If you take a look at the top hotel trends for 2014, you’ll notice that guests are starting to stray from the clinical luxury that has been popular for so long. Perhaps as backlash against the digital technology taking over our day-to-day lives, people are now interested in getting back to their roots while on vacation. An increase in camping has accompanied this trend, but the concept of “glamping,” short for “glamorous camping,” has grown even more popular. If you want to bring your hotel up to speed with the latest trends, it’s a concept you can’t afford to ignore.
A Return to Nature
For years, the trend in hotel design leaned toward providing guests with the kind of luxury they couldn’t get at home. As technology makes science fiction a reality in many American suburbs, however, it is no longer paramount that a hotel try to out-do the home. By paying close attention to what “glampers” want out of a hotel experience, you can cater to a trend without sacrificing your broader demographics.
Glamping, at its heart, has captured the hearts and minds of travelers who want something different from their hotel experience. They don’t want to rough it in the wild, rolled up in sleeping bags and covered with sticky bug spray, but they also don’t want to spend their vacation being pampered in front of the TV. They want a fusion that takes the best parts of camping and mixes them with the best parts of a glamorous hotel stay. How do you do it? Here are three ideas to get you started:
Merge the Indoors with the Outdoors
The focus of any glamping-oriented hotel must be on removing the strict separation between the indoor world and the outdoors. Glampers don’t want to be confined to the air conditioning any more than they want to be carried off by mosquitoes. If you can create a space that combines the best of both worlds, however, you will have a winning strategy.
Exercise Creativity
One of the best things about catering to glampers is that you don’t have to limit yourself to a strict set of rules. Glamping is imprecisely defined and can include wooden floors, rustic design options, propane lighting, fire-driven stoves and more. The key to attracting glam-campers lies not in adhering to a specific blueprint but in innovating new ways to connect man and nature.
Use Your Outdoor Spaces
It’s worth mentioning that you don’t need to cater to the glamping community to add elements of the trend to your hotel. In fact, many hotels have attracted a wider variety of guests by just adding a touch of glamp here and there. If you want to go this route, start with your outdoor spaces. Consider adding umbrellas and awnings under which your guests can marvel at the stars. De-modernize your outdoor structures to give guests a sense of escape when they come out of their hotel room.
Once you’ve incorporated glamping themes into your hotel, let social media know what you’ve done. The trend is hot right now on Pinterest and other social media outlets. If you can show off your hotel’s improvements through these channels, the renovations you’ve made will pay for themselves in no time.
About the author:
Brent Derbecker is the National Sales Manager of Skyspan Structures, a shade division of Superior Recreational Products headquartered in Carrollton, GA. Skyspan Structures is an industry leader in the design, manufacturing, and installation of commercial, wind-tested umbrellas and shade structures. We’re proud to offer custom options for your specific needs.
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