Instructor case: Cypress Trails Outdoor Resort offers glamping tents, yurts, and RV sites with eco-tourism and farm-to-table dining, but faces staffing shortages, tent and yurt maintenance, seasonal occupancy swings, and declining satisfaction; recommend strategies for guest experience, operational efficiency, and ancillary revenue.
Outdoor lodging
When guests choose to stay at a business classified as 'outdoor lodging' they are choosing to have a unique experience out in nature, away from cookie-cutter rooms in some large building where rooms are lined up down the hall. Guests in this type of resort are looking to experience overt uses of sustainability and a room that is closer to the activities in which they want to participate. Outdoor lodging businesses offer non-traditional structures such as yurts, tents, 'glamping rooms'. Cypress Trails offers these right next to Lake Tohopekaliga in central Florida.
Outdoor lodgers, like Cypress Trails, get their revenue from the nightly rates of the spaces where a guest will stay. The unique adventures, equipment rentals, and food offerings also bring in revenue. Glamping often brings in premium rates as this experience offers high-level comforts in the middle of nature.
Those that run an outdoor lodging business also experience unique operational considerations. They experience challenges, but they also have unique opportunities to serve their guests and to operate successfully. Since these businesses offer nature-based experiences, operators must consider how to work on a seasonal model. Also, they must deal with staffing issues as the lodge is not in a town or city, and not providing full-time all-year employment possibly can be challenging. But these lodgers also get to consider how to use the surrounding environment well to give guests a great experience. Finally, these businesses must work through structural challenges: getting food and water to the site, dealing with the waste produced by the guests (in all forms), and providing structures that are safe and eco-friendly.
Operational analysis
Cypress Trails Outdoor Resort offers unique structures, unique experiences, and they keep sustainability at the forefront, but the business is getting hit on guest satisfaction scores. This decline is primarily around the operational aspects. They are clearly struggling.
Their issues stem from all the normal challenges of outdoor lodgers. They really have a staffing shortage, and that issue leads to other issues: dealing with the maintenance of the structures and the site, working with the guests in a meaningful way, and dealing with the operations of the site.
Also, they are dealing with financial issues. Their occupancy fluctuates with the seasons. Guests might have challenges getting to the remote location, and the number of guests who want to participate in this kind of experience is limited.
Guests who choose this kind of experience, to spend their money there, need to know that the site is worth the hassle of getting there. While guests want to experience nature, each guest has a different level of tolerance of the actual surrounding environment. If Cypress Trails has run-down glamping structures, for example, guests will find the experience wanting, and they will make their opinions known in various social media outlets. That is never good for a business.
Profitability and strategy
Owners of these kinds of resorts are usually an individual or small group dedicated to guest service and to this kind of experience. They might or might not have capital to continually invest; that is not a guarantee. Therefore, these owners must find strategies to be profitable and to maintain their site so that guests will experience nature with the necessities and whatever level of creature-comforts the guests require.
Cypress Trails Outdoor Resort needs to implement a strategy that serves their guests, operates the resort efficiently, brings in revenue, and keeps to the purpose of the business. They need to rely fully on the unique aspects of this kind of lodging and find those guests that want to be part of such an experience. The resort, literally off the beaten path, needs to be visible and known.
Enhancing guest experience
The resort can start with attracting guests through social media. Having a presence online while highlighting the unique aspects of the resort is a sure-fire way to get curious guests booking their first stay.
Seasons are inevitable. Seasons stretch across the whole year, and there are plenty of nature-based days of the year: Earth Day, Arbor Day, Winter Solstice, etc. The resort can design unique experiences around these events. On Arbor Day, for example, a tree is given to the guests upon their departure for planting either at the resort itself or at home. During the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and in the winter, the resort could hold a special sunrise event. This could be a day with no Wi-Fi, no technology or music or loudness. It is just a quiet day of reflection.
Technology is a must, and the resort must provide that even in the woods. An app designed specifically for Cypress Trails Outdoor Resort should give the guest a chance to enhance their own stay through purchases of special amenities, rent equipment, or book an experience. The app should also let the guest communicate with the resort about their needs.
I am not sure of the effectiveness of loyalty programs for this kind of resort. Guests come for the experience, not to gather points for later redemption. But it would be worth trying. The app can include that and can give the guest special rewards that are unique: free equipment rentals, discounts on experiences. This resort should test it out to see if their guests are into this thing.
Optimize operational efficiency
The technology they bring to the resort can help make the operation more efficient. Guest to front-desk communication happens through the app, and in many cases, can be solved without the employee having to leave their yurt or tent.
Staffing needs to be deliberate. The resort owners should find staff that love this experience, work well with guests, and are dedicated to their work. I'd pay these people well enough to live out in the resort for 4-8 weeks at a time and give them every chance to extend. People studying hospitality could intern here. The operation needs dedicated people to be able to serve the guests. This probably is the biggest challenge, but finding those people will make all aspects of the resort run well. These people need to be trained in the maintenance and the practice of sustainability. But again, having the correct staff does wonders for operational efficiency.
Increase ancillary revenue streams
The resort should focus on finding paid activities that further provide a unique experience in the surrounding areas. Along with the seasonal promotions described above to get people to stay throughout the year, they can partner with the local town, probably a small one nearby, to provide onsite local experiences. Crafting, woodworking, fishing, etc. can give the guests a better sense of the area through the activities and bring in money to the resort.