thank you. Yeah, you’re very welcome. So let’s let’s just go around real quick and then we’ll end the show.

Brian Searl: I know we’re a little bit over, but just any final [00:58:00] thoughts that you have from your perspective that you’d like to throw in, but then also just one thing that you’ve seen, heard, learned here that’s new for you that you feel like needs communicated to everybody watching at home. Or the maybe two people who are watching at home.

Chris Jeub: I don’t know. I don’t know about you. I’m going home with all my notes. I sit in the front row with my computer and I take notes and I learn something. And this is our fifth year into it. And I’m the glamping guy, but boy, there’s lots of glamping guys around here. This is the hub of the place.

So I’m taking home experiential traveling as I gotta really focus on that experience. We’ve got some great things going on, but I really wanna dial that in and make it just an out of this world experience for my guests. For my sites. 

Brian Searl: And just make sure the blue light is on over there, Cara.

It died last year, this is why I’m doing it so much. 

Cara Cizmadia: I know, I was the one speaking while it died. Yeah, I would say my takeaway probably was, is most impacted by this conversation today. I love what I’m hearing from this group, which I think probably echoes the feelings [00:59:00] of most of the attendees that I’ve spoken to around reinvigorating and reimagining existing parks and the outdoor hospitality industry and its deliveries as a whole, and how exciting this portion of that a group is.

It’s amazing to partake in the excitement of it all. And then, yeah, I would say I think we’ve got lots to get done still, too. It’s amazing to know and see how quickly that innovation stuff is happening, that we’re seeing printed structures and all this exciting, cool stuff. And so I’m really excited to see where the next…

Five years will go. 

Candice McNamara: I totally agree with you. I think really truly like this meeting alone just being able to sit with all the different types of heads and understanding like the different aspects because even though i’m coming from the technology perspective, I think i’m more cognizant more than I ever have been around the glamping experience, especially [01:00:00] matching the energy of the clients that come to me that say i’m going into glamping so now I think I can match that energy, but I also think i’m going to really look at it more by Utilizing our tools and reports and data and making calculated decisions since I know ROI is the driving force.

I think my key takeaways were that the options are there, and though they may see this as a disruptive kind of factor into the RV industry, I think it’s more of an adaptation a repurposing, and I think I’m going to introduce my perks now going forward. to really embrace this more because I do see it going future forward.

So that’s my take on it. 

Melissa Meshey: Yeah, I’d have to echo the same. The energy here at the show is just contagious, so I’ve been bitten and, I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights, Rihanna. You’re inspired. It’s time here at the Glamping Show, so I can’t wait. I heard it doubled from last year. I cannot wait to see what next year looks like.

So yeah, just going home really fired up, [01:01:00] excited. Also, I was surprised at the reach that this has. I talked to people from India, from South America, Mexico, Canada. So just really all over, great connections, just been a 10 out of 10. So my entire job description is one sentence, and that is to keep people camping and glamping.

And I think my biggest takeaway from this is going to be that we can celebrate the differences between the camping that we do in RVs or, historically in But at the same time, we can welcome the ways that we are similar and the ways that we can learn from each other. Because again, there’s so much amazing information here, especially from the guys that are only doing the glamping.

Sandy Ellingson: But then there’s also so much information. Where I’m talking to people that are more on the camping side and some of the things that we’ve been able to do historically that we could actually help people that are doing glamping as well. So I’m excited about that. [01:02:00] 

Joanna Reimann: I totally agree with everybody when it comes to the energy at the show.

So we are totally going back to Poland in three days. Very excited and With the huge enthusiasm because we received so many positive feedback of the clients who are ordering from us who have ordered from us or who are planning to order, which is really it’s very rewarding when you see the clients coming over and matching the face to the name.

And also this conversation. And I quite I’m sure I need to exchange the business cards with all of you because I think we can support each other when in creating kind of the awareness of glamping and not only selling our services, but rather creating the community. 

Mike Harrison: Thank you. At CRHospitality, it’s interesting because we’re attending both as an attendee and as an exhibitor.

So from an owner operator standpoint, getting the experience and learning and connecting and then from an exhibitor standpoint for third party management services, trying to help. But I think. What’s the [01:03:00] big takeaway for me? And Zach and I have talked about this ad nauseum, which is we all row the boat together, right?

If you look around the circle, we all need each other, right? We need distribution. We need management. We need manufacturing. We need technology. We need design. We need association, regulation experience. I think what’s exciting is that, everybody’s here to serve each other and, that commitment to community of growing the outdoor hospitality industry and just the desire to make sure that not only we need, but that we help is what’s really rewarding to see, I think, around the dome.

And can I ask, what does geodissic mean? Geodesics is a shape. So it’s just a shape, okay. Which is like geodesics. Because I’ve always had a problem. I say that because I don’t like to call them buckyballs. Buckyballs. Gotcha. It’s interesting, 

Cara Cizmadia: Mike, because we do have this terminology, this definition barrier in this industry, I think, right?

Sorry. Yeah. Where… Even those of us who’ve been in the world for a long time are asking those kinds of [01:04:00] questions. Even the foundational, the word glamping itself, everybody has this very variable perspective on it. I, strikes me sitting in a conversation like this. We’ve talked hundreds of times over the last few years about this industry and we still are working out definitions and what’s.

Mike Harrison: Evolution and learning.

Jacob Barbati: Thank you. Yeah. I thought this talk was great again. My key takeaway would be Sinan’s piece there at the end. I found that incredibly enlightening. It sounded very simple, but I think there was a lot to unpack there. I don’t think it’s as simple as just slapping down a dome and calling it a business.

I think there’s a lot of, there’s a thoughtful element there into creating an actual experience for people, having sophisticated washrooms and amenities for them to use. And a lot, and there’s a lot of thought required behind that, that is, goes beyond just a simple piece of I purchased this, now what?

So yeah, that was a big takeaway for me. I think my biggest [01:05:00] yeah, we’re good. My biggest takeaway is it’s really the core tenant to who I feel like we are as a company Clockwork.

Zach Stoltenberg: We’re providing a service and so my key takeaway is it’s just been reinforced time and time again and I think if we unpacked all the comments from everyone, Sinan had a great piece, right? He’s a manufacturer, he makes a product but that’s not enough. He has to connect to people. He has to work with his customer, with his buyer, and he’s helping them do all those other things.

And one of the things that I think is so incredibly exciting that and. One of the reasons I love being a part of this industry is I think we’re somewhat unique in that every person that’s here will help anybody else. They [01:06:00] invest in other people whether that’s time or resources or product knowledge or experience.

This, I think it’s very unique in our industry that there is no cutthroat. There is no competition. It’s very much, to Chris’s point or Mike, I think he said, that rising tide gathers all ships. And it’s one of the things I love about this industry.

And the reason that I love being an architect in this industry, because my business is people. I get to work with people who are building their dreams. Helping them achieve their goals, build their vision, establish their brand define who their target guests are and create that experience.

Sinan Halic: So thank you guys for those words. So Mike I appreciate your phrases. We need to cooperate. We need regulations. We need information exchange, so that we won’t have to discover the world. Again and again, every time. I’m a novice guy in many subjects on the glamping term, I know [01:07:00] so many things about glamping boats, structures.

I know so many things about sustainable travel, but it’s not that much easy when it comes to talking about glamping. I need to benefit from the experiences of other members of the industry. That’s why… We need to find a way to exchange information, support each other, so we can grow the whole industry and benefit.

From that, not only us, but also potential glamp, glamping investors and also their service providers and more than that. I need we need to develop the industry by cooperating under our association. But of course, we should support the association as well. We need to find new ways. To grow the cooperation.

That’s what I believe. Thank you. 

Brian Searl: Awesome. We’re a little bit over today, but we want to wrap up the show now. I just want to thank all of our special guests, Sinan, obviously, providing this beautiful backdrop here for Eco Dell for the show. [01:08:00] Thank you. We want to thank Zach, who had to leave just a second ago because he’s super popular.

Jacob, who I just literally met, I don’t know, five minutes before the show started. Really great contributions. Mike, Joanna, Sandy, Melissa, Candice, Cara. And Chris, really appreciate all you guys appearing here. And then I want to mention a couple other things, too. I really want to thank David Kors, part owner of The Glamping Show America, for putting all of this together, for making all of this possible.

Ruben Martinez from the American Glamping Association for all the support that he’s given to the show and the industry and everything there, right? And then a couple other people we want to mention, too, like Sarah Riley. Who, if you don’t know, is a brilliant mind in this industry, does a glamping podcast now, in addition to ours that you definitely need to listen to.

Nick Purslow does another great, like really different, in depth, deep dive podcast that I haven’t had a chance to listen to yet, but I’ve heard really great things about, right? So there are tons of industry resources, tons of things you can do to learn, obviously come to the show if you can, talk to these beautiful people if you can but go online, join the American Camping Association, research David Kors, make plans to come here next [01:09:00] year, and that’s it, that’s all I got to say, but thank you so much for watching another episode of MC Fireside Chats, while I Go behind the camera here to Lisa, who we need to thank, too, who ran camera here for me during the show.

It was such, it was beautiful but why go behind the camera and stop it, because she doesn’t know how yeah, but we have to play the intro, so don’t hit that yet. While I do that, we’re just going to pretend everybody’s going to wave by to you, and we’ll see you guys next week on another episode of MC Fireside Chats.

Just pan it to the crowd, but I got to touch the screen, so you got to come down a little bit, Lisa. And we’ll just go here and maybe this will be the outro. 

[01:10:00]