Glamping or Cabins?

Question

I'm new here, thank you for the opportunity to learn from experienced STR investors!

I recently purchased 12.5 acres in Bartow County, Georgia. It's about halfway between Chattanooga and Atlanta, 15 min from I-75 in a gorgeous, serene setting. There is an old farmhouse built in 1929 sitting on about 2.5 acres at the front of the property, I'm in the process of securing a loan to renovate it for use as a STR. The remaining 10 acres is gently sloped and wooded- initially I wanted to build 4-5 log cabins to use as STRs but after looking in to the costs and requirements it seems like a bad idea. The only access I have is from the road at the front, as the property is bounded by private property on the other 3 sides. Local regulations require a minimum of 200' of road frontage and 2 acres for each dwelling, so if I wanted to subdivide the property I'd have to build a county approved road, pull utilities, deal with the local authorities on storm water drainage etc. By the time I got through all of that I'd probably have $1M or more invested, which I'm not ready to do at this point. I'm open to ideas that don't involve all of that, but I don't want to build without permits or do anything I could get busted for later. Next time I'll buy property with long road frontage so I can subdivide it and build driveways in to each dwelling without building my own road.

I'm considering cutting my own driveway in (I have the equipment to do it) and preparing 4-5 glamping sites. I have no experience with this and don't know how to deal with things like insurance, nor do I know what AirBnB requires for things like this. I'm thinking about 1-2 Airstreams, a yurt or two, maybe a treehouse or airplane fuselage. I could permit and build a clubhouse with some amenities, still thinking about the best low cost way to get utilities to the back of the property.

I'd like advice from someone with experience in this space, hopefully in Georgia and ideally in Bartow County. It's a rural place which makes me hopeful that the regulations aren't ridiculous. I just have no idea where to start and have been unsuccessful finding information through web searches. Thanks for the help, I'm excited to begin my real estate investment journey!

Michael Eskenasy · Answer

First off, I think you’re asking the right questions before putting a lot of money into the land. A lot of people jump straight into building cabins and only later realize the roads, utilities, and permitting end up being the most expensive part of the project.

The way we usually look at properties like this is less about what we could build and more about what system the land actually supports economically.

Right now your biggest constraint isn’t the acreage — it’s the 200’ road frontage / 2-acre rule and access from the front of the property. That means every additional permanent structure pushes you toward roads, utilities, and full development costs pretty quickly.

That’s why the glamping idea actually makes sense to explore first. It lets you test the demand for the location without committing to a $1M infrastructure build.

A couple things I would think through before deciding between cabins and glamping:

1. Who is the guest?

The land is between Atlanta and Chattanooga, which means your likely guests are weekend travelers, not week-long vacation renters. That usually favors experience-driven stays (unique structures, nature, views) over standard cabins.

2. Infrastructure vs revenue

Cabins often look attractive, but they force you into permanent infrastructure quickly. Glamping structures (Airstreams, yurts, etc.) often work better early because you can validate occupancy before building roads and utilities everywhere.

3. Phasing the property

With 12.5 acres, a lot of successful projects start with one renovated main house + 1-2 unique stays and then expand after seeing what actually books. The land itself becomes the asset once you know what guests respond to.

4. Local rules

Before doing anything, I would talk directly to the Bartow County planning/zoning office about two things:

• STR regulations for non-traditional structures

• septic / sanitation requirements for multiple sites

Those two items usually determine whether a project works or not.

The interesting part about your property is the location — being between Atlanta and Chattanooga means you potentially have a large weekend traveler pool, which is often what makes rural STR projects work.

The key question I’d try to answer first is simply:

Why would someone drive there for a weekend?

Once that answer is clear, the decision between cabins, glamping, or something else usually becomes much easier.

Rik Hunter · Answer

Congrats on the purchase! You've got several State Parks and National Forests near your land.

I think you might benefit from connecting with Rob Abasolo and his HostCamp: https://www.hostcamp.com/. I can't seem to mention him here, so you might try going directly to HostCamp.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/robuilt

Account Closed · Answer

Cabins always. Glamping is a trend. My opinion.

Michael Eskenasy · Answer

@Sunil Ghosal

That’s a great point about the infrastructure timing. A lot of people underestimate how much the permitting and site design decisions end up controlling the economics of the entire project.

Your comment about density is interesting too. Five sites often looks reasonable on paper, but once you spread fixed costs like road access, utilities, and management across that small of a base it gets thin pretty quickly.

The wedding venue angle is also something we’ve seen pop up in similar properties — the event revenue can sometimes justify the infrastructure in ways nightly stays alone can’t.

Out of curiosity, what unit density did you ultimately find started to make the numbers work in the Smokies?

Sunil Ghosal · Answer

We initially wanted to test a tiny home resort in the Smokies. Our original idea was to open 6 units to test the market and were very careful with the upfront spending. For example, we waited 14 months for a TDOT permit to connect to the main road and broke ground after we got approval. It would have been better have the grading and excavation done in parallel while the TDOT permit was in the pipeline. We also bought a 306, 259D, and a D5 to put in infra. It would have been better to rent a 336, full sized dump truck, and a D8.

In Hindsight, the upfront cost savings were not worth the delay on the time to market. You can save pennies on the infra by doing it yourself but the real savings is in the permits and the design. For example, there are certain ways to grade to save big on fill dirt. The utility company is responsible for wire up to a certain point and it is in your best interest to put that certain point on the other side of any rocks if you have rocks so they will be responsible for breaking them. The sewer design being gravity flow instead of pumps is another big ones.

Also 5 Glamping sites is not big enough to be worth it for just transients. You have to get the unit density up. It could work as a wedding venue. If you want to avoid the upfront cost you are better off getting a feasibility study done by a 3rd party.

Andrew Steffens · Answer

This might be up @Garrett Brown's alley

Collin Hays · Answer

As cheaply as we are renting cabins right now, it’s hard to imagine that it would be worthwhile to rent a tent. 😂

Glamping or Cabins?

Glamping or Cabins?

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