Ever imagined waking up in a cozy yurt, surrounded by nature? Whether you’re planning an off-grid retreat, a backyard studio, or a full-time yurt home, designing your yurt is the first step. With Yurt Builder 3D, you can customize your yurt, explore features, and get an instant cost estimate—all from your device.

Follow these five simple steps to design and purchase your yurt kit today. Plus, download our yurt planning checklist to stay on track!

1) Define Your Yurt’s Purpose

How will you use your yurt? A peaceful yoga retreat by the coast? A rugged mountain escape? A year-round residence? Knowing your yurt’s purpose helps you choose the right features.

• Seasonal vs. Year-Round Use: Cold climates may require insulation and a heavy snow load kit.
• Functionality: A meditation space might need extra ventilation, while a rental yurt may require upgraded durability.
• Off-Grid Needs: Consider energy-efficient add-ons like solar venting, wood stove compatibility, and weather-resistant materials.

2) Choose Your Yurt Size

Pacific Yurts offers sizes ranging from 12 feet (perfect for a personal retreat) to 30 feet (ideal for families and events). Larger yurts can be configured with interior walls, a kitchen, bathroom, and even a loft.

Explore our 360° Virtual Yurt Tours to compare sizes.

3) Customize Doors, Windows & Coverings

Design your yurt’s exterior and natural lighting to match your vision.

• Roof & Wall Coverings: Choose from a variety of colors and an optional 15-year warrantied premium roof cover.
• Doors: Options include classic wood panel, elegant French doors, or low-maintenance fiberglass doors.
• Windows: Select fabric windows or upgrade to glass window systems with integrated screens.
• Optional Awnings: Add window awning frames for shade and extra protection.

4) Add Climate & Comfort Features

Your yurt’s location and climate will determine which additional features you may need.

• Insulation Packages: Essential for cold weather and year-round comfort.
• Heavy Snow & High Wind Kits: Ensure structural durability in extreme conditions.
• Stove Flashing: Designed for safely installing a wood stove.
• Gutters & Drainage Solutions: Recommended for rainy climates.
• Ventilation & Cooling: Dome openers, tinted domes, fan supports, and bug/shade screens keep your yurt comfortable in warm environments.

5) Get a Quote & Speak to a Yurt Expert

Once you’ve designed your yurt in Yurt Builder 3D, you’ll receive:

• A detailed cost breakdown of your selected features
• Crating and shipping options
• A copy of your quote emailed for easy reference

Our team will then reach out to discuss your design, answer questions, and help finalize your yurt order.

Start designing your yurt in 3D!

With just a few clicks, you can visualize your dream yurt and get an instant estimate. Launch Yurt Builder 3D now and bring your yurt vision to life!

The post Design Your Dream Yurt with Yurt Builder 3D™ first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

When we talk to folks who are thinking about dipping their toes into the yurt life for the first time, a question we often hear is: What can we do with a small to mid-sized yurt? We think the better question is: What can’t you do?

Pacific Yurts come in six different sizes, and each size offers a multitude of possibilities in furnishing and usage. In this article, we’ll go over some of the possible floor plans for our 16-foot and 20-foot yurts. This is by no means an exhaustive exploration – there are a lot more possibilities than we can list here. But hopefully it shows you the variety of options for furnishing and using your yurt – and inspires a few ideas of your own.

16-foot yurt floor plans

Our 16-foot yurts offer an internal area of 200 square feet. Their maximum height, in the center, is 10 feet and 3 inches, and they often have three windows. Here are some of our favorite floor plan ideas for these cozy yurts.

Home offices

200 square feet is the perfect amount of space for two comfy chairs, a side table, a desk, a storage trunk, and a plant for ambiance – all with ample open space in the middle of the floor. Imagine a space like this in your backyard, ready and waiting for those moments when you need a quiet place to get some work done, curl up with a book, or even roll out the yoga mat.

Meeting spaces

Who says every business meeting has to be in an office? Book your next company offsite at a venue with a Pacific Yurt and hold planning sessions, team-building activities, and more in an entirely new setting. The roundness makes even small yurts feel spacious yet intimate – the perfect environment for getting the wheels turning and making moves.

Solo or romantic getaways

If you’re a glamping operator or host on Hipcamp or AirBNB, a 16-foot yurt is perfect for attracting solo travelers or couples looking for a cozy getaway. This floor plan centers a queen-size bed, with a restroom on one side and all three windows on the other, bringing plenty of natural light to the main living space. 

We’ve got 16-foot yurts in stock and available for quick ship! Take a look at them here.

20-foot yurt floor plans

Our 20-foot yurts have an area of 314 square feet, a center height of 11 feet, and typically have 4 windows. Here are some of our favorite floor plan ideas with these slightly larger yurts. 

Family adventure

Our 20-foot yurt offers the perfect getaway spot not just for couples, but families looking for a rustic yet cozy adventure. The extra space allows for a twin bed in addition to the queen – families with two kids can make it a bunk bed. There’s even room to spare for two chairs and a side table.

Cozy living quarters

You might not think it possible in just 314 square feet, but our 20-foot floor plan offers enough space for a cozy one-bedroom apartment. That’s the beauty of life in the round: getting the most use out of your space without feeling cramped. With a kitchenette, living area, and queen-size bed in a separate room, the yurt life starts to sound pretty cushy.

Public facilities

Providing well-appointed restrooms is a crucial part of making outdoor spaces like parks and campgrounds accessible to all. Our 20-foot floor plan has enough space for two half-bathrooms, with a foyer space providing extra privacy.

Take a look at the 20-foot yurts we have in stock and available for quick ship!

If we were to go over every possible use for a 16-foot or 20-foot yurt floor plan, you’d be here all day. Got an idea of your own? Get in touch! Whatever you have in mind, whether for personal or commercial use, we’d love to talk about how we can help you make it a reality.

The post Get Inspired with These 16-Foot Yurt and 20-Foot Yurt Floor Plans first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

Hipcamp is the go-to app to discover and book incredible campsites, connecting operators of camping and glamping sites with people who love sleeping under the stars. But more than a booking site, it’s a growing community of good-natured people who care for the land, boosting local economies and biodiversity along the way.

Like Pacific Yurts, Hipcamp has a love of nature and responsible land stewardship built right into its DNA. With so much overlap in our company cultures, it’s no surprise that several dozen Hipcamp Hosts include our yurts among their offerings, earning more and more bookings each year.

Pairing Pacific Yurts with Hipcamp’s community is a smart move for any glamping operator. Here’s why these two resources add up to more than the sum of their parts. 

How Pacific Yurts Boosts Your Hipcamp Listing

Calling all Hipcamp Hosts! Hipcamp is home to some of the most gorgeous, friendliest, quirkiest camping sites in the United States, from private spots set alone on 30 acres to full-fledged RV resorts. No matter what type of land you have, adding a Pacific Yurt is a low-lift, low-cost way to welcome people seeking experiences beyond traditional tent camping. Providing the choice of both tent camping and yurt stays with a bit more luxury will expand your audience while still keeping visitors connected to the great outdoors. 

Broadening your market appeal in this way means broadening your potential revenue sources. That’s why Hipcamp has seen that Hosts who offer a Pacific Yurt on the platform earn an additional $10,000 in annual revenue, on average. Numbers like this mean that, depending on the yurt size, it’s possible to see a return on your investment within the first year.

Own a Pacific Yurt? Give Hipcamp a Try!

If you own a Pacific Yurt but your site isn’t listed on Hipcamp, we’ll put it simply: You’re missing out. With a community of over 7 million active users, Hipcamp is the best way to connect directly with a vast audience of campers and glampers looking for the site of their next adventure. That makes it a powerful potential driver of occupancy and revenue at your site. 

This isn’t just theoretical – many Hipcamp Hosts have earned over $20,000 within the first eight months of signing up. In more than a few cases, this has enabled the hosts to expand their business in meaningful ways. 

Even if you’re the owner of a yurt for personal use, not a full-time site operator, Hipcamp can be an effective way to add some passive income to your household books. Many Pacific Yurt customers keep a yurt in their backyard for use as a home office, yoga studio, or guest house – and Hipcamp allows you to add “rental property” to that list of potential uses. 

A Match Made in Glamping Heaven

The benefits that Pacific Yurts and Hipcamp provide to our customers are a testament to the natural harmony that exists between our two companies. That harmony stems, first and foremost, from a shared love of nature and a passion for sustainability. 

For Pacific Yurts, that means connecting travelers with the natural world while minimizing our impact on it – a goal we achieve through excavation-free installation, reduction of waste, and quality of materials. To quote one of our customers at Treebones Resorts, which was recently named one of the top glamping sites in the United States, Pacific Yurts allows operators to “perch lightly on the land.”

For Hipcamp, it means making land stewardship a top priority. Everything Hipcamp does is guided by the belief that getting outside is good for the health of people and the planet. By connecting landowners who want to keep their land undeveloped with a community of responsible, nature-loving Hipcampers, recreation can help fund the conservation of this land.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a new landowner or an experienced operator, you’ll want to explore pairing Pacific Yurts and Hipcamp. If you’re a Hipcamp Host, get in touch to talk to our team about adding a Pacific Yurt to your land. And if you’re a Pacific Yurt owner looking to expand your reach, boost occupancy, and earn more revenue, head over to Hipcamp to get started down that path. 

The post Pacific Yurts and Hipcamp: Good for the Glamping Business first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

We’ve previously spoken to Craig about how yurts have been a major difference maker for the OSP system. But this yurt wasn’t for the park system – Craig planned to keep this one in the family. And as it turns out, the story of this purchase and its aftermath shows how one simple yurt can do big things, from bringing together families, advancing careers, reducing the cost of living for a young couple, and more.

So we decided to sit down with Craig once again to hear how, more than just being the sum of its parts, a yurt carries the weight of its history – and its future.

How did you end up purchasing this yurt, and who is living in it?

We bought the yurt for my daughter and her fiance earlier this year. They’re vegetable farmers and have a farm pretty close to the trust where the yurt sits. Being farmers, it was natural that they would be in the same orbit as the owner of an agricultural trust in their area, and that they would meet. 

The owner first purchased the yurt in 2003 and originally used it as worker housing. But by the time we connected with him, it hadn’t been used that way for a while, and a good deal of time had passed since any real maintenance was done on the yurt. So we bought it from him, fixed it up, and now my daughter and her fiance are living there and paying rent to its previous owner, who still owns the land where the yurt sits.

What about this yurt caught your daughter’s attention?

The first thing is that it’s much closer to their farm than where they were previously living. It’s also more bang for their buck – it’s cheaper to rent than their apartment in Portland, and at 30 feet in diameter, it’s actually bigger, too. 

On top of that, it’s just a gorgeous area. There are fruit trees everywhere, it’s surrounded by the green of rural Oregon, all of that. 

Can you tell us a bit about your daughter’s farm?

Well, it’s a vegetable farm, and the way they do most of their business is through community supported agriculture, or CSAs. People buy a share from them, and the farm sends them a box of vegetables on a weekly basis. On top of that, they’re a vendor at the Oregon City Farmer’s Market every weekend, and they sell to a couple of restaurants, too. By allowing them to live closer to the farm, the yurt just makes it so much easier to run their business.

You mentioned it had been a while since the previous owner had done maintenance. When you became the owner, what was the renovation process like?

I know from my experience bringing Pacific Yurts to Oregon State Parks that quality of materials is a big deal for you guys. That made fixing up this yurt much easier than one might otherwise expect. When we got it, the roof was in good shape, and all the timbers used for the lattice and the support were looking pretty great, even after 21 years and little maintenance work. Basically, all we had to do was replace the siding, which was pretty easy. It was easy to order, and the Pacific Yurts staff made sure we got everything we needed quickly. 

One nice thing is that we were able to make a family affair out of it. Pacific Yurts are well-designed in that you don’t need a professional crew with specialized skills to work on them, so we got my daughter and her fiance to come down, as well as a buddy of mine, and we all did the renovation work together.

How long did it take to get the yurt into livable condition?

Well, we ordered the siding and that arrived pretty quickly. Then we took off the old siding and skirting, as well as the insulation – when it was built back in 2003, they used that old pink insulation, which needed to be switched out. 

That was the first day. Then we spent another day replacing all those things with the new materials. Then we spent some time on cleanup. I’d say from ordering the parts to getting the yurt into a condition where my daughter could move in, it took just about a week, or maybe a little less. Now we’re looking at other upgrades we can do, the first of which is adding two of the new glass windows Pacific Yurts is now offering.

Is the plan for your daughter and her fiance to live in this yurt for the long term?

More likely the idea is that they’ll live in it for a few years, which will allow them to save money because it’s so affordable to live there. Then the plan is to buy a house nearby. But even when that happens, we’re planning to keep the yurt.

What will be the plan for the yurt at that point?

Well, my daughter has a degree in early childhood development, and has been a nanny for years. One thing she would love to do is open a daycare center or a preschool in the yurt. It would be kind of specialized in agriculture. They could take the kids to the farm and teach them about growing food, with the yurt as kind of a home base. So the yurt is basically serving three purposes: It’s providing her a home, it brings her closer to her farm so she can grow her business more effectively, and it’s opening opportunities for a new career venture in an area she’s always been passionate about. And none of it would really be feasible without the flexibility and ease of yurt life.

The post How a 21-Year-Old Yurt Started a New Chapter for an Oregon Family first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

Since then, we have continued to add products to make our customers lives not only easier, but better when they’re enjoying their yurts. That includes screen doors, window awning frames, and our original glass window system.  

This year, we have two new products that will continue to revolutionize how our customers use and enjoy their yurts. Ready to learn all about them?  

Introducing Porch Cover Kits 

Our new deluxe Porch Cover Kits have been a much-requested item from many customers over the years. Not only does a porch cover addition to your yurt look fantastic, it gives you more outdoor space in inclement weather: you’ll have space to shake off your raincoat or stomp your snow boots without carrying that moisture inside your yurt.  

You’ll also have that extra space in the spring and summer months to relax outdoors. Just imagine drinking your favorite beverage and enjoying your favorite adventure spot in the shade.  

The benefits don’t stop there; having a covered porch also provides added protection to your door, so that it will require less maintenance due to snow and rain over time.  

These porch cover kits are a fantastic addition to any yurt, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer them. Ready to learn more? Send us a note here.  

Introducing XL Glass Windows 

Our new XL glass window systems feature windows that are 60×48 inches compared to our standard size windows. These larger windows have tons of benefits: you can see more of the beautiful landscape outside of your yurt and experience increased ventilation and air flow on warm days.  

These larger windows also have the safety benefit of added emergency egress. We know many of our customers have asked for something like this—or they opt for a second door. However, these larger windows can act as emergency egress, making them ideal if you don’t want a second door in your yurt. It’s always important to plan for safety in any building and our yurts are no different.  

Ready to learn more about our XL glass window systems? We’re ready to chat.  

Additional Resources 

Curious to learn more safety tips for your yurt? Our blog post about safety will be a huge help.  

How long does a yurt last? We’re glad you asked, because we have the answer.

Dealing with moisture in your yurt, especially through the fall, winter, and spring months, can be a challenge. Here is a rundown of how to deal with moisture in your yurt (and why it’s important).

The post Introducing Our New Porch Cover Kits and XL Glass Window Systems first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

So how can outdoors businesses get ahead of this wave of eco-conscious travelers? Yurts are a great answer. Easy-to-install, cost-effective, and low-impact, yurts offer several environmental and financial benefits for campgrounds or outdoor resorts looking to provide a unique guest experience. 

How We Build Sustainable Yurts

When we started Pacific Yurts in 1978, our goal was to help bring people closer to nature while minimizing their mark on it. Fast-forward 45 years, and we’ve perfected our formula. Today, we’re proud to supply park systems, outdoor resorts, and campgrounds with durable, resource-efficient yurts that make a big impact on guests, not the environment. 

Here’s how we keep sustainability in mind from manufacturing to shipping, and every step in between.

No Excavation Needed

One benefit of our yurts is that they’re strong but lightweight. Unlike traditional wooden cabins, Pacific Yurts don’t require a permanent concrete foundation. Instead, they’re typically installed on a post and beam platform that uses a series of footings onto which posts are fastened. 

These footings allow our yurts to be installed without excavating or leveling the land, which means they can be installed on sloped or uneven sites. Less environmental modification equals less cost, and this flexibility allows businesses to generate revenue from parts of their land that may have been previously unusable. Lastly, our yurts are assembled from a combination of relatively small components, which can be easily carried onto a site by hand, or via a light vehicle, ATV, or sled. 

Waste Is a Big No-No 

At Pacific Yurts, much of our lumber iswe carefully select second-growth lumber sourced directly from forests certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. We believe in reducing unnecessary waste wherever possible, which means we only choose the appropriate grade and length of boards for each yurt component. 

If a piece of lumber doesn’t meet our strict standards, we use it to build our shipping crates. Over the years, we’ve heard from a number of customers who have used this wood to make furniture, cabinetry, vanities, and more. To keep as much out of the landfill as possible, we also donate any leftover materials and byproducts. For example, local crafters and families use our end cuts and wood scraps to design art and heat their homes, while gardeners and horse owners make quick use of our sawdust.

Intentional Craftsmanship

Along with limiting lumber waste, we make a conscious effort to finish our yurt components with as little impact as possible. We use a low VOC oil stain on each of our wood components, which is applied by hand (rather than atomized/sprayed) to avoid air pollution. We then allow these to air dry away from our staff on large, lined metal trays that capture drippings that would otherwise be absorbed into the soil.

Why the Future of Outdoor Businesses is Green

At the end of the day, sustainability isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also good business sense. Back to Booking.com’s 2023 Sustainable Travel Report: 43% of travelers are willing to pay extra for sustainable accommodations, but 44% don’t know where to find them. There’s a massive gap in the eco-tourism space, and if your business can help fill 

that gap, you’re opening yourself up to a whole new cohort of travelers. 

What’s more, excavation for cabins and lodges is quite costly. You’re also limited by the type of land you can make use of. Yurts eliminate those problems entirely by allowing your team to build on sloped or otherwise unusable land. This way, you can reduce costs all while opening up new streams of revenue. Plus, most of our yurts can be installed in less than two days by a team of three to six, making a quick turnaround for businesses ready to ramp up their sustainable offerings. It’s a win-win. 

Not Sure Where to Start? We Can Help

For businesses interested in connecting guests with nature without negatively impacting it, yurts are a natural fit. 

Curious about what yurts could look like on your property? Kickstart your imagination with our 3D Yurt Builder or browse our collection of in-stock yurts.

The post How Yurts Can Help Your Business Go Green and Boost Revenue first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

For us, sustainability isn’t just a policy, it’s at the core of everything we do. Here’s a small window into how our commitment to the environment shapes every stage of our business.   

We’re Serious About Minimizing Waste

Since the beginning, we’ve never been a fan of buying more than you need. Much of our lumber is proudly and directly sourced from Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) managed forests, and we only take the exact amount required for each yurt component. 

We don’t just stop there though – we like to get creative with our recycling initiatives too. For example, any excess lumber that we don’t end up using to build our yurts is instead used to build our shipping crates. And even this excess lumber brings the heat in terms of quality. Over the years, we’ve heard from a number of customers who have used wood from our shipping crates to build beautiful furniture for their homes and yurts.

Of course, there’s no avoiding certain byproducts in the yurt-making process, but we’ve found ways to address those as well. We donate all our wood scraps and end cuts to local craftsmen and homeowners with wood-burning fireplaces, while gardeners and horse owners are always happy to get our sawdust. We also use any fabric scraps from our polyester side covers to craft shopping and duffel bags. If it’s a byproduct from our business, you can safely assume we’ve thought of a way to recycle it.

We Avoid Pollution Wherever Possible

Along with reducing waste, we do our best to eliminate pollution throughout our manufacturing process. Today, at least 25% of the electricity used in our facilities is powered by wind energy, and we rely on an abundance of natural lighting to limit electricity usage. Our wood shop, fabric shop, and office also participate in a cardboard and paper recycling program.

Additionally, we recognize how harmful typical wood staining practices can be both to the environment and to a person’s health, which is why we use a low-VOC oil stain on all of our wood components. Each piece is stained by hand instead of atomized or sprayed to reduce air pollution, then left to air dry over metal trays that capture drippings. This system has allowed us to keep countless metric tons of pollution out of our land and skies. In fact, when we consulted with OSHA to appraise our staining area, they praised our environmental consciousness and commitment to protecting our team’s health. 

We Make Sustainability an Integral Part of Our Culture

Sustainability has been ingrained in our culture since day one. And for many of us, it’s not just a framework we follow at work, but at home as well. Several of our employees use scrap wood from the shop to heat their homes, and many of us love camping, glamping, and backpacking on our days off. 

We do all this not just to protect the natural world we love so much, but to offer other environmentally conscious folks the opportunity to experience the outdoors in a unique, sustainable, and fun way. We want our yurts to make a lasting impression on you, but not on the Earth.

Imagine Your Eco-Friendly Getaway

There’s nothing quite like staying in a yurt, especially one lovingly crafted by our team. Explore our range of quickship yurts up close here, or let your imagination run wild with our interactive 3D Yurt Builder.

The post Why We Treat Sustainability as More Than Just a Buzzword first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

Build a Pacific Yurt With Confidence

Pacific Yurts has the highest quality features in the industry. We pioneered the modern yurt lattice wall and have developed an extensive variety of custom options to personalize and enhance your yurt based on your individual needs and site requirements. You can rest assured knowing that each option has been tested at our facility and on our own personal yurts. 

Before you choose a yurt, it’s helpful to identify how you will use your yurt, whether you plan to vacation in it, rent it out, or have a unique purpose in mind. You’ll also need to consider how much space you have to work with, and where you can build the yurt platform, which will be the base of your yurt. Our yurt sizes range from cozy 12’ spaces to sprawling 30’ rooms, and we’ll walk you through the options below.

Cozy Private Retreats

Pacific Yurts offers three smaller-sized yurts —12′, 14′, and 16′. These sizes will be ideal for personal use like backyard studios, yoga spaces, and cozy libraries. Businesses can leverage them for glamping accommodations, campground rentals, or massage therapy studios. Small yurt sizes combine well with creative outdoor spaces that can extend your living space, like patios, gardens, and outdoor social areas.

Roomy Round Spaces

Our three larger yurts offer comfortable living and commercial spaces, depending on your needs. The 20-foot yurt has plenty of room for a stove, bed, small living area, and kitchenette. With the assistance of a professional contractor, larger yurt sizes like the 24-foot yurt and 30-foot yurt can accommodate interior walls, a kitchen, separate sleeping quarters, a bathroom, and even a loft. 

Business enterprises and nonprofits can use larger yurts to maximize revenue and extend their facilities on a budget. These business uses can include meeting halls, retail spaces, or class and workshop spaces for ski resorts, scout camps, or fitness retreats.

How Climate Can Affect Your Yurt Design

Pacific Yurts’ standard yurts come with several weather-resistant features to keep your yurt comfortable, such as solid wood doors with weather stripping, windows with zippered weather flaps and sewn-in screens that keep bugs outside, a flame-retardant top cover with a 10-year warranty, and a rain diverter over the door. 

For those who live in more extreme climates, we offer several add-on features to protect your yurt from the elements such as:

• Roof and wall insulation options to keep you cozy year-round when combined with a good heat source.
• Weather kits such as snow and wind kits to improve the structural capability of your yurt 
• Stove flashing or custom gutters that keep things flowing in wetter climates. 
• A dome opener, a tinted dome, fan support, and/or bug/shade screens to keep things cool in sunny or tropical locales.

Have questions about yurts? Visit our Customer Support

Let Us Help With Your Yurt Design

If you’re interested in taking the next steps toward building your yurt, get started by talking with our yurt experts. You can lean on their expertise to guide you through the process from conceptualization to design, ensuring your yurt reflects your vision and meets your unique needs.

Get in touch with our team to start making your yurt dreams a reality!

The post How To Design The Perfect Yurt For Your Needs first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

As Adelle Rodriguez from RMS North America explained, “This report is crucial to campground owners and operators, giving them insight into their campers’ backgrounds, behaviors, and future travel plans. This data helps operators strategically plan their operations to increase their occupancy, drive revenue, and bring an excellent guest experience to visitors of all generations…” 

In our first look at this report, we explored why Millennials and Gen-Z are camping less, and how yurts can help bring new excitement to campsites. Today, we’ll be zooming out to look at the data on campsite stay length, and what owners can do to make longer visits more attractive. 

First up, what does the report say about how long people camp?

Campers Aren’t Staying Long As They Might Like

According to OHI’s report, camping has largely been relegated to long weekends and one-off stays, with 60% of campers reporting an average campground stay of three nights or less. Over a quarter of campers (27%) stay less than two nights on average. 

At the same time, half of respondents (51%) said they’d like to spend more nights camping in the next twelve months. To put this even more into perspective, only 6% said they’d like to spend less time camping in the next year.

There’s a sizable gap between peoples’ wants and the actual reality of their camping habits. So why aren’t people camping more?

Closing the Amenity Gap

OHI also asked campers about the kind of factors that influence their decision to book a site. Here’s where the picture becomes clearer. For three out of four respondents, location, proximity to attractions, and the quality/variety of sites available were listed as the biggest indicators of whether a given site was attractive enough to click “reserve.” 

The report also broke down a few of these factors by generation. For instance, 65% of Millennial and Gen-Z visitors were more likely to stay at a campground with onsite recreation, activities, and other amenities, compared to just 45% of Gen X, and 34% of Boomers. Younger campers in particular are looking for the kind of amenities many campsites simply don’t offer, such as WiFi, restroom and shower facilities, laundry, and TV or satellite service. Neglecting to offer these could be getting in the way of longer stays.

As the camping demographic continues to skew younger each year, closing this amenity gap will be crucial to creating the camping and glamping experiences today’s campers want. 

How Yurts Can Lead to Longer Stays – and More Revenue

If a lack of amenities is standing in the way of longer bookings, yurts could be just the answer operators are looking for. Versatile and luxurious, yurts create comfortable year-round accommodations with full amenities, which can include any or all of the following:

• WiFi
• Kitchens
• Heating and AC
• An abundance of natural lighting
• Restroom/Shower facilities

Imagine if, when Sunday evening rolls around, campers didn’t have to go home so they could get up for work the next day. If they’re staying in a yurt, they can have a bathroom to shower in, a kitchen to make their morning coffee, and a WiFi connection to log into their Zoom meetings, all while gazing out the window at the Great Smoky Mountains or the California coast. When travelers are well-equipped and enjoy this kind of comfort, a long weekend in the woods can easily become a full week or more. 

Longer stays, of course, lend themselves to higher occupancy rates and more revenue for operators. If adding a yurt or three to your campground increased the average length of your guests’ visits by 30% to 40%, what would that do for your bottom line? 

As we discussed in our last blog, building a thriving campsite today means meeting travelers where they are. For many people, that looks like offering amenities that may not have been common 10-20 years ago. 

Design Your Dream Yurt Today 

For campgrounds looking for long-term growth and stability, yurts provide a differentiated, amenity-rich experience that leaves visitors coming back for more. From beachfront camping to remote mountain getaways, yurts offer endless possibilities for the future of glamping. 
Already imagining what yurts would look like in your space? Try our 3D Yurt Builder and bring your vision to life. Or, chat with our customer service team today.

The post From Weekends to Weeks – How Yurts Can Extend Campsite Stays first appeared on Pacific Yurts.

How the Camping Landscape is Changing

One of the biggest generational differences OHI found is that Millennials and Gen Z are camping less frequently than their older counterparts. When asked how many times they’ve been camping, RVing or “glamping” in the past 12 months, Boomer/Silent Generation respondents averaged five times, while Millennial and Gen Z respondents averaged four.

While this may not seem like a huge difference at first glance, that’s 20% fewer yearly camping trips for this cohort. And for campsite operators, that discrepancy poses long-term challenges, especially for businesses still reeling from losses related to the pandemic.

The good news: OHI’s report paints a clear picture of what campgrounds can do to win more business with younger visitors. 

Young People Want More Amenities

While the data doesn’t define exactly why younger generations are camping and glamping less, the report does outline the factors driving Millennial and Gen Z camping destination decisions. 

Among all generations, things like location and proximity to attractions, campground atmosphere, and quality and types of sites available are top markers of a successful campsite. Where younger folks diverge from their older counterparts is in onsite recreation, activities, and amenities. While only 34% of Boomer and Silent Generation (and 45% of Gen X) respondents cite amenities as an influencing factor, 65% of Millennials and Gen Z prefer to choose campsites with strong amenities. 

Findings like these aren’t much of a surprise. In the past decade or so, trends like Van Life and the Covid-inspired shift to remote work have shown that, for more and more young people, the great outdoors isn’t just a place to vacation – it’s a setting upgrade for their normal lives. Wherever these folks travel, there’s a greater-than-ever chance that they’ll need to be able to cook, shower, and get online once they arrive.

Simply put, young people want more from their outdoors experience – and they’re not going to budge from those preferences. For many travelers, the rustic nature of camping is the very thing that attracts them to outdoor travel – but that’s not as safe an assumption as it once was. Campgrounds need to adapt, and as CEO of RVshare Jon Gray explains, leaning into these different preferences can give operators the leg up they need to survive and thrive. 

“Adapting to the changing demographic and preferences is crucial industry-wide. We are coming off the biggest tailwind this industry has ever seen, and to maintain category interest, we need to meet the customers where they are.”

Why Yurts are the Perfect Choice for the Future of Glamping

It might seem like a tough task to win over the next generation of campers, but campground owners and operators don’t have to completely change their business model. A few strategic changes can give younger campers exactly what they want. Yurts, for example, are inherently better equipped to provide the kind of amenities Millennials and Gen Z are looking for, including:

• WiFi and electrical outlets
• Showers and bathrooms
• Lighting
• Kitchens
• Temperature control

Because yurts are much quicker and easier to install than traditional cabins – and have a much lower impact on the land – you can get them up and running without subjecting your site to an intensive landscaping effort. This makes yurts much more gentle to nature and the environment, which is just one more thing that makes them attractive to younger generations who, statistically, feel more concern over climate change than their elders do.

Even though they’re an ancient form of lodging, yurts make it easy to offer all of the resources and amenities younger campers desire. In that way, they’re the outdoor hospitality industry’s ticket to a thriving future. 

Transform Your Business With Yurts

Let’s make one thing clear: While trends are changing, the outdoor travel industry isn’t going anywhere. In fact, a report from Grand View Research projects a growth rate of 8.7% for the glamping industry over the next six years. It’s safe to say we’re in a golden age of glamping, and yurts are leading the way forward.

Want to get ahead of the curve? Start designing your custom yurt in our 3D Yurt Builder, or chat with one of our expert customer service reps.

The post How Yurts Can Make Younger Generations Excited to Get Outdoors first appeared on Pacific Yurts.