NASHVILLE, Tennessee — While building an outdoor hospitality brand has its challenges, luxury glamping brand AutoCamp has found its niche.
The AutoCamp brand features Airstream trailers, cabins and luxury tents clustered around a central lobby building, often close to U.S. national parks or places renowned for their natural beauty.
AutoCamp is opening sites in Asheville, North Carolina, in September and Sequoia, California, later this fall. The brand also has locations in Yosemite, Joshua Tree and Russian River in California; Zion, Utah; Cape Cod, Massachusetts; and Catskills, New York. Its ninth property is set to open in 2025 in Hill Country, Texas.
A key pillar of developing a hospitality product in and around such protected places involves building relationships with the local community, said Bryan Terzi, chief marketing officer at AutoCamp.
"People in these secondary, tertiary markets are really, really precious with what's going to go on in their backyard," Terzi said during a video interview at the recent Hotel Data Conference. "And we really want to make sure that the brand and the hospitality product we're bringing into these places is thoughtfully, locally sourced and sustainable."
While the local residents of these national forests, mountain ranges and deserts are protective of the land's natural beauty, the ones that become AutoCamp employees have a gift for providing itinerary tips and helping guests have the best experience out in nature possible, Terzi said.
"You could be checking in to our Yosemite property and someone at the front desk will be giving you the best trail to take that day, or talk about how high the river levels are for rafting," Terzi said. "It's really ingrained in our property teams. They love where they live, and they love to show it off to the guests that are coming into town and really give them that localized, curated experience that the guest is looking for."
AutoCamp is exploring additional opportunities for expansion, including more sites in California and even the first AutoCamp properties outside the U.S.
"We have a bunch in the pipeline right now that we're considering. We have four locations in California right now, and we're continuing to look along the coast," Terzi said. "We're also considering Mexico as a destination that we'd like to possibly pursue in the near future. In addition to that, there's opportunities that come across all the time due to the concept of the brand that we're able to put forward. So it's really just picking that sweet spot of right location within a two-hour drive from a major city center, whether it's close to a national park or just an iconic outdoor destination."
In February, AutoCamp and Hilton struck a partnership that allows members of the Hilton Honors loyalty program to book stays and earn points at AutoCamp's properties.
Terzi said AutoCamp's partnership with Hilton has yielded more awareness and bookings for the outdoor hospitality brand.
"Aligning with a partner like Hilton strategically was a really good decision, especially moving into 2025 we're really excited about the exposure that it's bringing the brand, and then also something that it's really offering the Hilton Honors guest is really differentiated within their existing portfolio," he said.
For more of Hotel News Now's conversation with AutoCamp's Bryan Terzi, watch the video embedded above.
(Corrected on Aug. 29 to specify Bryan Terzi's title as chief marketing officer in the fourth paragraph and AutoCamp's soon-to-open properties in North Carolina and California in the third paragraph.)