March/April 2022

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PEOPLE to withstand 150mph winds and feature lockable doors. We had thought of geo-domes but the farmer wasn’t keen as they are quite modern looking. If we were to open a second site I think we’d go for shepherd huts or safari tents.” I LIKE WHAT I LIKE During the set up phase, Helen says the family enjoyed doing their market research, staying at other sites to find out what worked and what didn’t. “We’d make lists of what we liked, didn’t like and wished we had – things that were annoyingly absent. We didn’t go to any trade shows as we already had a clear idea in our mind of the structures we wanted and had done extensive research online into bookings and marketing. “One area we quickly learned we couldn’t scrimp on was hot tubs. Originally we had planned to make use of our rental Lazy Spas but there were a few reasons that this wasn’t going to work. Firstly, the regulations dictate that tubs have to be emptied and cleaned between guests. This is fine except that an electrically heated Lazy Spa can take up to 24 hours to get to temperature, which was obviously not going to work. They are also expensive to run and easily broken. We ended up with timber wood-fired hot tubs with jets and lights from Gardenvity, who did us a great deal on five tubs. “We didn’t use to heat the tubs for clients but experience has shown us that people are rubbish at making fires! They either put two logs on and complain it won’t heat up or they make a huge fire and make it too hot. We now get the tubs ready for guests who book them and they can keep them topped up with heat. We also learned from feedback that not all people want a tub so we now offer them as an added extra that’s bookable night by night.” Glamp and Tipple is listed with numerous OTAs and on many directories including Airbnb, Booking.com, Cool Camping, Glampingly, Cool Stays and Love Glamping. “If I’m honest, I don’t understand why people don’t list in more places,” says Helen. “Would they get that booking if they didn’t list there? They may be down a 10-15% commission but lots of links scattered over the internet can really help your Google rankings. Many directory sites charge an annual listing fee, which is easily absorbed. Interestingly 90% of our bookings come direct through our website but we have a required field that asks where the customer has found us and many will have seen us elsewhere first before Googling to find out more. “We use the Bedful booking system which was part of the Cool Camping group. I believe it has just been sold to Hip Camp UK – the Airbnb for outdoor accommodation. There hasn’t been great press about Hip Camp so we’ll see how it goes!” Helen’s pricing strategy pitches Glamp and Tipple a step above the majority of sites. “We are open year round and charge between £140-£220 a night depending on the season and day of the week. From October to <strong>March</strong>, we keep our prices the same but offer a discount code to make them 20-30% cheaper. “You can’t please all of the people all of the time. We got a message recently saying we were too expensive after announcing a special deal at £440 for a two night stay in our six person yurt with the hot tub. I split it up and showed that this worked out at £37 per night per person including VAT, which is certainly not the cheapest but I doubt you’d find a Travelodge for that!” FINDING PEOPLE Glamp and Tipple now has five members of staff who work on a 10- 15 hour per week basis. “It works really well and means we can take time off and enjoy our own holidays,” says Helen. “We have been so 14 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM
“WE HAVE BEEN SO LUCKY TO FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE AND RECRUITED VIA INDEED AND, MUCH MY PREFERENCE, PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION. I FIND THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE RECOMMENDED TEND TO HAVE A SIMILAR MIND SET TO THE PERSON WHO RECOMMENDED THEM!” lucky to find the right people and recruited via Indeed and, much my preference, personal recommendation. I find that people who are recommended tend to have a similar mind set to the person who recommended them!” By June 2021, the site was so busy that Lou left Lidl and joined the Glamp and Tipple team full time. “Lou heads up site maintenance, cleaning, refilling the tubs etc. I take care of the bookings, HR, and the legal side of things. We also still have the hire business, although demand has obviously changed and we mostly do events now. It’s wonderful being our own bosses and looking towards the future and exciting plans for our enterprises.” New offerings at Glamp and Tipple include dog friendly glamping and weddings. Helen and Lou also have ambitions to open a second site. “Covid was hell for everyone but if it hadn’t happened we wouldn’t be where we are. Our thinking was the world is going to pot, so we should take the opportunity given to us and do what makes us happy!” WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM 15
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Page 5 and 6: Dark Skies Generates £200,000 THIS
Page 7 and 8: PRODUCT Caboose & Co Joins Cube to
Page 9 and 10: ZehnderPumpen Te T chnology We’ve
Page 11 and 12: INDUSTRY OVERVIEW Tysers 0203 915 0
Page 13: PEOPLE he pandemic was hell for so
Page 17 and 18: FUNCTION VENUES as we can take care
Page 19 and 20: FUNCTION VENUES advertising. We als
Page 21 and 22: FUNCTION VENUES Go Outdoors Outdoor
Page 23 and 24: FOR EVERY SOIL TYPE W Specialists i
Page 25 and 26: FUNCTION VENUES GETTY IMAGES INDUST
Page 27 and 28: FUNCTION VENUES 2 IN YOUR CUSTOMERS
Page 29 and 30: FUNCTION VENUES and reliable suppli
Page 31 and 32: GLAMPSITES CASE STUDY Birdholme Gla
Page 33 and 34: GLAMPSITES “AFTER STAYING IN A SA
Page 35 and 36: UK’s Leading Safari Tent Supplier
Page 37 and 38: GLAMPSITES CHECK LIST When it comes
Page 39 and 40: GLAMPSITES 4 POST PRODUCTION AND SH
Page 41 and 42: GLAMPSITES MOST EFFICIENT COMPOSTIN
Page 43 and 44: GLAMPSITES PRODUCT SNAPSHOT Cardros
Page 45 and 46: GLAMPSITES SUPPLIER PROFILE MAC Cab
Page 47 and 48: GLAMPSITES PRODUCT SNAPSHOT Finman
Page 49 and 50: EVENTS the region’s small busines
Page 51 and 52: EVENTS ADDRESS BOOK corporate event
Page 53 and 54: EVENTS Total Immersion AGB Events
Page 55 and 56: MAKE YOUR GUESTS AS SAFE AS THEY CA
Page 57 and 58: EVENTS for the festival scene, othe
Page 59 and 60: EVENTS PRODUCT IN FOCUS Event Struc
Page 61 and 62: EVENTS PRODUCT SNAPSHOT Marquees an
Page 63 and 64: R EVENTS Classified Directory TWO-W
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PEOPLE Behind the Scenes with… Su
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COMING SOON n Industry news n Marke
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