Editor’s notice: Every month, we wish to introduce one in every of our fantastic Glamping Hub hosts and ask what impressed them to create a glamping web site. This month, we’re showcasing Glamping Hub’s Host of the Month for August 2022, John and Fin Kernohan. This internet hosting couple, who’re the Founders of the United Tiny Home Affiliation (UTHA), one of many largest tiny-lifestyle assist organizations within the World, started their “tiny home love affair” to share their love of minimalist life, nature, and connecting with like-minded individuals. They lately added two new stunning geodesic domes and two spacious bell tents are coming quickly to their glamping resort close to Lake Oconee, good on your subsequent glamping journey in Georgia.
Inform us a bit about your self…
Fin was raised in Thailand as a Buddhist, and is a yoga teacher, a therapeutic massage therapist, a health knowledgeable, and an acclaimed inside designer. John is a retired immunologist, the handyman of our property, a craftsman (his household is Amish), a DIY fanatic, and an avid outdoorsman. We consider it’s our range in addition to having a lot widespread floor, which has created and solidified our “tiny home love affair”.
We promote the tiny way of life by striving to be true examples of dwelling tiny in our DIY, off-grid 304sqft tiny residence, often known as Beloved Cabin, which now we have lived in full-time for the previous 10.5+ years. In early 2017, we accomplished our 148sqft tiny home on wheels, often known as the Tiny Firehouse – Station No. 9, which is our touring residence and is our tribute tiny home honoring firefighters and selling fireplace prevention consciousness.
Along with dwelling in our DIY-built, off-grid 304sqft ‘Beloved Cabin’, we’re additionally short-term rental hosts and creators of distinctive getaways. Right here on our 16-acre Beloved Cabin Tiny Home Homestead & Keep now we have two 20′ geodesic domes, two 20′ bell tents arriving quickly, three tiny homes on wheels, a skoolie (bus conversion), and two yurts as a part of our trip retreats.
Our journeys and adventures dwelling within the huge cities of Bangkok & London (Fin), and Miami & Kaohsiung (John), together with our travels collectively across the globe, to our tiny off-grid minimalist way of life within the Georgia woods with our 26 free-roaming rescued cats, 3 canines, many goats, and pet hen, have gifted us with an abundance of pleasure and love for one another and for the World round us.
What attracted you to the thought of proudly owning a glamping property?
Truly, this has been a dream and objective of Fin’s since she was a younger woman. Lengthy earlier than she graduated faculty or was even in highschool, Fin had a dream of getting a retreat on a seashore or island in Thailand the place associates, household, and strangers might come to loosen up, get away, share meals, and commune collectively for vacation getaways.
We’ve a tiny residence situated in northeast Thailand close to Laos, which we have been visiting in late 2019 and thru early 2020. After we left our place in Thailand, we visited Turkey and have been in Istanbul when COVID began developing by Iran. With this information, we determined to chop our journey quick and returned to the US only a few days earlier than the airport in Atlanta was shut down. As we sat and talked about what we deliberate to do with the rest of 2020, Fin said she wished to satisfy her childhood dream.
With this mentioned, we began in March 2020 creating an space of our 16-acre homestead for what’s now our assortment of short-term getaways. In August 2020 we started accepting our first visitors and since then now we have added, expanded, and enhanced the realm of our property for visitors, which we affectionately name “The Secret Backyard”.
Each glamping web site has a particular story, might you inform us about yours?
Our particular story is our love for one another and our love of small areas and tiny houses and our desirous to share this love with others.
Fin will sit for a day or two inside every of our items when they’re empty and can do what she calls “visualize.” She has this amazingly distinctive, inventive potential to see a design creation that conjures up visitors to go away the world behind them as they enter and shut the door. She takes painstaking efforts to design environments which might be distinctive and delightful.
John loves the hospitality elements of internet hosting. He all the time needs to be the one to verify in visitors, carries their baggage to their getaway, give a tour of our property, reply their questions and provides a historical past of our space. He makes fires for everybody at night time of their private outside leisure areas and takes kayaks and canoes to the lake for visitors to make use of. Bakes cookies or makes pancakes within the morning for visitors in our 2000 sqft group home, and even performs “sommelier” with the array of wines on provide from a neighborhood vineyard.
Moreover, our 16-acre homestead property situated at Lake Oconee has 2 creeks, a pure spring, deer, and plenty of wildlife. We’ve mountain climbing and biking trails. In addition to glorious boating, kayaking, and fishing. We’ve goats our visitors can pet and feed, and over 2 dozen free-roaming rescued cats. Lights up within the timber, gently solid firefly-like lighting at night time, for visitors to take pleasure in outside areas at night time. Close by are two 12,000-year-old Native American Effigies to marvel at, too.
Our Beloved Cabin Tiny Home Homestead and Keep is a hidden oasis within the Georgia woods nobody would guess is right here except they really go to our property.
What do you’re keen on probably the most about operating a glamping web site?
What we love most about operating our glamping web site are our visitors. The expertise of interacting with our visitors and offering them with a beautiful and distinctive expertise. The enjoyment they’ve and the recollections they create when glamping at one in every of our getaways is what internet hosting is all about.
How was your first time internet hosting?
It was AWESOME! We have been each excited and nervous on the similar time! We felt assured our enterprise could be successful and our first-time internet hosting expertise solidified what we assumed. That our visitors would have a novel and nowhere else to be discovered expertise.
Are you able to inform us about your most memorable visitor expertise so far?
We’ve had so many memorable visitor experiences. First dates, marriage ceremony night time getaways, household gatherings the place a number of items have been reserved by a number of relations, however one of the best ones that come to thoughts are…
One time a younger couple stayed in our Tiny Firehouse, and the younger girl referred to as us asking for a late check-out, so her boyfriend might end his portray. He proposed to her, by handing her the portray he had been engaged on that he wouldn’t let her see till he had completed it. The portray depicted him proposing to her in entrance of Tiny Firehouse. An hour later, she despatched us an image with a single caption saying, “I mentioned sure!”
The overwhelming majority of our visitors come from inside the LGBTVQ, POC, and Asian/Asian Pacific/Southeast Asian communities. This wasn’t an meant technique or a part of our advertising and marketing sport plan however as a substitute has been an surprising and natural blessing. As a mixed-race couple, we’ve had our personal experiences with racism and confrontations from those that don’t have good hearts. It was solely pure for us to create a wholesome, loving, all-inclusive atmosphere for everybody to take pleasure in and really feel secure. We’re consistently (and we actually imply consistently) ensuring everybody who comes right here has enjoyable and feels they will all the time be themselves. So many visitors have shared with us how they really feel secure right here, don’t really feel judged, really feel that we’re open-minded, really feel revered by us, and really feel beloved by us.
How have you ever grown your corporation from the preliminary idea right into a profitable glamping enterprise?
We began with a single unit – our Tiny Firehouse and now now we have 9 items. We’ve zero debt, all our land is paid for, we take pleasure in assembly and greeting our visitors, the monetary advantages are splendidly satisfying. We get to create new and thrilling areas on our land each for ourselves and our visitors, and our glamping enterprise is likely one of the causes we get a lot consideration from the press, tv stations, and manufacturing corporations. So, “YES – our glamping effort has grown into a really profitable enterprise.”
What are a number of the challenges you face and what have you ever realized since opening?
The most important problem/lesson now we have confronted/realized is that we will by no means be ready sufficient. There’s all the time one thing that may come up we didn’t consider or plan for. For instance, a propane regulator going out, a visitor wanting a deck of playing cards in the midst of the night time, not realizing a bottle opener went lacking with a earlier visitor, and a present visitor not having one. These would possibly sound trivial, however they’re an inconvenience to a visitor. A method now we have realized to handle these points is to remain in our items ourselves for an evening or two and see what we want if we have been visitors.
What’s the most fun a part of rising your glamping enterprise?
The MAGIC! The magic we create for our visitors… The second they see and expertise this magic! Their huge eyes, open mouths, and exclamations are the rationale we’re doing this!
What does your dream glamping web site appear like? This might be by way of varieties of lodging, experiences, actions, or facilities.
Undoubtedly someplace on water, whether or not on a river, lake, or ocean. A construction with LOTS of home windows that open or LOTS of windowless openings. A location that’s secluded or semi-secluded and that’s not inside a giant metropolis. A spot that’s distinctive (not an residence, lodge, or typical residence) with a surrounding space that’s peaceable, serene, and filled with timber and nature.
What has the Develop with Glamping Hub helped you obtain?
We now have two 20’ geodesic domes that weren’t on our fast plans for our glamping enterprise. Right here they’re producing income, nice revues, and even better experiences for our visitors. Plus, now we have two 20′ bell tents coming in from Develop with Glamping Hub too.
What recommendation would you give to anybody seeking to begin or enhance their very own glamping enterprise?
Simply do it! Don’t procrastinate or delay with excuses about cash or time. The one option to get began is to begin. You’ll be able to all the time alter, improvise, change, and enhance as you go alongside.
Fin and John haven’t let the grass develop beneath their toes with their really distinctive glamping and tiny residence retreat. They’ve featured on many TV reveals, sequence, and documentaries and proceed to share their expertise of their new e book. Don’t miss out on their heat and hospitality. Get pleasure from a glamping expertise like no different within the coronary heart of the Georgia woods. E book now and share of their “tiny residence love affair.”
Our group of hosts means every thing to us right here at Glamping Hub, which is why we like to share their tales in our Host of the Month function. When you’re on the lookout for a distinctive weekend away, an opportunity to get off grid close to Lake Oconee take a look at Fin and John’s glamping retreat in Georgia.
Have you ever stayed with one in every of our unimaginable hosts lately and want to nominate them for Glamping Hub’s Host of the Month? Ship us a message by way of Fb or Instagram explaining who you’ve chosen and why!
If you’re enthusiastic about making a glamping resort, discover out extra details about how we might help you develop or begin a glamping enterprise by Develop with Glamping Hub.
