Who Actually Gets the Money When You Book a Stay

I was thinking about something the other day and I want to hand it to you. When somebody books a stay at one of our safari tents, who actually gets that money? The answer is kind of the whole reason we built Campfire Concierge the way we did. When Michael and I first came up with Campfire we knew we wanted to build something that helped other people build something of their own.

Our Regional Managers

We wanted our Regional Managers to have something they could grow as big as they wanted to grow it. That is one of the reasons our RMs earn a share of every night and keep 100% of the stay add-ons they take care of. They are the ones out there making the experience special! A breakfast waiting for a guest means our RM makes money and a celebration package means our RM makes money and the next one after that does too.

The landowner

There are people everywhere who own beautiful land that is literally just sitting there. We thought what if they could make money from a small piece of it without building a cabin or running a campground or turning it into something completely different? So when someone stays at Summit & Sage our landowner makes money too.

We tried really hard to change the land as little as possible. It is a safari tent and not a permanent building. You will be able to tell something was there when it comes down but our goal has always been to leave as small a footprint as we reasonably can.

Then campgrounds

Then Campfire grew again. Why couldn’t a campground offer glamping without having to buy a bunch of equipment or add permanent structures? We could set everything up for their guests and the campground would still keep 100% of its site fee.

Then Michael said something along the lines of well why don’t we just build them a real campground platform too. So he did! Bookings and a CRM and a POS and all the tools they need to run their campground, and again the campground keeps 100% of its site fees. We kept seeing how much money could get pulled away from the actual people doing the work and owning the property.

One booking and a whole little circle

Here is the part that really hit me. Think about what happens when ONE guest books Summit & Sage. Our RM gets paid and our landowner gets paid. If they order breakfast the groceries get bought right there where our RM lives and shops. If a local person provides an experience or an add-on then they get paid too.

When I really thought about our bookings this season I realized a whole lot of that money stayed right there in the community where the guest actually stayed. That matters to me. Maybe Campfire is also about the money from a trip landing with the people who actually live there.

I thought of Campfire as a really amazing place to spend a weekend. It still is. I just had not stopped to see how many people one weekend was paying.

If you have booked a trip with us, you are the one who started all of that! A landowner and an RM and a local store and the small businesses we partner with, all because you decided to go! Next trip you take, go buy your coffee from the little place in town and your firewood from the stand by the road, because it goes further than you would think.

We are brand new and one safari tent is a pretty small thing. If you own land that is just sitting there or you run a campground, you could be the start of one of these circles. Go fill out the partner application. It does not lock you into anything. If you would rather talk to a person first, write me at haley@campfire-concierge.com and I will walk you through where the money from a stay goes, the hard parts too. Please ask me anything.

Who do you think got paid the last time you took a trip?