MC Fireside Chats - July 30th, 2025

In the recent fifth week episode of MC Fireside Chats, host Brian Searl, founder and CEO of Insider Perks and Modern Campground, welcomed three special guests from the glamping and outdoor hospitality industry, marking a unique show without the usual recurring panelists.

The first guest to introduce herself was Vicki Jones, who runs Tracks and Cream Glamping in Somerset, UK. Her site features nine geodesic domes, including six glamping domes (one with three interconnected domes) and a 10-meter dome for events like retreats, weddings, and yoga classes. 

Vicki has been operating for nine years and started a YouTube channel in 2020 to document the experiences of running a glamping site. She is also the UK ambassador for ResNexus, a property management software, and serves on the board of directors for the newly established Glamping Industry Trade Association in the UK, highlighting her deep involvement in the glamping world.

Laura Benaggoune, also from the UK, owns Welsummer Camping. She started her campsite 20 years ago, initially as a small, simple site, and quickly moved into glamping within two years, offering bell tents and later wooden cabins. 

Laura emphasizes a focus on nature and herbal medicine, maintaining a "real" and intimate atmosphere at her site, which hosts a maximum of 50-60 people. She noted the explosion of glamping sites in Kent since she began, contrasting the ease of marketing in the earlier days with the current saturated market.

Martin Berrini, originally from Argentina, shared his journey into the hospitality industry. After living in Italy for 20 years, he and his wife moved to Costa Rica, where they established Colina Secreta, a luxury glamping site on the Caribbean side of Puerto Viejo. In addition to Colina Secreta, Martin also owns and manages Taylor Tents, which sells tents to the hospitality industry. He is currently developing "Glampea," an entry-level glamping project aimed at helping traditional campgrounds transition into glamping.

The discussion delved into the differences in the glamping industry between the UK, North America, and Costa Rica. Vicki and Laura highlighted the more established nature of glamping in the UK, with Laura starting her business early in 2005. They discussed the benefits of starting a business before the social media boom, where traditional marketing and a strong brand vision were key to standing out amidst less competition. Laura emphasized that her site's small, intimate, and personal approach, fostering a strong sense of community and repeat visitors, has been crucial for its sustainability.

Vicki echoed the importance of customer service and personal interaction, noting that her site's YouTube channel helps guests feel they know her and her family before they even arrive, creating a warm and welcoming experience. She questioned the perception that guests do not want to interact with staff, citing her own positive experiences and the value of personal greetings and guided tours of the property.

Martin explained that his glamping sites in Costa Rica primarily attract international guests (over 80% from Europe and the USA) seeking luxury experiences in the jungle, with a smaller percentage of local Costa Rican visitors. He contrasted this with the UK market, which primarily serves local guests. He also spoke about Glampea's mission to support camping owners in entering the glamping business, emphasizing social, economic, and environmental impact.

The conversation touched upon the use of AI and technology in the outdoor hospitality industry. While Brian Searl expressed his enthusiasm for AI's potential to enhance guest experiences, the guests discussed the challenge of integrating technology without detracting from the natural, disconnected outdoor experience that glamping offers. Laura specifically pondered how AI could be used in off-grid settings to enhance guest well-being and provide...

Episode Transcript

Brian Searl (00:46):
Welcome everybody to another episode of MC Fireside Chats.
My name's Brian Searl with InsiderPerks and Modern Campground.
Excited to welcome you back toone of those weird fifth weeks
we have with no recurring guests.
But we have three really great,amazing special guests who are gonna
make up for all that, right guys?
No pressure at all.
But super excited tobe here with you guys.
Again, we've got a couple great people.
I'm gonna go around the room and letthem introduce themselves in a second.

(01:08):
But yeah, just super excited to be here.
So who wants to start?
Vicki, Martin, Laura,who wants to go first?
Who's the least shy person?
Vicki, raise her hand.
She's all in.
Let's go Vicki.

Vicki Jones (01:18):
Hi.
So I'm Vicki.
I run Tracks and Cream Glamping,which is a geodesic dome glamping
site in Somerset in the UK.
So we've got nine geodesic domes.
We've got six glamping domes, andone of the glamping domes has got
three domes, a kind of in one.
And then we've got an event space aswell that's a 10 meter geodesic dome.

(01:40):
So we do a lot of retreats.
We do weddings, we do hen parties,a lot of yoga and Pilates.
So we are glamping, but we'vegot the event side of it as well.
So we've got caterersand things like that.
And we've been running for nine yearsand we started a YouTube channel back
in 2020, documenting all the crazy stuffthat happens when you run a glamping site.

(02:03):
So that's been really interestingand we've spoken to loads of people
all around the world about glamping.
And so that kind of enabled meto get involved with ResNexus.
So I am the UK ambassador for ResNexus,which are property management software.
So they sponsor our YouTube channel.
And then also in the UK, I knowyou guys over in the US have got
the American Glamping Association.

Brian Searl (02:24):
Hey, now I'm in Canada.
Let's not lump everybody into the US

Vicki Jones (02:27):
Oh, okay.
Okay.
The US had the AGA so we've juststarted the Glamping Industry
Trade Association over for the UK.
So I'm on the board of directorsfor the trade association.
So I'm heavily got myself into theglamping world and I absolutely love it.

Brian Searl (02:45):
Awesome.
Excited to dive into someof that stuff for you.
It is interesting we've talked aboutin the show before, not necessarily on,
with glamping people, but in all assetsof the industry about glamping, just
how it's had such a headstart in the UK.
It's been so far ahead of wherethe United States industry or the
Canadian industry is right now.
By leaps and bounds.
So I still think there's so much, butobviously we can learn from each other
anyway, but just from you guys whohave been through all the things that

(03:08):
we're just now going through in NorthAmerica as we get it under our belt.
So excited to hear from that.
And then I'll have to check out theYouTube channel too because I was
doing this yesterday, I make thesevideos on LinkedIn where I talk about
marketing, advertising and becausethat's my bread and butter, we work
for 500 different, parks all aroundthe world and do that stuff for them.
But we were, I was talking tothem about like why I put out
so much LinkedIn content orsocial media content in general.

(03:31):
And the answer is for me is totrain the AI algorithms, right?
I do want you to comment, I do wantyou to share, of course I do wanna
provide value to you, but I alsowanna teach LinkedIn's AI and X's
AI, and Meta's AI and all that stuff.
Like who I am, what Istand for, what I'm about.
And I think from a property perspective,like you're doing it from a flip side
of how to teach people glamping, right?

(03:51):
Which is important because that brand's,Vicki and all the things that you're doing
and side brands your property, right?
But I think it's important for alot of the property owners too, to
realize yeah, maybe X isn't youraudience of typical people who
would go Camping or glamping, right?
But if you train Xs AI and thenGrot can answer questions about
you, that's just helpful, right?

(04:12):
So check the box on Hootsuite orwhatever and just send it there too.

Vicki Jones (04:15):
Yeah.

Brian Searl (04:17):
Anyway, that was a little bit off topic, but it was just on the top
of my head and you mentioned something.
So let's go to Laura.
Laura, you're in the UK too.
Do we wanna stick in the UK?
Is it seven o'clock for you guys?

Laura Benaggoune (04:25):
Yes it is.
Yeah, I was here at two, but then Irealized you were on the East Coast.

Brian Searl (04:31):
I'm in Calgary time.
Yeah.
So I'm two hours behind East.

Laura Benaggoune (04:34):
Two hours behind East.
Okay.
Uhhuh.
I'm Laura.
I've got my campsite'scalled, Welsummer Camping.
We started off 20 years ago witha really small, simple campsite.
And within I think two yearswe were moving into glamping.
So we had started off witha few bell tents back then.
And now we have, I have eightbell tents up right now.

(04:55):
I have five little wooden cabins.
I have about five Camping pitches andI'm running a wedding this weekend.
We've run a couple of retreats.
I'm a lot into sort of natureand herbal medicine and I try
and keep things pretty real.

Brian Searl (05:13):
That's a good place to be.
I'm the same way.
Like I eat straight organic food.
Like I take a lot ofsupplements, use essential oils.
Everybody thinks I'm crazy

Laura Benaggoune (05:20):
uhhuh.

Brian Searl (05:20):
Hey, I'm healthy and it works, and.

Laura Benaggoune (05:22):
Yep.

Brian Searl (05:23):
I'm still ugly.
I haven't figured out the facething yet, but I'm working on it.
Martin, tell us a littlebit about yourself, sir.

Martin Berrini (05:29):
Okay.
Okay.
I am arriving to the hospitalityindustry, but by chance,
because we love travel mainly.
My background is a vet.
I am a veterinarian.
I was born in Argentina, moved to Italy.
We lived in Italy 20 years and salesand marketing and corporate companies.

(05:52):
Because all our time and our dreams wererelated to travel, we say with my wife.
When the children were in the university,why not to start a project like living
in the jungle, like here in Costa Rica.
Now, we have a successful projectthat is Colina Secreta is a luxury
glamping site here in the Caribbeanside of Costa Rica at Puerto Rico.

(06:17):
Also I own and manage and wesell tents to the hospitality
industry through tailor tents.
And now we are working in,let me say entry level project
glamping in that we call Glampeais something after the Camping.
And we have an amazing group of partnersin Chile and Argentina and in Spain.

(06:43):
So we want to launch thisproduct as a business lab and we
are working very hard on that.

Brian Searl (06:50):
Awesome.
Thank you.
Welcome from Costa Rica.
Thank you because alwaysone of those countries.
It's on my list to visit.
Which was also fascinating to meas I saw, I was looking to the
guest list and I saw you got twopeople from UK, I'm from Canada.
I'm American to be clear,migrated to Canada.
But and then Martin from CostaRica it just came across my mind.
I was researching a trip to, we weregonna go to Madera, Portugal in September

(07:12):
and then we ended up for some reasonwanting to not take a shorter or wanted
to take a shorter flight, not hop and,'cause my girlfriend is a respiratory
theorist, didn't wanna use our vacation.
So we're gonna go to Dublin'cause it's nonstop from Calgary.
But in the course of this I don'tknow if any of you guys like follow
some of the obsessions that I havewith AI and all that kind of stuff.
But I'm very interested to seehow AI, I use it to go in to Chat

(07:37):
GPT and I say Hey enough aboutme from our conversation history.
Help me figure out a really cool,interesting place that I would like to go.
Now it knows that I like glamping'cause I talk about it all the
time, camping, stuff like that.
I also stay in hotels like I've been toSlovenia, I've been to Iceland, I've been
to, but I haven't traveled extensively.
But the typical pattern ofbehavior is the same, right?

(07:58):
I like forested, hiking, nature, stop inthe city for a day or two, whatever else.
It fascinates me to see as we go forwardinto this world, and I don't wanna talk
about this extensively today, but itfascinates me to see how we go forward.
If somebody says, I want totake a glamping trip to a really
interesting location, what doesthe AI interpret that to mean?

(08:19):
Will it recommend the UK,because it's interesting?
Will it recommend Costa Rica?
Will it recommend somewhere else?
Does it change the playing fieldof if you already know you want to
go to a Costa Rica or go to a UK.
It's fascinating to me how thingswill be surfaced in the future,
I guess for consumer discovery.
I think that ends up benefitinga lot of properties in a lot of
countries that aren't rolling offthe tip of everybody's tongue.

(08:41):
Even like a Costa Rica though,that's gotten much more popular
in recent years and Argentina.
Obviously Italy rolls offpeople, generally people's
tourism tongues more than an art.
Is that fair to say, Martin?

Martin Berrini (08:55):
Yeah.

Brian Searl (08:56):
Yeah.
So it's just interesting to me, likeI hope that some of these, not that
the UK is not undiscovered, right?
There are certainly places in the UKoutside of some of the larger cities that
remain undiscovered in the countryside.
That should be surfaced more.
But I think that it just leads to a betterexperience of people discovering all
these cool little smaller places that havemore, not more culture, different culture.

(09:21):
Does that make sense?

Vicki Jones (09:22):
There are certain places in the UK that I think
AI would recommend above others.
It would say, go to Edinburgh, goto London, go to the Lake district,
go to these certain places that likeus as a glamping site in Somerset.
We don't fall in anykind of touristy area.
So we've had to make our site thedestination that people want to come
to rather than, oh, we're in a reallytouristy location like Cornwall

(09:46):
or the Lake District, for example.

Brian Searl (09:48):
Yeah.
I think that's a flaw ofAI right now though, right?
I think, and again, I don't wanna spendeven close to a quarter of the show on
this, but like I think that a flaw ofAI right now is the way that it answers
questions outside of the thinking models.
Is it just predictive text?
And so because more people have writtenmore blogs and more podcasts and more

(10:10):
social media content about the biglarger cities in the UK or Costa Rica
or the United States or anywhere, right?
That it's gonna defaultrecommend that as a safe spot.
I think that gets fixed as it becomesmore personal and knows who you are.
Like there's a setting in Chat GPTwhere you can, I think it's on by

(10:30):
default, but you can turn on memoryand it will learn about you, and then
you can open, tell me about myself.
It'll blow your mind, right?
But as it knows more about whatyou prefer, I think it starts
to learn what you're searchingfor, what you're interested in.
I think those recommendations getmore tailored and maybe you don't get
more traffic to the smaller sites inthe UK, for example, or the Caribbean

(10:54):
side of Costa Rica or whatever.
Okay.
But maybe get more qualifiedtraffic that will convert higher.

Martin Berrini (11:01):
No let me share something.
Some of the experience herefor us in Costa Rica, for us,
it's almost an everyday tool.
Every time that, I guest is asking for atrip to do in Costa Rica, we put inside
the data, and we prepare almost everyitinerary and travel through Chat GPT.

(11:22):
I was trying to train Chat GPT aboutmy hotel is really stubborn, but it's
not easy but understand who we are.
I think, in my opinionalso, they read very well.
This is a small tip LinkedIn.
Because every time that, forexample, as you Brian, ask for
myself information, and it's amazing.

(11:43):
All it knows, the other secondopportunity is to pay for Chat
GPT because you expand the memory.
And I think that could bethe future also for us.
Imagine that we have more than 120million research every day in AI.
So it's the future.

Brian Searl (12:04):
Yeah.
I'm excited by it.
Like I want my own personal AI andI could build one for myself, right?
But I want it just to be therefor everybody and for it to know.
All the things that I like in my calendarand my Gmail and to just go out I just
wanna say Hey, I wanna plan a trip.
Just gonna know my calendar and theavailability and what I wanna spend on
flights and where I like to stay and it'sjust gonna pick the perfect place for me.

(12:25):
And I've done that recently.
That's how I landed on Madera for example.
'cause I told it I likedIceland and Sylvania.
It was like, and I wantedsomewhere warm this time.
And so it landed on Madera,but it's just interesting to me
how some of that stuff works.
Alright, let's go to glamping.
Laura, I wanna start with you.
I'm interested 'cause maybe we'll workourselves in chronological order here.
So we talked with Vicki when she wasintroducing herself briefly about

(12:48):
how the glamping industry in theUK has been more evolved than the
United States or Canada, just by verynature of the fact that you guys got
a headstart, I think, on it, right?
And so you've gone through thewins and the losses and figured
out what works and doesn't work.
And obviously there's different, nottypes of people, but there's a different.

(13:09):
I don't even know if it'sdifferent, I can't even say that.
I don't know the UK enough.
There's a different maybe mindset when itcomes to taking a holiday in the UK versus
taking a vacation in the United States.
Maybe there isn't.
I don't know.
But when you look at, you said youstarted yours 20 years ago, right?
So we're looking at 2005?

Laura Benaggoune (13:28):
Yeah, 2005.

Brian Searl (13:28):
Long time since high school math.
So I just wanted to make sure I wassomebody to tell me that was correct.
So 2005 I'm interested in thisbecause one, I wanna understand what
the glamping industry looked likein the UK back then, and the basics
of like, how did you get into it?
How did you hear about it?
'cause that feels to me evenearly for the UK 20 years ago.

(13:50):
And I don't know.

Laura Benaggoune (13:51):
Yeah.

Brian Searl (13:51):
You can correct me and tell me I'm wrong.

Laura Benaggoune (13:53):
Yeah, I would say we were pretty
ahead of the game with it.
When we first opened, asinterestingly though, my history in
camping did originate in America.
So my experience of Camping was forestcampsites, like with barbecues and,
cook fire campfires and cooking outside.
And so I think it was my personalexperience that drove me to want to

(14:14):
provide a little bit more for people

Brian Searl (14:17):
Okay.

Laura Benaggoune (14:17):
On a campsite.
And within the first couple of years wehad a lot of good reviews and we gotten
some guidebooks and some newspapers.
But in those first couple years, Ithink we were up against maybe two or
three other glamping sites in Kent thatwere starting to provide bell tents.
And then it boomed.
And now I think we're up againstabout two or 300, probably in Kent.

Brian Searl (14:41):
A lot.

Laura Benaggoune (14:42):
Yeah, it was an explosion.
But yeah, right back at the beginningand then another, and another, and I
think after about six years, we had tohave our own bell tents made because the
market in bell tents was crazy as well.
So we had to, and then we'll justget a decent bell tent we started
buying them from China and we had abig stock and started selling them.

(15:04):
So, yeah, we had just had agood entry point, if you like.
'Cause we were into the tents.
So we got decent tents earlywhere other people were really
struggling with the quality of thetents, getting that side of it up.
Yeah, I think we werea little bit of ahead.
It was a slow thing at first.
It was the camping boom,the cool camping boom.
I think that started around 2005 and yeah.
Yeah, we did.
I think we got in early.

Brian Searl (15:24):
But it is interesting how you got, you talked to your story briefly
about how you enjoyed camping regardlessof where it was in the United States.
Anywhere else, like you had thatlove of the camping in the outdoors
and that led you to your business.
And we talk a lot on this show about,many of the owners in the United
States and Canada, I'm sure all overthe world are saying, I wanna get
people in the experience of camping.
Let them enjoy not glampingyet, but even tent camping.

(15:46):
And then the whole goal for I think,better part of 20, 30, 40 years here in
the United States and Canada has beenour goal is to get them into camping so
that then they buy an RV and then they'renot necessarily real campers, right?
But they're more likely to come tomy private Campground with an RV.
And so then we've got theminto the real lifestyle.
They're committed, they've purchasedthe RV, but I think oftentimes.

Laura Benaggoune (16:10):
Yeah.
Yeah, a hundred percent.

Brian Searl (16:11):
I think oftentimes we, and that's a critical component of it,
but I think oftentimes we miss that.
We really just want them to havea love of the outdoors and nature.
Period.
Because we offer tent campingat a lot of campgrounds.
We have RVing, we have cabins, wehave new glamping accommodations that
are popping up now and we just wantto foster that love of the outdoors.

(16:33):
And that can lead, who knowswho that leads, that maybe leads
to somebody who buys an RV.
That maybe leads to somebody who takestheir family glamping every summer.
But maybe it leads to somebody likeyou who starts a business who then
fosters like 150 more people everyweek or month who love the outdoors.
So I think that's interesting to me howwe get there and maybe our perspectives
need to broaden a little bit about howimportant just the aspect of the outdoors

(16:56):
and enjoying that is, do you agree?

Laura Benaggoune (16:58):
Yeah,
us on our campground, so we've movedfrom to cabins, so I'm still immersing
them properly in the outdoors and thesort of the camping the outdoor field.

Brian Searl (17:14):
Yeah.
And there's just so much to love about it.
So walk me through, likestarting this business.
So you started this business in 2005 whichI would say and I don't know, you tell me.
Is it harder to start a business in 2005pre what we come to know as the social
media boom, which really started 2011-12ish, for businesses on Facebook, is it

(17:37):
easier to start it pre that boom withoutall the reach, but because you don't have
as much competition and it's easier toadvertised through your traditional means,
like mail, postcards, stuff like that?
Or is it harder and if you could goback, you would want social media?

Laura Benaggoune (17:56):
Yeah, no, I think I would definitely prefer it.
Like it was, I think being so saturatedwith, one with, all the other sites
that have popped up, but saturated inthat people can find a myriad, a million
of different places and experiencesnow that they can compare to where
before we could very much define thisis what we offer and we could reach

(18:20):
our ideal customer so much easier.
Whereas now I have to reach thatcustomer amongst, one in a million.
Yeah, I definitely would prefer thattraditional means of getting in a
few decent reviews and newspapers.
It was a lot easier back then.

Brian Searl (18:36):
Walk us through, I'm curious like, 'cause it's
been like a long time, right?
We say time moves so quickly.
20 years is not really that long.
25 years ago, Jeff Bezos was packing booksin his garage and Amazon didn't exist.
We forget how not long ago that was butwhat were some of the things you did
to build your business from a marketingadvertising standpoint, pre-social media?

Laura Benaggoune (18:58):
It's never really been my strong point.
I think in the beginning I thinkI focused a lot on the brand.
We were really at the beginning ofhaving a decent website, even back then.

Brian Searl (19:06):
Yeah.

Laura Benaggoune (19:07):
So I did focus a lot on the brand and the website.
I wasn't very strong in SEO,it was mainly the guidebook.
I was winging it, really.
I

Brian Searl (19:16):
We were all winging it.
I'm winging it.

Laura Benaggoune (19:17):
Guide books, they came to us, the newspapers came to us.
I think it was just being able to expressa brand and a lifestyle and an image of
what I wanted it to be and to look like.
And I think that's really where Igot it started properly because I
was really focused on having it.
The way I wanted it to look andthe way I wanted it to be seen.

(19:39):
And it wasn't until, I don't know,five or six years later, we got
on a few listing sites, but I'venever paid for any advertising.
Never paid for any advertising.

Brian Searl (19:49):
And I think that's the reason I ask you that question is because I think
that you're probably a better marketerthan you give yourself credit for.
Like certainly you've learned overthe last 20 years a lot, right?
Back then you were probably, asby your own admittance, right?
You said you, maybe this wasn'tone of your strong suits.
But I think that some of what you'resaying holds true today, even on
social media as people look to markettheir parks on, in the noise, as you

(20:12):
described, rightfully completely true.
Like it's hard to stand out.
But I think it's hard to stand out becauseeverybody's trying to copy everybody else.
Everybody's trying to do the same, thething that will please the algorithm
that will get them the most reachinstead of putting on their brand
face and showing exactly how they wanttheir property to be envisioned and who
they wanna reach and who they're for.

(20:34):
And that brand story, not for allpeople, but for some people, gets
lost in the effort to just chaseas much reach as you possibly can.
So I think it's interesting that bystepping back, we can maybe see like
maybe there's a path forward here too.

Laura Benaggoune (20:51):
Yeah.
The vision, I think keeping to thevision all the way through has been
the only thing that's really savedus in the noise, like you said.

Brian Searl (21:00):
So what sets you apart from all the other two, 300 people in Kent now?
And we do have your, if you can share,sorry, have the website pulled up.
We'll share it while you're looking.
We can look through pictures.
Yeah.

Laura Benaggoune (21:16):
Cool.
It's small.
It's really intimate.
When people come and it's very personal.
We only have 50, 60 peoplemax when we're tops, full.
We have a wedding this weekend.
It's 60 people and we're always there.
So we are always out on the front.
We have people that come back andback and they become our friends.
So some weekends we have 90% returns andwe know everybody and and we keep things

(21:42):
changing and, they've grown with us.
So I think it's the community,maybe, that's what steps.
Yeah.
Maybe it's the communitythat we've created.

Brian Searl (21:50):
So that's another thing too that interests me and Jessica
scrolling through your website here,if there's anything you wanted to click
on, just let her know for photos orpages or anything you wanna highlight.
But I think that's, the communityis really interesting to me just
because I'm a marketer by default,I guess maybe more of an AI guy now.
But this is where I spent most ofmy career in the camping, glamping
industry is marketing advertising.

(22:11):
And I look at some of the propertieswho, for the same reasons we talked
about social, are not focusing as muchon the experience of what they offer.
More so than the, I'm gonna put someaccommodations here, and maybe I'm by a
nice place or near a nice place like anational park or an amusement park or a
lake or a river or something like that.

(22:33):
And that's gonna be mything that sets me apart.
But if I just have nice accommodations,that's enough to get me by.
And I think that is quickly changingand being flipped on its head.
First, I don't think it was ever likethat, but there were a whole lot more
people who were willing to, especiallyin RVs, as you drive around a much larger
country like the United States or Canada.

(22:55):
You're willing to make that trade off.
But I think that, it's interesting to mehow, if you bring home that experience, if
you focus on your community, like you'retalking about the type of person who stays
there, then you can foster that loyalty.
And I think some of that loyaltygets lost, the same reason
it gets lost on social media.
It gets lost in regular marketing orwhen you're talking to your guests

(23:20):
because you're just trying to get tothe next 20 or 50 or a hundred people
that are gonna come through your RVpark or tent camping or glamping.
And maybe that's not the bestway to build a long-term, viable,
stable audience of business.

Laura Benaggoune (23:37):
Yeah.

Brian Searl (23:38):
What do you think?

Laura Benaggoune (23:39):
Yeah, I think that is what you know, has created
sustainability for us because we have.
You've just gone past the kids there.
So that little boy isnow we just saw up there.
There he is.
He now comes as a young adult.
So he comes without his parents.

Brian Searl (23:56):
Does he get irritated that you have a picture of him in
a tiger seat on the website still?

Laura Benaggoune (23:58):
No, he loves it.
He loves it.
Yeah.
So yeah, I think that's it.
We have fostered that kind of theway that people feel comfortable.
It's not often that you find a placewhere you wanna keep going back to.
Oh, let's go somewhere new and so whenthey come here, they don't leave the
site, they don't go off visiting the area.
Not as much as there is stuff to visit.

(24:18):
But they don't, they just come, theystay, they hang out, they come to the bar.
They chat to us.
They don't often go out.
They might go out for awalk, but, they're around.
We're around.
It's the experiencethat we enjoy together.

Brian Searl (24:30):
Yeah, and I think not to slate anybody, like I think there's a
large number of campgrounds all overthe world in the United States, Canada,
everywhere else who are cognizant oftheir community and who build good
relationships with their campers.
I'm just not sure.
It's with the intent of, I'mgonna see you 5, 6, 7, 8 times, or
I'm gonna grow up with your kid.
Like some of that, right?
The season of the long term campers inthe United States who are staying for

(24:53):
a month or two or the entire summer.
But I think there's probably alot more that could be done if you
were able to tell your story andshare your experience and build
relationships with more people to havemore of a stable audience long term.
What do you think, Vicki?

Vicki Jones (25:09):
Yeah, so we are really similar.
We've even, this is our ninthseason, we've still seen children
grow up with the site and like ahuge part of running a glamping
site is customer service, isn't it?
It's hospitality, your customer facing.
And I think there are a lot of places thatdon't give any kind of personal touch.

(25:30):
And I've spoken to a lot of different siteowners about this sort of thing, they're
like, oh, guests don't wanna see us.
They just want to have the key leftand they don't wanna be disturbed.
And, it's their holiday and ourexperience is completely different.
It's that people reallywant to be greeted.
They want to know where everything is.
They want to be able to be shown whereto find the toilet or the showers or

(25:52):
where the camp fire is or the play areas.
They really like that interaction.
I think that's why we get good reviewsis because the guests get to know you.
And that's part of the reason we startedthe YouTube channel as well, was so that
the guests felt like they knew us andour family before they came and stayed.
So that then it's more like youare visiting friends than it is,

(26:13):
you're just coming to a kind offaceless, glamping site that you
don't know anything about their story.
And it is all marketingis about telling a story.
And so if you can have all these differentpoints along the way, all the different
social media that on your website andeverything that's telling the story that
the guests can get invested in, then Ithink that really makes a big difference.

Brian Searl (26:35):
And you're not wrong.
You're not wrong.
You don't need me to tell you that.
But we used to do this for, like,when we, when I started Insider
Perks 2009 ish really 2011 was 10.
11 was the first time we started doingCamping, glamping, stuff like that.
We were working with KOA at the time,going around to their different parks.
But before I started doing allthe marketing services for the
campgrounds, we were producing videos.

(26:57):
And so we would go to, there'sone that like, I distinctly
remember Twin Falls, Jerome KOA,who's just south of me in Idaho.
I'm in Calgary.
And we went around back then, thisis 2012, 13, something like that.
And we took the owner and we went toall the local attractions and, said,
Hey, I'm Oscar from the Twin Falls DroneKOA, and created so many YouTube videos

(27:18):
with so many different attractionsthat were personalized that said,
Hey, come to the area, stay with us.
Yes, call to actions, but letme show you around my town.
Let me show you all thethings there is to do.
And the amount of people thatjust like you said, would come in
and say, oh, it's Oscar from thevideos, or whatever else, right?
That just gives that immediate,warm, welcoming effect of you are
already not family maybe, but friends.

Laura Benaggoune (27:40):
Yeah.

Brian Searl (27:41):
On your way to family, hopefully, right?
Yeah.
I think some of that gets lost.

Vicki Jones (27:46):
I think people are worried to put themselves in front of the camera
or have their face on social media andyou can hide behind a glamping site.
'cause you can put all your prettypictures that you've taken of the
domes or the bell tents or anything.
But I think putting yourself out thereis hard, but it's definitely worth it.
And nobody really careswhat you look like.

(28:08):
Nobody is worried about whetheryou've got makeup on or you look
perfect or anything like that.
They just want.

Brian Searl (28:12):
Look at me.
I can be on camera if I can conquer it.
Anybody can.
Sorry, go ahead.

Vicki Jones (28:19):
Yeah, so like when we're vlogging now, I'm there showing
people that, like I'm pulling a deadbunny out from underneath a dome.
Like it's not anything pretty,but it's really authentic.

Brian Searl (28:31):
I bet you could build a niche audience for people who
would want to actually see ifthere is a dead bunny under there.
If you need, remember there'sniche audiences for everybody.
I'm just saying like there is, I'mnot saying you always, you should
face them or it's good business.
I'm just saying there's aniche audience for everything.
Why do you think there's a perceptionout there and maybe there isn't as
big in the UK as there is over herein North America, why do you think

(28:54):
there's a perception that guestsdon't want to interact with the staff?

Vicki Jones (28:58):
I dunno, I can't get my head around it.
And it it all stemmed fromour first ever glamping trip.
We thought, oh, we mightstart a glamping site.
We better go and actually do someglamping, otherwise we're not gonna
have a clue what we were doing.
So we went and stayed in a yurt.
I was really heavilypregnant and we arrived.
There wasn't anybodyto tell us where to go.
We just followed a sign, foundthe yurt, the key was in the door.

(29:21):
There was no toilet or anything there.
And being heavily pregnant,that's the first thing you wanna
know is where's the toilet?
I went to try and find somebody andthey're like, oh yeah, it's just up there.
So then, and it was just miles away.
And so that whole experience waslike, oh my goodness, if we are gonna
do this, I want to be greeting thepeople as soon as they arrive, show
them absolutely everything they needto see, be sending out information.

(29:44):
Like we've got thetouch day digital guide.
So we send them out.
We didn't do that 10 years ago, but wesend them out a digital guidebook so
they can have a look beforehand as to,what there is and where everything is.
We've got a virtual tour so people canwatch the whole thing and sometimes
I'm showing people around and they'relike, oh yeah, we saw that on the tour.
So I'm doubly doing it, but at leastwhen you are doing it in person,
then they really get to know thesite and you as a person as well.

(30:06):
And you can have really lovely chatsand, the other thing is sitting around
a campfire with people, that is thetime when people tell you, oh, it'd be
really good if we could have this or.

Brian Searl (30:15):
Yeah.

Vicki Jones (30:15):
These are different ways of improving.
But I haven't got to gripswith why lots of sites.
I dunno whether it's come from thekind of short term vacation rental
market where you are a proper cottageor a house and there's a key safe
and you don't check anybody in.
It's all just ready for you.
So I wonder whether that's that kind oftraditional vacation rental then went

(30:35):
to glamping and people had this ideathat you don't need to check people
in, they can just do it all themselvesand you don't need to talk to anybody.

Brian Searl (30:42):
It's easier, right?

Vicki Jones (30:44):
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Much easier.

Brian Searl (30:45):
Yeah.
I wonder, it would be interesting tosee, I don't know if there's a way
we could study this and get the data.
I'll have to pick Scott Bahr's brain.
He does the KOA North AmericanCamping reports and we do a
lot of data work together.
But it would be interesting to seeif it's the type of conversations
that people are used to having.
And I think that varies not just bycountry, but by location and type of

(31:07):
resort and what you're offering and allthose kinds of things, and what your goals
are, and what your brand is and all that.
But I wonder if the perception came fromjust the, if I have to talk to somebody,
then maybe that means I'm gonna haveto wait in line to check in or wait
in a row of RVs at a campground that'sbusy, or the person is just going to

(31:28):
read me a bunch of rules and tell methings that I can figure out on my own.
And so I think if there was a largerperception of value being given.
Or personality being given or Heylook, there's this little quaint little
pizza shop around the corner thatserves great coffee in the morning
that you never would've known before.
You should definitely go there and sitat the picnic tables by the roadside

(31:50):
and have your coffee in the morning.
Like that kind of useful stuff.
I think if people were moreaccustomed to getting that, I think
the perception of that flips becausemore people start to want that.
Does that make sense?
Or articulate that they want that.

Vicki Jones (32:05):
Yeah, definitely.
And I appreciate it.
We've only got the seven accommodationstructures to check people in and
sometimes yeah, everyone does arriveat 3:30 and then I'll have another
member of staff on to then dothat same check-in process so that
we do it for every single guest.
We've had guests arrive atquarter past one in the morning.
And we've still got up and checkedthem in because especially in the

(32:29):
dark, I can't have somebody trying tofigure out where to go and what to do.
In the middle of the night, in the dark.
So yeah, I appreciate it must beharder when you've got big RV parks
on and more than say 10 structures.
But if that's what you want to dowith your business, and if you really
want that extra guest experience,then you will find a way to make
sure you speak to every guest.

Brian Searl (32:49):
Yeah.
Even through, even through technology.
I have in my notes here that Laura wasgonna talk a little bit about how to use
AI and tech in the off grid experience.
What were you gonna talk about, Laura?
Does that correct notes or didsomebody just make that up for me?

Laura Benaggoune (33:01):
No, I did mention that it was more, I was interested in how that
could, I was hoping if someone else wouldspark some ideas on how potentially I
could use AI in the off grid situation.
Because you sound like youmight have some ideas on that.

Brian Searl (33:16):
I wanna make sure that we get to Martin.
I'm giving enough time so I don'twanna talk about AI too much.
And I know I keep saying that and thenI like talk about AI and I bring AI up.
Sorry.
It's a casualty of just, that's one of myloves and passions and things like that.

Laura Benaggoune (33:29):
Yeah.
I'm totally with you.
It's just we're so totally off gridthat, I would like to be able to introduce
some tech somehow, but without losing

. Brian Searl (33:37):
Yeah, the reason I bring that situation, pivoting from Vicki was like,
I think Vicki, when you're talking aboutif there's a large resort, if you truly
want to be that hospitable experience,there are ways that you can do it.
Even if you're just filminga video that plays on people
that says Hey, I'm the owner.
Welcome to your site.
I'm sorry I couldn't bethere with you personally.
But as you can see, we're a reallybig resort with lots of things to
do and lots of experiences to have.

(33:58):
So I just wanna walkyou through it, right?
Even that little, is it asgood as people in person?
Of course not.
Is it a good medium, middle groundbetween that and nothing except a piece
of paper and here drive to your site?
Probably.
But it depends on who you are andwhat you're after and what your brand
is and all those kinds of things.
And then we lost Laura.
I was just gonna talk to Lauraabout AI, so she keeps dropping off.

(34:20):
There she is.
She's back.
Yeah, I think, again, I want to get toMartin, but I think the key with all
technology, whether it's AI or anythingelse that you're talking about, is to
incorporate it in such a way that itenhances the guest experience without
taking away from the natural camping,glamping, sitting under the stars,

(34:41):
emotional outdoor experience thatwe're all trying to drive for people.
'Cause that's the number one priority.
That's why we're different than a hotel.
And I think that there are ways, we hadthese pushbacks, like we have AI chatbots
that we offer, that we program for, parks.
We had this pushback in thebeginning where I don't want,
I don't want more technology.
And my instant answer is will thattechnology is gonna get them their

(35:03):
answers faster, get you bookedfaster and get them outside faster.
Isn't that what you want?
Oh yeah.
I guess I do.
And so there's all kinds ofdifferent ways that you just
have to be thoughtful about it.
I was having this conversation withScott Bahr, I mentioned him earlier,
we talk a bit, once a week usually.
But I was having this conversationwith him about like, where's that
border between as we move toward allthese crazy things coming, robots

(35:26):
and drones delivering pizzas, andwho knows what's gonna come right.
As we move toward that future.
Where's the line for you?
Because him and I areboth like outdoor hikers.
We like to hike to the big waterfallsand sit on the rocks and be immersed
in nature and all that kind of stuff.
And I said, Scott, would you likeever have a pizza delivered to you
at the foot of the waterfall so youcould just sit there and look at the

(35:47):
waterfall for 30 more minutes insteadof having to leave 'cause you're hungry?
And he's no, I probably wouldn't do that.
I'm like, I probably would.
But like it depends on the experience.
Is the drone quiet?
Is it bothering other people?
Does that then encourage 50 other peoplewho don't clean up after themselves
to leave a bunch of trash there?
So I don't know, I think it requires muchmore thought and pontification and use

(36:10):
case analysis of every individual thing.
But there are for sure ways that you canuse AI and tech to enhance the experience,
I think without taking away from whatwe're all trying to provide, which is
a little disconnection, I think, right?
Alright.
Martin?

Laura Benaggoune (36:23):
Yeah, I was, yeah.

Brian Searl (36:24):
Go.
Oh, go Laura, please.
Laura.
Yeah, please.

Laura Benaggoune (36:26):
No, I was just picturing, a bot that was gonna
accompany you along your day and yourwellbeing journey and, I don't know
how I could bring it in, but tryingto just accompany the guests through
their day with some star gazing guidesor, wellbeing guides that would.

Brian Searl (36:41):
I think they're gonna do that themselves.
You're gonna get me distracted again.
I'm gonna force myself not to.

Laura Benaggoune (36:45):
You don't need to prompt.

Brian Searl (36:46):
I think humanoid robots and robot companions are a
whole lot closer than people think.
The only bottleneck isgonna be manufacturing.
You can go look on YouTube atsome of these companies that have
'em built already, but I thinkwe're gonna get to a point where
the humans just travel with them.
Especially if you look at an eldercare bot or something like that, that
can be with an elderly person 24/7and take care of them, if they don't

(37:07):
have a human to travel with them.
Those elder care bots are gonnahave to come to clamping and glam
resorts and on vacation with them.
So there has to be a thoughtaround that from the, do they
need their own tent to sleep in?
Do they need a charging dock?
Do they need a, right?
So it's gonna be a fun world.
I hope that there's a way, I trust andI believe that there's a way that we can
balance that very carefully and not takeaway the beauty of the outdoor experience.

(37:31):
Martin, let's go to Costa Rica.

Martin Berrini (37:33):
Yeah, I take a couple of notes that you were saying guys.
When Laura say that you neverinvest too much on advertising.
And let me say that the core of yourbusiness was that is a super nice place,
but your place was born 20 years ago.
I think that if you don't have a hugebase of customers that follow you today

(37:59):
is very much complicated and difficult.
That's why when Brian ask how doyou feel about the it was different
to run a business 20 years ago.
And now I think that it's mandatory today.
That is my take.

Brian Searl (38:16):
Yeah, it absolutely is.

Laura Benaggoune (38:17):
Yeah.
It's dangerous to not go with it.

Brian Searl (38:20):
To not, sorry, I didn't hear what you said, Laura.
Build with it?

Laura Benaggoune (38:23):
To not go with the new, to not move with the markets and
how, and the new tools that we have.
It's really dangerous not to go with it.

Brian Searl (38:30):
And yeah, but it's also,

Laura Benaggoune (38:31):
To try and count on the old ways.

Brian Searl (38:33):
I think it's equally dangerous to forget about how the
old ways of thinking things were donesometimes too, as we've covered and talked
about on this podcast already, right?
I think it's dangerous to lose thatpersonal connection with your guests
because then by its very natureis one less reason for them to be
loyal to you, because who knows whenthere's another glamping site out

(38:54):
of two or 300 built in can that hasthe exact same type of bell tents.
But if they know Laura, and they'vebeen coming to Laura and they used
to be a kid and she won't take downthe picture on the website of them
entire costume then they're like,all right we'll come see you, Laura.
Maybe that's one more chance toget 'em to take down that picture
of me in the Tiger costume on thewebsite that she thinks I love.

(39:15):
Sorry.
I'm just kidding.
So Martin, tell us about whatyou have going on in Costa
Rica from Argentina to Italy.
Did I get that right order?
Argentina, Italy to Costa Rica.
Is that the right order?

Martin Berrini (39:25):
Yes.
It's Argentina, Italy, Costa Rica.
That is the order.
Mainly we moved to Italy because what Isaid before, not the love for travels.
So now in Costa Rica, we are based here,I am stay at Colina Secreta glamping.
That is our first project.
The second project was Taylor Tenth.

(39:47):
That I think that you are looking now.
And now we are working with my partnersfrom South America, Latin America
in a sort of entry level campaign.
Glampea La Fortuna, let me sayGlampea is a quite new project.
We are very motivated about topush in the project because we

(40:07):
really believe that it's very good.
Because from my point of view, ifyou think about the guest of the
people that arrive the customer ofglamping they arrive in two ways.
You have a guest that arrive, let mesay top down, that arrive there from
the luxury hotels and they want someexperience to live with luxury on the

(40:30):
jungle or everywhere in the desert.
And you have another kind of a guest,let me say a sort of bottom up.
That they came from glamping,from camping, sorry.
And I think that you have two differentpopulation, at least when you have a
place like Colina Secreta that we have.
So I think that there is a greatopportunity for glampea to train,

(40:55):
to teach all this camping that theywant to make the move to glamping.
And they don't know, maybethey don't have the tools.
They don't know exactly how to do.
So the idea is to create a brand topush all these people that they don't
know exactly how to do it in the future.
So glampea is mainly that,it's a triple impact project.

(41:18):
We believe very strongly in thesocial impact, the economical
impact, the environmental impact.
So we are teaching people that isentering in the project about that.

Brian Searl (41:31):
So talk to me about your site in, you have a site in Costa Rica,
you're building a site or you have a site?

Martin Berrini (41:35):
Yeah, we have a partner, speaking about just glampea, right?

Brian Searl (41:42):
You can talk about whatever you want, man.

Martin Berrini (41:43):
Yeah.
Yes, I am asking out.

Brian Searl (41:45):
Whatever

Martin Berrini (41:45):
you want.

Brian Searl (41:45):
It's like a family friendly show, but mostly whatever you want.

Martin Berrini (41:48):
No, don't worry.
Sorry.
Sometimes I need to ask you again becauseit is not my first language, English.
No, what I said we are atColina Secreta Glamping.
You can find it there.
Colina Secreta.
That is my main project.
Another project, maybe thereis a sort of confusion.
Colina Secreta Glamping is aluxury glamping hotel in the

(42:10):
Caribbean side of Costa Rica.
And Glampea is an entry levelglamping project that was born with
the idea to help camping ownersto enter in the business because
I think that we can help on that.
Also with the team of the guysof Glampea, we work also as

(42:31):
advisor, as a advertising agency.
So this is our first one in CostaRica, Glampea La Fortuna, that are the
belt tents that I remember that someof you girls say about the quality.
These are super nice a strong workto find the right suppliers in China.

(42:51):
That is part of my work on Taylor Ten.
That is my other business.
So very busy time.

Brian Searl (42:58):
If there's another website you want us to show,
please send it in the chat.
That's just all I had looked up beforethe show you can send it in the private
chat if you wants to pull it up.
But I'm curious.
And I think it's differentin the UK probably.
But I'm curious to hear all ofyour guys' thoughts because I don't
really know, but especially in CostaRica, I think, this is my question.
We've had a lot of conversationsrecently with owners as the economy

(43:20):
has changed a little bit in the UnitedStates and we all have our opinions
and where it's going and not going,we're really globally with inflation.
But there's been a lot of behavioralshifts in the United States over the last
few years to people not buying as big ofrigs to buying, smaller vans and class
A's or class C's that have typicallybeen more popular in I think Europe.

(43:43):
And there have been a shift frommaybe some of the parks this year,
especially who are marketing to moretransient people, to those who are
staying a little bit longer termbecause that demographic has switched.
I'm curious as we see some of these parksin the United States switch toward maybe
attracting more locals who are comingout for the weekend or wanna stay a

(44:03):
couple months or in the northeast, nearBoston or New York are living in these
areas versus traveling cross country.
Do you see the same in Costa Ricaor is it mostly foreigners who are
traveling to Costa Rica to stay in place?

Martin Berrini (44:14):
Yes.
Yeah.
To give you an idea, we have more than80% of after, of our guests at Colina
Secreta than arrive from Europe and USA.
That is our main activity.
Later we have another 20% that islocal people, Costa Rican people
that normally camping is notthat frequent here in Costa Rica.

(44:38):
I don't know why.
Maybe the weather, the rain.
So we are receiving people that theyarrive from luxury hotels, on very
nice hotels that they want to haveexperience in the jungle that way we
have a lot, they are so important for usbecause we have clear seasons separated.
So Costa Rican people is all year longhere, and we are working also with them.

(45:04):
We don't forget them.
We need to make targeted campaigns forthat because it's a different population,
it's different people, different language.
But I think it's very important.
But I've been in UK many times andwe don't have a camping or glamping

(45:25):
movement so strong than in UK.

Brian Searl (45:29):
Is it similar over in the UK?
Is it mostly locals you guys areattracting at your properties or.

Vicki Jones (45:34):
Yeah.
I would say that 80% of peoplecome from over an hour's drive.
And I can probably count onone hand how many foreign
visitors we'd had to our site.
We just get lots of local,yeah, from nearest cities.
So they'll come because theyhave a very small garden.
Bear in mind, our houses in the UKare fairly small, very small gardens.

(45:59):
And so a lot of the timethe kids want to go camping.
The parents aren't particularlyenthusiastic about camping and
so they want to try glamping.
So we get a lot of first time glampers,but yeah, very few that are from overseas.
It's all just yeah, local generally.

Martin Berrini (46:16):
It's absolutely different.
Imagine that this, what I saidbefore is people that came from
the base, from camping, a sort ofbutton up and it's people locally.
That's why it's sometimes it'scomplicated to aggregate data of
number of amping everywhere becauseit's so important to understand who
is your customer from where your com,your customer, your guest is arriving.

(46:39):
And that's all.
Just a little bit more to whatyou say, Brian, that glamping is
different to auto, right, before.
In my opinion, we as a glampingowners, we have, we need to offer
much more than tent on a bed.
We are creating experience, so it'sso important to manage our, let me say

(47:01):
providers, our external stakeholders.
These people, that is so important for us.
So we make a strong work also tochoose the right people that will
offer the experiences, let mesay, to operate or rafting, serve
classes cooking lessons and so on.
Because it's more than universe,glamping much more than a hotel.

(47:23):
I am agree.

Brian Searl (47:26):
Yeah.
And I think there's ways to do that.
There's a common argument that's notincorrect, but incomplete, I think
that once you get to a certain size,like in Vicki's size, I think you
said you had nine locations or seven?

Vicki Jones (47:38):
Seven.
Seven, yeah.

Brian Searl (47:40):
Yeah.
Seven.
Like I think it's, there's a commonrefrain that's not incorrect, like I
said, of it's much easier to show sevenpeople, all the hospitality and all the
personalization and get to know themthan it is 400 or a thousand or whatever.
And that's not wrong, but it'salso incomplete for the reasons
that we talked about technology,but also just for the idea that

(48:01):
like, this has been done already.
Like you can't say it's impossibleif somebody's already done it.
And if you look at a luxury hotel resortthat yes, maybe they have more staff,
but you should be able to have more staffat 400 or a thousand sites too, right?
Maybe not as much because they're charginga little bit more at a hotel or resort.
Maybe you're underpricing yourself.
But like I think at that pointthen, there's clear evidence that

(48:25):
they can curate those activities.
They can curate those experiences.
They can make that memorable stuff.
I used to stay before IHG,Intercontinental Hotels, ruined
my beloved Kimpton brand.
I used to stay at Kimpton everywhere.
Every hotel was different.
They only had 60 of them,but they had 60 and they were
still able to accomplish that.
There's very few Campground glampingbrands that have more than 60
locations, as it stands today in 2025.

(48:49):
So I think it's possibleis what I'm trying to say.
I think there's more thought andmore care that needs to go into it.
And again, like, I just think that some ofthat has gotten lost in the name of, and
maybe not as much, and I don't, maybe asI keep saying maybe not as much in the UK.
I don't know that, just one of thosethings that rolls off my tongue, but
it feels like it started to change herein the US more when some, and there are

(49:12):
great investment companies that do not dothis, but some of the investment companies
came in and it became a little bit moreabout the dollar than it was used to.
And it's hard to quantify a margin ongreeting your guests like it is there.
We all know it's there, but it's hardto quantify it on a spreadsheet, right?
I don't know.

(49:32):
Hopefully the whole industry can goback toward the toward the Vicki's
and the Laura's and the Martin's.

Laura Benaggoune (49:38):
I must add in the winter.
We only run our cabins in the winterand we do a lot of self check-ins.
But I think with, just with the messagingand with the experience has clearly been
curated by myself or by our team and whatthe experience that they have and the
feel the things that we offer around thesite, even if they've checked in without

(49:59):
seeing us, the whole sort of range ofmessaging that's happened beforehand.
I can still offer that.
I can still offer that personalservice without even being there.
I've done it from France.

Brian Searl (50:09):
Yeah, for sure.

Laura Benaggoune (50:10):
And I've got five people in cabins and they're
all like, oh, Laura's a greathost, but I wasn't even there.
So that's an interesting.

Brian Searl (50:16):
Yeah, it goes back to, I don't know if they said the same phrase
in the UK, but when I was growingup, like it's a thought that counts.

Laura Benaggoune (50:22):
Yeah.

Brian Searl (50:23):
All right, we only got a couple minutes left here.
Do we have any final thoughts?
Martin, you wanna start?

Martin Berrini (50:28):
Oh, for example we have a challenge with Glampea because how
to manage a winter time, the cold whatthe people said, what is the feeling.
Your guests arrive alsoin, in winter which is the
occupancy rate, summer, winter.
I am curious to understand and to have achat on that very brief if you want it.

(50:51):
Big key.

Brian Searl (50:52):
Laura, do you have any thoughts?

Laura Benaggoune (50:55):
Do you run in winter, Vicki?

Vicki Jones (50:56):
No, we close in the winter, so we go through to
mid-October and then reopen for Easter.
Lots of reasons.
We are on the Summerset level, so itis just mud basically in the winter.
So we prioritize guest experienceover, we could open and we could make
some more money, but I would hate toput someone in a position where they
just hated the experience becausethey were muddy and cold and wet.

Martin Berrini (51:19):
Okay.
Okay.

Vicki Jones (51:20):
So we just close and then reopen for Easter and
it's harder closing because youhave to shut the whole site down.
You have to drain all the watersystem so then nothing freezes.
You lose momentum with the marketing.
So you really have to keep on top of it.
But yeah, for our site particularly,it's the best for the guests.

Brian Searl (51:40):
Laura?

Laura Benaggoune (51:41):
For us it was a big bonus being able to run through winter.
It just wasn't enough for us to,we're small enough that running just
in the summer wasn't quite enough.
But yeah, we've learned to embrace thatmud and the rain and we tuck people
into their cabins with their log burnersand, it is a difficult balance to make
sure they have a nice experience evenin the wet and the rain and the mud.

Brian Searl (51:59):
In the stereotype of the UK, the same as Vancouver and Canada.
It just rains and it's muddy all the time?

Laura Benaggoune (52:04):
Yeah.
Yeah, pretty much.

Brian Searl (52:05):
So you just have the cold in the winter then Vicki, there's this
one thing that you had worry about.

Laura Benaggoune (52:12):
Nothing better than the long fire in the.

Brian Searl (52:15):
Martin, is there winter in Costa Rica isn't?

Martin Berrini (52:17):
No.
The point is that I havenot just Colina Secreta.
We are building this business lab thatis Glampea, it means after camping.
So we are making them the possibility tohave access to very nice tents, belt tents

(52:37):
to have some support in advertisement,in technology processes and so on.
And we are going to open someat least three or four glamping
sites in Argentina and Chile.
And we had a very strong winter,so the idea is always you have
to think about and to balance.

(52:59):
It's convenience, to close winteror if we want to have more earnings,
we have to take it winter open.
So it depends of the place, depend of yourlatitude in Argentina or Chile or Peru.
But in countries, for example, it isnot easy to, let me say no five people,

(53:19):
but have employees just part-time.
So we are working on that on Glampeaand so that's why it was my question.

Brian Searl (53:30):
Alright, any final thoughts?
We gotta wrap up here.
We're a little bit over.
I wanna make sure we'recognizant of everybody's time.
But Martin, any final thoughts andwhere can they learn more about Glampea?

Martin Berrini (53:40):
Sorry?

Brian Searl (53:41):
Any final thoughts and where can they learn more about what you're

Martin Berrini (53:43):
Yeah, no, I think it's yes.
In the last 20 years glampinggrows very steady and I think
that it will grow again.
But everyone is using glampingthe word glamping, right?
As a marketing, right?
And I think that the world of glampingis under threat, is under risk because

(54:04):
everyone say, this is my glamping.
This is my glamping.
And I notice a shift, for example,in some big luxury hotel that they
are shifting to a luxury camp.
So the idea is to help all thisCamping that they want to make to go
ahead and help them in the process.

(54:24):
It's mainly as the objectiveof the, that, that project.

Brian Searl (54:29):
And where can they find out more about Glampea?

Martin Berrini (54:32):
Sorry?

Brian Searl (54:33):
What's your website?
Where can they learn more about?

Martin Berrini (54:34):
Glampea is, we are online just as a main page,
but we are working on the project.
This is, it's a business lab.
We are just starting six months ago.

Brian Searl (54:46):
Okay.
Congratulations.
We'll look forward to checking back inwith you and see how things are going.

Martin Berrini (54:50):
Okay.

Brian Searl (54:50):
Vicki, where can they learn more about Tractors
and Cream and any final thoughts?

Vicki Jones (54:54):
Yeah, so we are yeah, if you just put in Tractors and Cream
into a Google search, you'll findall our socials and yeah, we'd love
for you to check us out on YouTube.
We've got five years worth ofvideos of us building the site,
building domes vlogging the season.
So at the moment I'm vlogging likeevery single day, what happens
during a busy summer season.

(55:16):
So if you're thinking about startinga glamping site, it's quite useful
to know, like whether you are cut outfor the lifestyle business that it
is, rather than just thinking about,oh, it sounds really, the amount of
people you probably get it that sayoh, you've got the most amazing job.
I'd love to start a littleglamping sign myself.

Brian Searl (55:32):
Everybody wants to retire and own a Campground over here.

Vicki Jones (55:34):
Yeah.
So we'll have a look at theYouTube channel and then you can
see if it's definitely somethingthat you really wanna do.

Martin Berrini (55:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Vicki Jones (55:41):
I'm always happy to chat to people.
I love connecting with other glampingsite owners, so yeah, I would love for you
to get in touch on any of the platforms.

Brian Searl (55:49):
Thank you for being here, Vicki.
I appreciate it.
We just lost Laura, we just lost Laura,who's, I was gonna say goodbye, but.
We'll see if she pops back in.
I don't know where she went, butalright, thank you guys for being here.
Hopefully Laura will show up, ifnot Laura, from Welsummer Camping.
What was her website again?
welsummercamping.com
with one L for those of you who are inNorth America and spell things weird.

(56:12):
United States we tend to do theUK English in Canada as well.
So welsummercamping.com
Thanks for being here, Laura,sorry we lost you at the end.
To Martin and Vicki, thanksfor being here as well.
I think we had a pretty goodshow, pretty good discussion other
than the kind of weird tangentsI went off on AI once in a while.
Thanks for indulging me and itwas great to learn both about
more of your businesses and hopeto see you guys in the future.

(56:33):
If you guys aren't sick and tiredof hearing of me, for everybody
who's watching the show, I'll behosting another podcast in 55 minutes
called Outwired with Scott Bahr.
We're gonna delve into the future ofcampgrounds, how things are gonna look
in 10, 20, 30 years with robots anddrones and all kinds of cool stuff.
And if not, we'll see you next week onanother episode of MC Fireside Chats.
Take care guys.
We'll see you later.

Vicki Jones (56:54):
Thank you.

Martin Berrini (56:55):
Thank you so much.