Asheville Glamping Domes

[Jonathan Snider]

I stayed near Asheville, NC for a weekend in a Glamping Dome in the mountains. Was an awesome experience! The guy that owned it had like 20 other similar units on the side of the same mountain. It was like $300+ per night, but it was such a cool experience that I didn't miss the money too much. I started thinking what a great business that guy must have going. He has 20 units all right together on the side of a mountain, meaning it's probably easier to manage. He's able to charge a good bit of money per unit since it's a unique experience, and they should be relatively cheap to build once you have the land. 

What are your thoughts? What am I not thinking of? What's the downside?

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Jonathan Snider, well the biggest downside for me is there is zero value in those domes/yurts in the long term. They would have to do really well for me to be interested in tossing a bunch of cash at glamping and then be staring down the barrel of raw land value in the end.

Part of my mantra has always been don't expect appreciation to make up for a poor performing asset. It often doesn't work out.

This is the opposite. Seems like it performs well but will have low value when it is time to liquidate.

Now, there could be value in it being a successful business, but it has low assets so it would take someone who understands what they are buying vs a pure investment.