The Dyrt: A Fresh Look at Booking Systems

Glamping Business Americas catches up with Sarah Smith, Founder of the Dyrt, which is disrupting the booking systems sector.

What is the background of The Dyrt and how did you become involved in this sector?

I started The Dyrt because I am an avid camper, and I was tired of getting frustrated while trying to find information about campgrounds online. Someone needed to create an app where campers could find photos, reviews, tips, videos and general information in order to plan their camping trips. So I did.

Sarah and her husband/Co-Founder, The Dyrt CEO

Kevin Long

Why do you think this is a business model that needed shaking up?

It wasn’t so much a business model that needed shaking up; it needed to be created. There are thousands upon thousands of campgrounds in the US, and millions and millions of campers, but there was so little information available that, unless you’d been there before, you didn’t know what you were walking into. We couldn’t do this without our nationwide community.

How did you formulate the offer for glamping/ camping grounds?

As we began opening up our marketplace to campgrounds, we saw an entirely different segment of campground owners from non-traditional campgrounds. These were individuals with private land looking for ways to generate passive or active income by hosting campers. They don’t have a built-in base for demand and they were actively looking for ways to market their properties. We designed our campground product to be inclusive for all hosts. We built specific tools to help glampgrounds and private landowners manage their own listings and built specific marketing tools such as our PRO Discount Network that allows glampgrounds to increase their search placement on The Dyrt and offer specific promotions to our PRO users. All these tools are free for glampgrounds, including zero bookings or commission fees.

How important do you see the glamping sector being for your business growth?

It’s big. So many first-time campers have emerged over the past few years, and not all of them are up for roughing it. The demand for glampgrounds and glampsites has only grown and will continue to do so. Someone who has never gone camping before may envision an uncomfortable night spent laying on the cold, hard ground. But if you put a queensize bed inside an oversize tent? There’s nothing rough about that.

Trail and Hitch Tiny Home and RV Park

What has the reaction been from sites?

Glampgrounds and private landowners have been some of the early adopters to our marketplace. They have helped us shape our product for their needs, providing insights to improve our offering and continue to innovate with their needs in mind. As one of only a few marketplaces with a built-in demand network of campers, they view The Dyrt as one of the keys to marketing their property and growing their business.

What demographics do you have for the people who book through The Dyrt?

We launched commission-free campground bookings in November, 2021 and currently have limited information on demographics of those who book from our site and app. Over 60 percent of our users are 40 to 65 years old with RVs and trailers, and we have over 30 million users visit The Dyrt annually. As the most inclusive camping community, our users generally cover the broadest spectrum of segments and demographics, which is why we’re the largest source of information for campgrounds in the US.

How many trips a year would the average user plan through the App and for what kind of length?

We just completed an annual survey of The Dyrt users and are seeing two key trends: More people are camping and campers are taking more trips during all four seasons. Due to the growing demand, booking is becoming increasingly difficult. We’ve found that it’s now three times harder to find a campground to book than in pre-pandemic times. We will have more information throughout 2022 on this topic as we roll out bookings functionality and grow our bookable inventory on The Dyrt.

How can glamping sites stand out from the competition?

One of the biggest challenges that glamping sites have is building demand. They’re competing with established campgrounds and need to find ways to be seen and thought of when campers are looking for destinations. Some immediate steps to take are building out an online presence and actively monitoring and maintaining their brand, reviews and listings. Take advantage of hosting marketplaces where demand is already waiting, and for sites that have built-in marketing functionality, and experiment with different ways to be seen. With The Dyrt, glamping sites can offer discounts to our PRO campers that help increase the visibility of listings within our marketplace, all for free.

Hi Desert Hideout

Adrian S

What do you think your app users want most from glamping?

The Dyrt represents one of the largest camping communities in the US and we’re seeing key concerns from our users that glamping addresses. One of the core areas is reliable bookings; glampgrounds can differentiate by providing campers with the ability to instant book, which is becoming a key requirement for certain types of campers. Another trend is related to amenities. Working remotely from campgrounds has nearly tripled since before the pandemic, and glamping sites that offer Wi-Fi and other amenities to help campers stay connected will be critical. We’ve also found that most campers aren’t just tenters or RVers exclusively. They are looking for diversity in their camping destinations and glamping offers another option, especially for those newer to camping that might not want to stray too far from the comforts of home.

What future developments are you planning for the business?

Our current focus over the next year is building out our bookings platform for campgrounds of all sizes. We’re laser-focused there as we believe we’re uniquely positioned with our free bookings offering. We’re able to offer this through our membership model for The Dyrt PRO, an annual subscription that provides our users more advanced maps as well as exclusive savings from our PRO Discount Network. As we look beyond this year, we’re continuing to invest in understanding the bespoke needs of campers and delivering more functionality and value to get more people outdoors.