I stumbled across this company the other day and it really got me thinking of the possibilities. Hipcamp is a platform that helps campers discover and book unique camping experiences on public and private land across all 50 states. They have been dubbed the Airbnb of camping but it is not so much for your typical vacation rental. It is geared towards camping, glamping and hook ups for RVs. As of now Hipcamp has 3 million users and over 300,000 camping sites throughout the country. They also completed a 25 million series B funding in summer of 2019 that values the company at 127 million, which is a good signal for expansion. What appeals to me about this model, is you can go buy a couple acres of land ( Hipcamp suggest a 2 acre minimum), make some minor infrastructure upgrades and then build a couple A-frame tiny cabins, some yurts or simply just a clearing that would allow for someone to pitch a tent. This would be a low capital investment and would not be as management intensive. I’m curious to see if anyone else has had any thoughts about using Hipcamp for investment purposes? P.S.- Here is a link to the website: https://www.hipcamp.com

I use hipcamp on a yearly basis (west coast california). You have some decent points: AirBNB could eventually eat their lunch. However, in places near major metros, ESPECIALLY California, every single established state/federal campsite is going to be booked out for months. Year round. I can't speak for RV because I've never used one. Hipcamp is great because you get that special owner-operated flavor even if its just a primitive campsite with an outhouse 100 feet away. Not to mention Hipcamp generally gets less traffic than established campsite booking methods, and with *gasp* 2 weeks planning ahead I can actually find something. Successful locations that I return to generally have other interesting things: located on a small farm, have a creek or pond, near a beach, trails for walking/mountain biking. Take a look at demographic trends. Millennials love to camp. Look at the success REI (the co-op) is having. If you have a busted shanty, some flat clear spaces and a fire pit which couldn't make it on AirBNB, list it on Hipcamp. You can call it glamping. Especially if you're near often sold out destinations or major metro areas.

@Steve K. I am right there with you, Steve. I enjoy the adventure of going off the beaten path and finding my own little private campsite tucked away in the woods but there's still a good size of the market that would still prefer a little guidance when trying to find some seclusion and that's where I think Hipcamp comes into play. You bring up some very interesting points on the investment strategy side of things. I was not aware of any laws like this. That would definitely make things difficult for someone looking to use this strategy to generate revenue if you could only rent it out for 14 days. Is there any practical reasoning behind it other than the county trying to increase their tax revenue by forcing people to build on their land? There seem to be a lot of zoning issues to take into consideration. But just to make things clear, with using this strategy, you would not be setting up a full on camp ground. Ideally, you would buy a couple acres and only have a handful of campsites/yurts/tiny homes. However, i'm sure there will still be some type land use laws that I would need to figure out a way around. In regards to the liability of it, Hipcamp has a 1 million dollar insurance policy in place for land owners and also another policy that protects damages to the land. I have also read that most "Hipcampers" have that hiker mentality and try to be good stewards of the land. Knowing all of this, I would not be too worried on someone being irresponsible and creating a insurance liability. However, I realize it only takes one bad apple to ruin everything and with most sites being somewhat rural, there is a lot of potential for something bad to happen. You would need to have some strong procedures and protocols in place to help manage these risks. Just like you said, I think this strategy works best as a supplemental income stream for farms, ranches other properties that already have another business in place. As far as it becoming a dedicated investment strategy, there is alot of leg work to be done and hurdles to overcome before it would make sense from a numbers standpoint. However, I am still staying optimistic and will keep looking for opportunities where this strategy might be viable. I think if someone can put in the work to figure it out, it could be very promising. I just know to stay away from Boulder County, haha. Thanks for your input!

@Blaine Alger I could see this being a good thing in terms of lessening some of the impact on free disbursed camping on National Forest and BLM land. My trusty old Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer Map has always worked well for me; I just point myself towards the green, brown and yellow parts of the map. To me there’s something visceral and rugged about simply following a map, turning off my devices, switching into low-range and heading up a rough road until I find the right spot (completely free). But in the past few years with the popularity of #vanlife increasing to an obnoxious level and especially with the introduction of a certain website (that will not be named) which steers people towards free campsites, it has been increasingly difficult to get away from other campers. Also campsites that were once “secret” and pristine are now blown-out, crowded and littered with trash and surface-dookies. So adding a resource that helps people find camping and spreads out the herd is certainly a net-benefit for everyone. Some people prefer having an app or a website to help them find a campsite instead of a map, and/or don’t have time to explore forest roads for hours until they find a nice private spot. So I could see this being helpful especially somewhere like SoCal where people pay $50 to park on the side of the highway, and bushwhack camp spots are severely limited. That said, as an investment strategy there are quite a few issues one would need to consider. For one thing, in my area (Boulder County CO), you can not live in a tent, yurt, RV, travel trailer, tiny home etc. for more than 14 days/yr. on vacant land even if you own it, nor can you run a campground without proper permits and zoning. If your land is remote and you have cool neighbors, you may be able to pull it off for a while, but I’d worry about the liability if someone is hurt, starts a forest fire, decides to do some shooting or loud partying and pisses the neighbors off, gets drunk and falls in the river, busts out a chainsaw to cut some trees down and cuts their leg instead, etc. I’m not sure if there’s an insurance product for this type of commercial activity or maybe Hipcamp provides insurance? Another thing is that vacant lots are taxed double in this area so it would be difficult just to cover the property taxes here. Other more rural/less expensive areas wouldn’t have these same issues, but as an investment strategy there would be a lot of things to consider and you’d have to do a lot of research on the land use laws in your area as well as the legal ramifications in terms of liability/ insurance. People tend to get wild when they’re camping so someone would probably need to be there to enforce any rules. Sounds like a lot of work, liability and risk for not much return basically. For certain scenarios like farms or properties already set up as a campground it could be useful as additional revenue on the side, but as a dedicated strategy it might be tough. You’d need extremely cheap land that is zoned properly for starters...

@Ken Latchers Once again you are right, this is a STR forum and has nothing to do with Venture Capital. BUT ... the main issue that we have been debating is the potential for success of Hipcamps business model (which happens to involve STR). I believe that VC involvement with the company is a good indicator of future success and growth which will lead to more demand and more users which in turn will open up more opportunity for real estate investors to potentially use this as a strategy for their properties. I agree with you that venture capital is a lot more of a guessing game than a science but the firm that participated in Hipcamp's funding, Andreessen Horowitz, is no ordinary VC firm. This is the same firm that invested in Airbnb (a STR platform that we are all very familiar with) and a handful of other billion dollar companies (Lyft, Pinterest and Slack to new a few). They have also generated over 10 BILLION in profits over the last decade, so if they feel confident enough to put their money where their mouth is in regards to the success of Hipcamp, then I feel comfortable making the assertion that Hipcamp will experience substantial growth in the coming years and solidify its place as an acceptable option for short-term rentals. Here is another article regarding Andreessen Horowitz success if you care to read: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2019/04/02/andreessen-horowitz-is-blowing-up-the-venture-capital-model-again/#28e209b27d9f

@Lauren Kormylo Thank you for the suggestions, I will check them out.

What do you know about Hipcamp? ( Airbnb of camping)

John UnderwoodPro Member

Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes

6y

I have seen other similar places, maybe not exactly the same.

I have also seen people renting campers at better rates than some people rent their airbnb.

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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member

Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes

6y

have to check it out.. depending on the state or area you do have zoning issues to deal with you just can set up campgrounds anywhere you want to.

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Blaine Alger

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Investor · Waco TX / Conroe, TX · Member since 2017 · 376 posts · 228 votes

6y

@Jay Hinrichs

I have not looked into the zoning aspect of it but I would not think it would be too big of a problem.

A typical Hipcamp site would be out of the city center where zoning would be a little more relaxed and for the most part, people are not developing 50+ camping sites on their land. They might just have a handful of sites.

What do you know about Hipcamp? ( Airbnb of camping)

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