If you ever dreamed of tree houses when you were a child, you are not alone. If you still dream of tree houses, then Glamping Hub is for you. The first and only online booking platform of it’s kind, Glamping Hub offers unique outdoor accommodations to the tune of 34,000+ tree houses, tipis, yurts, Airstreams, caravans, igloos, and more. With over 27 different categories of glamping across 115 different countries, Glamping Hub easily allows you to picture yourself in your perfect glamping hideaway. The term “glamping” is a portmanteau for the words “glamorous” and “camping.” Glamping Hub’s mission is to connect adventurers with a once-in-a-lifetime experience in the heart of nature. Connecting guests with places to stay in the great outdoors with all the comforts of home—a real bed, running water, and tons of different activities onsite and nearby.
Business model and marketing strategies
Glamping Hub’s business model is highly scalable and transactional. For each booking made through the website, Glamping Hub collects a 4% commission from the hosts and a 6% to 12% service fee from the guest, which is based on the total amount of the booking. Glamping Hub retains an average of 10% of each booking transaction. Within the vacation rental sector, Glamping Hub is the only platform that is this specialized and transactional. SEO practices, lower rates and costs on average, organic traction, and unique visits all play a major role in this.
Humble Beginnings
Founder and CEO David Troya is originally from Seville, Spain. He had the idea for Glamping Hub in 2011 while studying an MBA at the University of San Francisco (USF). He first heard the term “glamping” during one of his classes. With two of his friends—the business’ other two co-founders, Ruben Martinez and Talal Benjelloun—the first version of Glamping Hub began as a simple blog. In 2014, Glamping Hub launched as a fully-transactional booking platform with just 200 accommodations on the site.
The main idea behind Glamping Hub was to create a product that provides travelers looking for accommodations that felt “out of reach” and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The inspiration for Glamping Hub began with the term “to-gather,” meaning to congregate with a group of loved ones for that purpose alone.
Finding the Niche
Information for unusual, outdoor accommodations, such as tree houses, tipis, yurts, campervans, Airstreams, igloos, and more, were scattered throughout the internet. There was no “home” for glamping, especially not in the U.S. Troya and Martinez noticed an increasing interest in unique places to stay and that outdoor accommodations close to nature were on the rise.
Biggest Successes and Achievements
One of the biggest achievements of Glamping Hub is market growth and ability to expand into different markets quickly. Last year at this time, Glamping Hub had 8,000 listings (June 2017), and now, there are over 34,000 listings (June 2018). With 27 glamping categories, Glamping Hub is able to provide its users with more options and more inventory, essentially a one-stop shop, for those looking to stay in unique, nature-based accommodations.
Developing ideas and forcast
At present, Glamping Hub’s largest market is the U.S., which makes up 75% of all traffic on the website. The term “glamping” is newer in the U.S. and has given Glamping Hub more control over the marketplace in North America. Glamping in the U.K. is more defined, and the marketplace is already saturated by various companies. A few possible Ideas to expand upon in the future are African safaris, as well as creating a presence in the well-established glamping marketplace of the U.K.
Glamping Hub must continue to stay unique among many other online vacation rental booking platforms. The vacation rental industry is a high-growth field and prone to constant and rapid changes. Glamping Hub must take these changes and trends into consideration in order to continuously provide the right types of accommodations for our users. We must continue to understand the evolving wants and needs of travelers within each marketplace and that every consumer/area requirements will be different. As we increase the volume of listings on Glamping Hub, all listings must uphold the same value for each individual in each market while staying relevant to the concept of glamping globally.
