TRENDING
GET YOUR
GLAMP ON
WILD LUXURY — URBAN OR REMOTE — IS BECOMING BIG BUSINESS .
Contributed by ANDREA GUTHMANN
Ahhh , camping . For some it conjures up fond memories of family vacations — for others , a host of hassles from pitching a tent to fighting off mosquitoes . For those who want the best of both worlds , glamping has become a natural choice . And more people are choosing it : “ Glamorous camping ” is projected to reach US $ 1 billion in revenue in the U . S . by 2024 , according to market research firm Arizton .
Long before the word made it into the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2018 , safari outfitters catered to jet-setters wanting to answer the call of the wild in style . Luca Franco , founder and CEO of Luxury Frontiers , best known for high-end tented camps on African game preserves , prefers to call what he creates experiential travel .
In the past decade , he ’ s seen it go from a wild idea to wildly popular . “ Back in 2010 , I ’ d go to hotel conferences explaining my experiential travel concepts of tents , treehouses and floating units ,” he says . “ Executives of top hotel brands would dismiss it . Now those same people are begging to work together .”
Luxury Frontiers ’ newest project , Nayara Tented Camps , opens in November . Nestled in a sloth preserve in Costa Rica , tents have private bathrooms , plunge pools and views of Arenal Volcano . It marks Luxury Frontiers ’ entry into the Americas , where Franco sees plenty of potential . “ In 2010 , 95 % of the tented resorts in the world were in Africa . Now it ’ s around 50 %,” he says . “ We ’ ve seen a lot of growth in India , Asia and the Middle East in the last decade , but it ’ s still very limited in the Americas .”
Brands like Collective Retreats are already staking their claim , however . “ Hotel brands are so over-standardized , I ’ d often wake up in a new city not knowing where I was ,” says founder and CEO Peter Mack . “ I wanted to create a hospitality brand with a more authentic sense of place while at the same time reducing a lot of the inefficiencies and fixed costs .”
In 2015 , the first Collective Retreat popped up in Vail , Colorado . Four years later , the company has raised US $ 18 million in outside investment and has five profitable locations in the U . S . Whether on an organic farm in the Hudson Valley or a working ranch in Montana or Texas , guests will find high-thread-count sheets , daily housekeeping , electricity , WiFi and on-site F & B .
Who ’ s the target market ? “ Most guests come from nearby cities and suburbs ,”
“ WE WANT TO INTRODUCE TRAVELERS TO UNDISCOVERED PLACES AND REVITALIZE THESE LOCAL COMMUNITIES .”
— YOSHIHIRO ISE , FUJITA KANKO
12 hotelsmag . com September 2019