Glamping should extend to staff says Eco Structures

Retaining quality staff is one of the main secrets to success for hospitality providers. Leading accommodation supplier Eco Structures believes that staff housing on site should be as comfortable and attractive as possible, while extending the design ethos of guest accommodation.

According to Eco Structures Owner/Director,

Karl Plunkett, it’s vital that employers can provide quality and affordable permanent accommodation for their workforce, particularly in remote or seasonal locations:

“It’s a crucial element of any recruitment and retention strategy. However, it’s often left out of the initial design equation and becomes an afterthought in the planning process of new resorts and project developments,” he says.

Eco Structures has addressed the issue with the design of the ‘Workers’ Cabin and

Accommodation’ solution. The unique fourtiered model, has been designed to assist employers in attracting and retaining staff, across the agricultural, tourism, resource and small business sectors.

With the aim of creating a sense of home and place for staff and their families, working remotely, the innovative model includes four luxury Eco Cabin options - to reflect key Human Resource requirements and role responsibilities (including: General Manager, Operations Manager, Front Line Supervisors and Key Line Staff).

Each Cabin can be scaled up or down depending on budget and staffing, or seasonal requirements and features bespoke, tailored floor plans - which blend seamlessly with the natural surroundings, putting staff at the forefront of the design equation.

Designed to adapt to remote and diverse climates around the world, the Eco Cabins can be swiftly and easily assembled. The Cabin, is also configured around pre-fabricated modules, links, luxury bath pods and decks that interconnect, allowing clients to customise their living experience, maximise unattainable views and living spaces.

Each Cabin is compatible with the system and fully customisable - boasting the comforts and luxuries of home, such as: bedrooms, en-suites and dining spaces, balustrades, sliding doors and decks.

“In Australia and around the world, there is a rental crisis and prices are soaring. Our agricultural and tourism sectors are being significantly impacted, not only by the pandemic - but also, by the lack of quality and affordable accommodation in regional areas. Attracting staff is almost impossible. Our permanent Worker’s Eco Cabin, is a simple solution for those managing tourism resorts, seasonal farms, local businesses or industrial operations - and looking for an alternative to town rentals, or on site housing,” adds Plunkett.

“This helps to ensure that people stay longer than just one season and also contributes to improved productivity, staff retention and morale - along with many positive benefits to local communities.We believe that quality and stylish workers’ accommodation, is vital to the overall success of any business, and should be a top of mind consideration - when looking at a new project development, resort, or business,” he concludes.

LOOK TO the skies!

BY SEAN CLARKE

Satellite networks have existed for decades, supporting a variety of industries ranging across Telecom, Military, and Energy. Many early adopters were huge institutions with substantial capital budgets that could easily justify the emerging technology. Now that technology has evolved, becoming more affordable and creating and enabling new sectors, such as GPS and residential broadband.

In fact, satellite technology has been enabling the National and State Parks for years and proven to be a valuable partner and service managing multiple sites for the Army Corp of Engineers supporting over 400 locations across the United States. I believe it has far-reaching benefits to the glamping sector too.

You may not think that the space industry, which has made the headlines recently thanks to high profile CEOs such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, has much to offer a land-based business such as glamping but you would be wrong. As with any emerging technology, satellites evolved to shape untapped markets and inspire visionaries to push the industry beyond its comfort zones.

PROVIDE FOR THE GUESTS

With the resurgence in the satellite sector, opportunities have been created to support new markets like the Glamping Industry, especially for sites residing in remote, off-grid locations in a similar way to the State and National Park locations.

Some will argue offering such technology runs counter to the ethos of the whole Glamping mindset! However, satellite technology offers guests access to basic, lifeline services that will enhance their stay and give everyone peace of mind. These include VoIP/WiFi calling in case of emergencies, accessing weather reports for a day hike, monitoring fire suppression activity/ evacuation notices, and providing basic access to the Cloud when the office calls. These are services that satellite can reliably offer in the absence of cellular networks or point-to-point service.

PROTECT THE ASSETS

In addition to offering lifeline services, property owners may find value with monitoring their sites given the large capital investment for the property’s facilities. In fact, for those sites that go “off-season”, monitoring becomes even more critical to ensure the assets remain safe from vandals, nature’s critters, or someone exercising squatter’s rights for the weekend.

Today’s satellite technology enables simple, web-based cameras for property owners and can be easily installed on the property without large capital investments, professional installations, or expensive monthly security charges. However, if a security monitoring service is preferred, then satellite technology can definitely support this, but that requires additional cost, licensing, installation, coordination with local authorities, etc.

If property owners maintain other onsite systems that require monitoring, such as powering the property by an alternative source, such as solar, then having the ability to monitor the system in terms of internet of things (IoT) greatly benefits the property owner from potential costly repairs/ maintenance by gaining visibility to those systems. The same approach can be applied to other devices that are web-enabled, as satellite has the ability to support the applications.

POWER THE SYSTEM

As with any electrical device, satellite systems require constant power to communicate and in off-grid environments, managing power is critical. In advance of this year’s Glamping Summit, our team at Tri Lakes Consulting conducted a series of user-acceptance tests to understand power requirements utilizing one of the industry-leader’s equipment.

We spent over 200 hours hours monitoring the system, conducting multiple tests ranging from Zoom calls to accessing web cameras, testing through inclement weather, different times throughout the day/night, while stressing the system with concurrent devices and applications from phones, laptops, iPads, VoIP calls, and cameras. We found that the satellite system required minimal powering, less than 1KWH/day.

Testing results were shared with several solar companies specializing in remote solar power buildouts to establish a baseline cost and architecture that fully supports the satellite platform.

To find out more about what today’s satellite systems could do for your glamping business, or to know more abut solar power requirements or applications, please reach out either at the Glamping Summit or visit www.dishpros.net.

About Sean Clarke

Sean is Vice President/GM at TriLakes Consulting LLC. He has 25 years of experience working for several Fortune 500 companies in the Telecom/ Media sectors launching cable and satellite television, broadband, telephony, and streaming media services. In addition to his corporate experience, he has managed a consulting practice for the past 15 years advising Private Equity clients, consulting Hedge Funds, and distributing satellite broadband.