b'Unique accommodation manufacturers are seeing more new developments and expansions as the glamping industry continues to grow. Photo: Eco Structures USAUnique Accommodation Manufacturers Continueto See High Demand; Dont Foresee a Slowdown A Anyonewhoattendedoped and expanded, more are addingwere just too busy forwhat spring holds. Were hearing good nBY BEN QUIGGLEtheGlampingShowwagons, tipis, tents, yurtsetc.me to leave.things, but I think with the economy, Americas at the begin- WoodallsCampgroundMagazineIts been challeng- price of fuel and other factors, a lot ning of October knows(WCM) caught up with several uniqueing trying to get rawmore staycations are probably going to how well the glampingaccommodationcompaniesinearlymaterials and keep uphappen. Some of the glamping type se-segmentisdoingnow.December and checked in to see howwith production, andtups that are close to home might be The show was marked by record atten- busy they were in 2022.we saw a lot of camp- the hot ticket. dance and a slew of new accommoda- Unfortunately, I am short staffed so Igrounds just continu- Brandon Wright, a communications tioncompaniesmorethan70wasnt able to attend the conferencesingtoexpandtheirrepresentative for The Conestoga Wagon companies had units on display.that I would normally attend this fall,selections, he added.Curt Dinges Company, told WCM the company con-Investors across the outdoor hospi- noted Curt Dinges, president of Mon- If they had two tents, they went to fourtinues to see a steady flow of orders. tality industry are recognizing the de- tana Canvas. We were running any- or if they had four, they went to eight.Supply chain issues still exist but we mand for unique experiences and as anwhere from seven to 12 weeks out atWe also saw a lot of new entrants intohave a guy here who has been doing a increased number of parks are devel- some points this fall, which meant wethe market. Itll be interesting to seegreatjobofkeepingeverything stocked, Wright added. Weve had to anticipate the demand a bit and make sure that we have things in stock. You cant necessarily count on anything get-ting to you very quickly at this point, so weve had to hold a lot more stock than we normally might. Alan Bair, founder and president of Pacific Yurts, told WCM that the record salesfrom2021ex-tended into 2022.We have been sell-ing a lot of yurts at var-ious sizes and more to the campground and resortindustry,he said. One of the excit-ing things for us is that we are seeing a lot ofAlan Bairrepeat customers that are happy about the quality of our product.Beyond that, some of the supply chain issues and other things that we saw during COVID are settling down and thats a positive trend, Bair added. Then, because of all the sales weve had recently, including into last year, we had a longer lead time than typical, and weve whittled that down now, so were able to deliver yurts faster. To get a better picture of the unique accommodation segment as a whole, WCM touched bases with over a dozen companies. Following are brief updates from each company. 22 February 2023Woodalls Campground Magazine'