Mud, tents and sleeping bags aren’t for everyone. Those who value their creature comforts are often put off from attending festivals, but by introducing glamping (luxury camping) you could win over a whole new demographic.

Not only can glamping help you attract “non-campers”, as consultant Sarah Riley from Inspired Camping says, it can also appeal to festival goers with more disposable income –  a valuable audience segment.

“There’s a growing demand for glamping in the UK because of the weather we suffer from; the mud and discomfort,’ says Sarah. “People want to see their favourite bands, to get into the experience of the festival but they don’t necessarily want the uncomfortable side of it.

“People are thinking, ‘Why should I be that uncomfortable when I can pay a little bit extra to sleep in a bed, have nice bed linen to keep me warm and a space to retreat to when the festival becomes too much?’”

Although there are no official data on the typical age of glamping festival consumers, Sarah believes the trend is driven by the over-thirties.

“These are people who have done the festival scene and experienced the discomfort. As they move through life, they don’t want to give up festival-going – but now they’re older and have more disposable income they’re more likely to spend money on facilities.

“On the other hand, you also have those who have not experienced a festival before but have heard about the discomfort. A lot of people who go glamping are not campers – they don’t like it and they don’t have the equipment. So, if they can go for an option where it’s all provided and pitched, it’s a no-brainer.”

If you can appeal to this demographic, you stand to make more revenue from your festival – not just because you can charge them more for their ticket, but because of the extra cash they have in their pockets.

Says Sarah: “These are people with more disposable income so they spend more money on site as well. That’s certainly something that we see. People spend more on food, drink and everything else; it floods across the board.”

However, with glamping now more mainstream, festival organisers wishing to impress these high spending consumers must create an offering that stands out.

“It’s about providing an experience, not just a pre-pitched tent. It’s great to have things like a proper bed and a table and chairs, but organisers that really get it right make it more of a boudoir by putting muslin up, lighting it beautifully and making it romantic. When you’re there it feels like much more of an experience.”

Meanwhile, offering add-on services can enhance the experience and further boost your revenue: “The best sites offer luxury toilets and showers, hairdressers, beauty salons, spas – you name it they can offer it and then they charge accordingly. So it isn’t just the glamping unit where people are staying you can profit from, it’s all the other services that are linked to it.”

What you decide to offer is only limited by your imagination – and what your attendees are prepared to pay, of course. At last year’s Glastonbury Festival some seriously impressive (and expensive) glamping options included Land&Sky’s yurts and beach houses from £5,595 per couple, Camp Kerala’s Shikar tents from £8,225 and Pop-up Hotel’s Tenthouse Suite, priced at £9,995.

“There’s a big scale of what’s on offer,” says Sarah. “From a bell tent in a field with a comfortable bed – that’s the lower end of glamping – to the extreme end, like the Tenthouse Suite at Glastonbury, which is a tent the size of a house with butler service and a spa.”

The more novel your accommodation the better, helping you generate PR for your festival and excitement amongst your attendees.

Says Sarah: “I’ve seen all kinds of things; huts, pods, domes, Romani wagons, shepherds’ huts, teepees, and RVs even. There are also the vintage options, like old caravans that have been upcycled and VW campervans. They’re wheeled into place, people use them and then they’re taken away again. There are many different suppliers now.”

She adds: “Some festivals have decided to go for small numbers of various different accommodation options. It gives the festival kudos that it has all these interesting forms of accommodation. People say, ‘Next time I come, I’m going to stay in that.’ It creates demand because people want to secure a particular unit. You can further drive demand by adding different features, such as giving the shepherds’ huts a hot tub, and you can also charge more for that particular level of glamping.”

The ability to make more profit will be attractive to any festival owner, but how much investment is it necessary to make in order to provide such luxury accommodation options? And how long will it take to see a return? According to Sarah, the most cost-effective (and easiest) way festival organisers can add glamping is to pay a third party to provide it.

“This is a great option as you don’t have to worry about investing in the equipment or all the work that’s involved in setting it up or storing it – because once you’ve used it and it’s got damp and muddy, it’s all got to be cleaned properly otherwise it will be unusable for another event.”

Companies offering ‘off the shelf’ glamping solutions include Pop Up Hotel, Cloud Houses and Bluebell Tents.

“These companies have lots of experience of festivals and are usually very happy to share costings that have been done from previous festivals. They explain how much it will cost and how much you’re likely to be able to charge. You then need to consider if that’s something your customers will be happy to pay.”

“According to Sarah, there are two areas people commonly go wrong when introducing glamping – not looking at all the costs and not properly surveying their audience to ensure they’re actually interested in the offering.”

“Glamping can be very lucrative, especially if you don’t have to make a big investment up front, but you need to be sure there’s a demand for those facilities and that you’ve done your sums right. You need to know that your costs are covered and there’s enough profit to scrape off the top to make it worthwhile.”

If you need a budget upfront to give life to your glamping ideas, you could consider a joint venture with an event sponsor, providing exclusive access to your most affluent attendees in return. Sarah agrees: “Provided it’s a good fit for the brand and the image they want to portray, working with a sponsor is a good option.”

However, Sarah warns that for boutique camping to be really successful, it’s important to make sure it’s special and really worth paying extra for.

“Now glamping is more readily available, people’s expectations are changing,” she says. “It’s important to stay current, look at what new options are coming into play and change up your offering each year.

“Festival organisers should be surveying the feedback after the event to make sure it met attendees’ expectations and find out what they might like next time. Would they be interested in additional features? Maybe a mobile hairdresser they could book to come to their tent and do their hair, or someone to come and give them a massage, or would they want a food delivery service direct to their tent?

“When people start buying into quality and buying into luxury they start looking for more and more. Those add-ons can really make money.”

If you’d like to learn more about providing glamping, Sarah offers an online glamping business course as well as in-person consultancy.