The Future Of Travel: “Many businesses are catering to outdoor travel” With Ruben Martinez of GlampingHub.com
What we are seeing is that within the hotel industry you have bigger chains and mid-size chains looking to diversify and they see a lot of potential and opportunity within the outdoor and glamping spaces. They are wondering how to become a part of that whether it is by investment, adding glamping accommodations onto their property, or by converting properties that were not producing well into outdoor glamping spaces. These hotel businesses are seeing the upside and are starting to invest.
As part of my series about “exciting developments in the travel industry over the next five years”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ruben Martinez.
With over 31,000 accommodations in over 120 countries, Ruben Martinez, Co-Founder of GlampingHub.com says glamping is here to stay. While undergoing his MBA at Regis University in 2011, Martinez and friend David Troya, of Sevilla, Spain, was currently getting his MBA at the University of San Francisco, they first heard the term glamping. Seeing the potential of this very young industry, they decided to create a place where people could come and find these unique and incredible types of accommodations and ultimately reconnect with nature. Since launching in 2014, Glamping Hub has grown to become the world’s leading portal for glamping accommodations in the outdoor travel industry and continues to grow and list new accommodations across the globe daily. From launching Glamping Hub’s Denver, Colorado office, to the first-ever Global Glamping Summit in 2018 to the creation of the American Glamping Association, Martinez strives to build a community in which travelers can collect memories, not things.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I studied international business as both my undergraduate and MBA. With the new knowledge and excitement to get started, I wanted to pursue this as a career but did not really have a plan laid out during the time of my education. After my undergrad, I worked for a company doing product development and found that I was not very passionate about this field. I wanted to be more in charge of my destiny but did not really know what this meant. I decided to take some time to plan my dream and went to Spain to take Spanish classes and try something different. That’s when I met David Troya, Founder of Glamping Hub. We then together started working in a travel company, and ultimately returned to the states to each do our respective MBAs, Myself at Regis and David at USF. While at USF David heard the term “glamping” and came to me wondering if this was something we could do, and together we created Glamping Hub, the new world’s leading portal for unique outdoor accommodations across the globe. We did not start Glamping Hub because we were experts in the outdoor industry or knew everything there was to know about glamping, but because we had a passion for international business and saw a lot of potential in this new and fresh market to be innovators and become experts. No one was attempting to do what we wanted to do, so we jumped at the opportunity, and our story began.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Glamping Hub is a global company, with a global reach. We offer something that is different and unique to many individuals, yet comfortable and accessible at the same time. It is almost the best of both worlds situation where maybe someone has or has not gone glamping, but as soon as they do, it makes a lot of sense to that individual. Glamping Hub is uniquely positioned to represent the future of travel because people are extremely curious about the idea of glamping and are so easily able to be comfortable with it once they experience it first hand.
We have individuals from many different cultures and countries with offices in two different countries, the USA and Spain, and Glamping Hub does not just provide these unique accommodations to one small market, rather on a global scale in over 120 countries. They are provided to the global market, to everyone everywhere.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? Can you share a story about that?
Staying connected by having daily and weekly check-ins, catch-ups, and conversations with people on our team and in the industry allows us to stay in tune to what is going on and to share our energy. It allows you to be creative and come up with new ideas together as well as ease the burden.
Within this industry, there is so much room for collaboration and partnerships, and to really share in the cool things that can be done. That can also make it feel overwhelming and daunting, so by maintaining and structuring the focus and goals and task at hand while remaining organized, also is major in keeping up the momentum.
Let’s jump to the core of our discussion. Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?
The innovation is accessibility to a new version of travel, were for individuals who tried ten years ago to go do glamping in a treehouse in Costa Rica was tough and challenging, and made it really hard to achieve the goal of booking a stay and having that experience. The innovation is very centered around the accessibility not just only to the types of accommodations and locations, but also to the experience, and the accessibility of being able to have different experiences, and differing price points. This allows us to get people outdoors more often, whether or not you have or have not experienced the outdoors.
Which “pain point” are you trying to address by introducing this innovation?
There are a few different “pain points”. One is accessibility, and under that, you have individuals who like the idea of going outside but the idea of traditional camping is daunting, expensive, and a lot of work. You have this group of people that now have a hurdle and can’t make that jump because of the process and where to start. On the other hand, you have these really unique properties and businesses and often because many of these are small locally owned and run businesses. They are the ones doing the day to day work, check-ins, maintenance, customer service for their sites, and the experience part then can get left behind due to time constraints. This is where Glamping Hub steps in. By driving the booking process and customer services, marketing their properties, and bringing exposure to the truly unique experience they offer, hosts are able to focus strictly on their property and the experience they want their guests to have. This allows them to do what they do best.
How do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo?
We are seeing within the industry now that there is a significant outside investment, and that these new businesses are not necessarily going through the hurdles that the earlier older businesses went through. Within the industry, the status quo has changed in that, our website has allowed people to have this accessibility and possibility of stepping outside their comfort zone. There are a new lens and mindset from many different angles. Whether it is the investment or the individual, there is a demand now for experience-based travel unlike ever before. It allows people to enter the market by starting their own property or site, insurance companies to come in and ensure these properties, outside activities and recreation to partner with these properties, manufacturers to provide tools and pieces and solutions to put the sites together, and more. We were able to break the status quo in that travel is one way, when really it has so much potential and find the way they want to travel.
Can you share 5 examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers like to travel?
What we are seeing is that within the hotel industry you have bigger chains and mid-size chains looking to diversify and they see a lot of potential and opportunity within the outdoor and glamping spaces. They are wondering how to become a part of that whether it is by investment, adding glamping accommodations onto their property, or by converting properties that were not producing well into outdoor glamping spaces. These hotel businesses are seeing the upside and are starting to invest.
The millennial generation over the next two years is going to spend more money on travel over paying off loans or saving money to buy a house. The purchasing power is now coming to fruition and their priorities are different from other generations. Companies need to be aware of this and pay attention to how these next generations are traveling. Some companies will capitalize on this and some will be too late.
Many businesses are also catering to outdoor travel, through activities, excursions, products, and offering everything from affordable to luxury in order to offer you the experience you crave.
You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?
My perfect vacation would be a treehouse on the beach in Mexico. Just sitting on the beach reading a book, taking a dip in the water, and absorbing all the sounds and relaxation that paradise has to offer. I prefer to go off the beaten path, somewhere where there aren’t a lot of tourists, and I can learn about the landscape, the culture, and the people from where I am visiting. A beach, a book, and a beer make my perfect vacation.
Can you share with our readers how have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
We recently set up an innovation and entrepreneurship club at a local high school in Denver, Colorado. This local high school is for first-generation high school graduates only. They go to school four days out of the week, and one day out of the week they have a paid internship at banks, law firms, hospitals, and more, where they are able to get real-life working experience and pay for their schooling. You have to be at or below the poverty line to get into the school. Our program gives them access to the idea that one day they can be an entrepreneur. The success rate for entrepreneurs is staggering, and this demographic is pretty much nonexistent. The journey of an entrepreneur is already an uphill battle, and for this demographic, the odds are already worse. The idea is to plant the seed, give them exposure to other entrepreneurs, and give them programming to show that if they do want to be an entrepreneur they can and have that option. The end goal is to provide an opportunity to grow.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Linked in:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruben-martinez-b39703a/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/glampinghub/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/GlampingHub
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/glampinghub/
The Future Of Travel: “Many businesses are catering to outdoor travel” With Ruben Martinez of… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.