Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, I appreciate your time coming over here. We're both vendors at this national RV park conference, so we're trying to talk to a lot of park owners here. And so we're sharing booths neighboring. So I appreciate you coming over here.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Yeah, of course.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: And so we'd like to hear more about, like, what you do and kind of how you can serve our RV park owners. Maybe somebody's listening, is trying to build one for the first time or they want to expand it. Like, I've heard about yurts, but here's a pro that maybe share some little nuggets that might push them over the edge to call you.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, I love that. So, I mean, we have, our client base is across the board. Right. We've got ones that are using it in their backyard just for an extra space. We've got. And for whatever else they want to do, we've got ones that are using it as guest houses. Airbnbs. We have a lot of full time clients that live, live out in the middle of nowhere, off grid in our yurts as well. But where we spend a lot of our focus is obviously in the RV glamping hospitality industry.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: With that, when it comes to specifically RV parks, where I see the most benefit from our product. It's, it's just that at every, every, every RV site I've ever talked to, except maybe the really big ones, there is always a few sites where they know they have lower occupancy on average than everyone else.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Or every other site, whether they're right by the dumpster, they're right by the entry, and no one wants to be there, whatever it is. And so when they come to us or we go to them, that's kind of the first thing I start with. Like, what's the strategy for your park? What are you looking to change?
Are you focused on increased occup?
Is it increase, you know, cost per night? What. What's the focus?
And really, we can zoom in on that because with our yurts, we have different sizes, anywhere from 12ft in diameter up to 30ft.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Typically for RV sites, we're looking at our 16 foot, 20 or 24.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Right.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Depending on the layout. You've already got a pad there, you have electrical, water, you know, sewage, all that. So it's a matter of you put a yurt there, get rid of the crap site, and now you're charging depending on what you put on the inside. Anywhere from on the super low end, like 100 a night.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: And on the super high End like six to seven hundred a night.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: And so really like that alone. When you're looking at your typical RV site, maybe 65 to 100, depending on where you are, it's really easy way to one, increase your nightly rate, increase your occupancy. And if you've only been an RV park historically, then you've only advertised yourself as an RV park.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Now you're opening up a whole new avenue of glamping yurts. Like, look what we're doing. It's just another.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: More eyeballs.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: So it definitely doesn't hurt. So, yeah, that's pretty interesting because that's what I love about parks is you can always pivot, adjust shape, change whatever you need to. And so like, hey, we already have this gravel pad. We got a little extra room in this corner.
You know, we're not reaching our goals. Let's freaking put a yurt here. Get it on all the OTAs and all the different platforms and let's get this occupancy up.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: That's pretty neat. And it's got to be just simply just tied into your sewer, you know, tied in your water and making it attractive. Of course. But. But I love the idea of just repurposing it.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: You know, because four parks and every one of them is not what I thought it was going to be.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: And I had to pivot every time.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Every time, like, all right, well, this isn't working, so what else can we be doing?
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I have a plan. Means I will change my plan.
Yeah, I mean, one of our parks too. I was just thinking about them. They're in Oregon. I'm blanking on the name right now, but they put some yurts on there. And it was not to replace RV sites, but they have a lot of long term renters there.
Some of them more on the retirement
[00:03:32] Speaker A: age long term site. Yeah.
[00:03:33] Speaker B: But what they end up using them for is they put them on there for families. Like you've got grandma and grandpa that live at the park. Well, family wants to come visit. They don't have an RV or there's overflow.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Now there's a glamping unit there that they still have open to the public, but they're the families of their long term rentals.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Get started. Existing clientele base is like, hey, we can use that for My family wants to come visit me. Yeah. That's awesome. Because it's stuff like this you don't think about with parks. That's why I'm doing this podcast.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Exactly right. You know Someone's, you know, I mean a lot of people, they either think you're. And they go, what the hell is that?
[00:04:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Or they think you're. And they go, no, no, I'm an RV park.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: And it's like, no, no, no. You, you're a place where people spend the night.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Now right now your market is an rv. Someone who owns that or likes to rent an rv.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: But hey, there's more out there. Oh yeah, Yeah.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: I love it. I love it.
So what about like on the monthly side, do you ever have, is there use cases where you had a park and like a monthly lease would make sense or is that kind of weird or what?
[00:04:32] Speaker B: I don't think it's weird at all. I mean, so once our products are built and I mean depending on features and you know, you get your platform built, any utilities on the inside, you could be all in on the project. On the low end at like 35, 40 grand. On the high end, 60 to 75.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: But once that's there, you're, you're done. Like you've got a, you've got an asset that really the structure is going to last you a lifetime.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: So you don't have a problem with like getting mold with, with mildew or anything like that when it's a rainy region or anything?
[00:05:00] Speaker B: No, that's what's great. I mean we are sitting, our yurts are sitting in pretty much every climate all over the world.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: You know, South America, we're in Florida. California mountains have people living in them. My favorite quote is someone in the northern Yukon says, ah, there it was, -45 outside and I'm wearing a T shirt, opening the window up and I'm just like, wait, what? Yeah, but yeah, they cook their insulated well, they're insulated well. I also think he overbought on his stove, but that's just me.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: But all that to be said, if you have that built out for nightly rentals but also for living.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: There's nothing wrong with renting that sucker out on a monthly rate or long term.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Because I was thinking out loud.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: Like what would that be a thing or would that be attractive to somebody?
[00:05:42] Speaker B: I think it would be. We have a few, I won't name names, but clients that are evaluating on a blanket on the term. But where essentially it's a long term lease where someone's living there.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: And. But it's not there. It's like a timeshare thing where they're there.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: But someone Else owns it and they're trying to do some profit sharing. And to me, that makes a lot of sense.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: But yeah, for sure. I've definitely seen that some parks. So are you seeing like, say like the last five years or so, are you seeing, like, any kind of shifts and demands or things that you're seeing, like. Like want restrooms have to be in there, or they could be outside or just.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: Right. Good question. Good question. So, I mean, for sure, in this industry, having a bathroom or some sort of kitchenette inside, that's been a growing walk outside.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: I don't get bit by a snake. Yeah.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Like, oh, it's dark, it's creepy. Or I drank too much and I don't want to stumble to the bathroom. Wherever it is, they want it on the inside.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: I just rolled my ankle, ruined my trip.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Exact. So I think having those units inside makes perfect sense. And we all have been talking about it, I think, for a while. So, I mean, a big kind of shift, at least specifically with yurts, is what we're hearing more, and have been for years, is operators want as much of a turnkey solution as possible.
And historically, with our product, you could buy the yurt, but that meant you also had to get a platform built. You had to figure out the bathroom or the kitchen inside. And we actually are in the process set up. Yeah. And we've. We've gathered partners where we're turning ourselves into just that. So, like, we're partnering with Flat Spot, who's here. Actually, we have another partner that does our kitchen and bathrooms, and we have a full system that it's. We come out, we install the yurt, we set it up, and it's ready to go.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: Package.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: When can we rent it out?
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Exactly.
I'm burning cash right now.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Please.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: When can I get someone in here?
[00:07:25] Speaker A: I already pre reserved it. Yeah.
That's awesome.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Yeah. But I'd say. I'd say one other that I'm seeing is I feel like there was this big.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: I want to ask about.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Oh, oh, you want to talk about hot tubs? I love it. No, for sure. People put them in all the time.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Yeah. So I was thinking, because you're creating an experience and then like, they're. They're on a deck. Platform anyway. So a lot of times they have a deck. We have a couple chairs, you know, so.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Do. Do they often see where people, like, end up with hot tubs on it, like built into the decks?
[00:07:53] Speaker B: 100.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: All right.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: But I'll even give you one better is we see a Hot tubs in the yurts quite often too. People just. They build it into the platform, put it in there.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: Yeah. So that's just kind of off the side, but you still have your bed and. Yeah, kitchenette.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: Exactly. Little hot tub room.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: It's like a third. Like maybe a bigger one. 30 foot.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, 24.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: You have your hot tub section, but you still got your bedroom and restroom. Yeah, yeah.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: I mean, everyone's different, right?
[00:08:17] Speaker A: I would like that.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: I would love that.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
Do you know any of those in North Texas?
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Not that I know of. Not that I know. But I'll look for you. We've got on our website, I gotta say, because It's a podcast. Ww.yurts.com on that page we have. Yeah, super easy. We have our Yurts vacation page which has I'd say about 20 to 30% of our clientele base. In the more concern commercial side where they have their. Their sites posted so you can search regionally and find.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: Find our.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Sort of off too.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Broadcasting. That's cool. I like that.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a big thing for all you RV park owners out there. That's a big thing that we do. It's. We're really focused on customer service. Like we not only want you happy with your product, but we really want the clients happy with it too.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Like.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Or your clients clients. So for sure we want to advertise it, put it out there, share reviews, all that kind of stuff.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: Awesome. Yeah, I think that's very smart business wise business practices. And it shows that you give a.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: You got to turn and burn. Yeah.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: If you got a good product and you care about it, then that's usually a good recipe.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: Yeah, it's awesome. Well, I appreciate your time. I know we're in the middle of a conference, so we're going to keep this kind of short.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Right on, man.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Thanks for coming over. I know Josh, of course.
Come over here, Mr. Yurt Man.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: He did. I give him some credit for that. He was on Dog on a Bone. It was perfect.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: Yeah, well, happy to do again anytime. We'd love to. To share. For anybody out there listening, hit me up. Would love to chat and answer any questions you have.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Thanks a lot. Get your in, everybody. All right, bye.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Bye.
