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08-25-2007, 08:39 AM
"Glamorous camping": tent, butler, $595 a night
By Kimi Yoshino
Los Angeles Times
GREENOUGH, Mont. — When Ethan Bondick, 6, told his mom and dad he wanted to go fly-fishing in Montana, his well-heeled parents were stumped.
"We're just not the camping kind of people," said Gigi Bondick, 37, a former attorney whose husband works in private equity. "We don't pitch tents. We don't cook outdoors. We don't share a bathroom. It's just not going to happen. This is a kid who has never flown anything but first class or stayed anywhere other than a Four Seasons."
After Googling "luxury," "camping" and "Montana," they settled on The Resort at Paws Up, a 37,000-acre getaway in Big Sky country. It's for affluent travelers who want to enjoy the outdoors but can't tolerate a smelly outhouse.
The Bondicks, who live near Boston and have a personal chef, shelled out $595 a night, plus an additional $110 per person per day for food.
It's a hefty price to sleep in a tent, but the perks include a camp butler to build the fire, a maid to crank up the heated down comforter and a cook to whip up bison rib-eye for dinner and French toast topped with huckleberries for breakfast.
The number of visits to U.S. national parks is declining, but "glamping" — glamorous camping — is on the rise in North America after gaining popularity in Africa and England, where luxury tents come with Persian rugs and electricity to power blow dryers.
Resorts such as Paws Up that expand on the dude-ranch concept are reporting increased bookings, another sign that luxury travel remains one of the strongest and fastest-growing segments of the tourism industry.
Every year since it opened in 2005, Paws Up has charged more to keep up with high demand and sold-out nights. Next year, it will double its number of tents — from six to 12 — and add 10 mountain homes to its collection of 18. Occupancy is up more than 40 percent this year.
"Camping for big kids"
At Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in British Columbia, accessible by seaplane from Vancouver, bookings have doubled year after year since it opened in 2000. The resort originally erected five tents as an experiment to see if luxury camping would catch on. It did, and there are 20 tents today.
"It's not the traditional kind of camping," Clayoquot's Sue Bosdet conceded. "We say it's like camping for big kids."
At Paws Up, those who can't hack the tent can upgrade to luxury mountain homes with hot tubs for up to $3,460 a night. There's also a restaurant, Pomp, where the ever-changing menu recently offered broiled brown-butter Alaska halibut cheeks and other dishes more likely to be served at a Michelin-rated New York restaurant.
Just about every week, someone arrives on a private jet. The Rolling Stones once took over the place, and high-powered Hollywood types always are dropping in.
The guests "only sorta kinda want to rough it," said Paws Up General Manager Terre Short.
Lewis and Clark it ain't
"It's not about experiencing what Lewis and Clark did," said Milton Pedrazza, chief executive of Luxury Institute, a New York research company. "It's about enjoying nature and all the comforts that come with the luxury lifestyle."
Peter Yesawich, chairman of the travel-marketing-services firm Ypartnership, said affluent travelers whose household income is more than $150,000 a year are interested in "soft adventure."
"It's kind of an interesting psychology," Yesawich said. "They might like hiking and white-water rafting or trekking, but they want to return to white linens and fine cabernet."
When the Bondicks went fly-fishing on the Blackfoot River, for example, they caught 20 trout, after a guide expertly navigated them to a great fishing spot, taught them to cast and selected the perfect flies.
Lisa and Rhyne Davis and their son, Jack, saw a herd of more than 350 elk. It wasn't serendipity. Mark Duggan, the camp butler, sent a scout ahead to track the animals on the property and drove the family to the spot.
On one hike, Paws Up guides dropped Rob and Alison John off at a trailhead and picked them up at a designated spot, allowing them to enjoy the scenic part of the three-mile hike without having to hoof it past the same view twice.
Back at the tents, the only thing remotely resembling the hassles of camping is venturing outside to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
The bathhouses, a short walk from the tents, have heated slate floors, a rain-forest shower big enough for two, granite counter tops and mountain-sage soap.
True campers might scoff at sleeping on a pillow-top mattress in a heated tent with artwork on the walls, but glampers relish the luxury.
"It's OK to be spoiled, it really is," Gigi Bondick said. "It's nature on a silver platter."
from: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003852600_glamcamp25.html
By Kimi Yoshino
Los Angeles Times
GREENOUGH, Mont. — When Ethan Bondick, 6, told his mom and dad he wanted to go fly-fishing in Montana, his well-heeled parents were stumped.
"We're just not the camping kind of people," said Gigi Bondick, 37, a former attorney whose husband works in private equity. "We don't pitch tents. We don't cook outdoors. We don't share a bathroom. It's just not going to happen. This is a kid who has never flown anything but first class or stayed anywhere other than a Four Seasons."
After Googling "luxury," "camping" and "Montana," they settled on The Resort at Paws Up, a 37,000-acre getaway in Big Sky country. It's for affluent travelers who want to enjoy the outdoors but can't tolerate a smelly outhouse.
The Bondicks, who live near Boston and have a personal chef, shelled out $595 a night, plus an additional $110 per person per day for food.
It's a hefty price to sleep in a tent, but the perks include a camp butler to build the fire, a maid to crank up the heated down comforter and a cook to whip up bison rib-eye for dinner and French toast topped with huckleberries for breakfast.
The number of visits to U.S. national parks is declining, but "glamping" — glamorous camping — is on the rise in North America after gaining popularity in Africa and England, where luxury tents come with Persian rugs and electricity to power blow dryers.
Resorts such as Paws Up that expand on the dude-ranch concept are reporting increased bookings, another sign that luxury travel remains one of the strongest and fastest-growing segments of the tourism industry.
Every year since it opened in 2005, Paws Up has charged more to keep up with high demand and sold-out nights. Next year, it will double its number of tents — from six to 12 — and add 10 mountain homes to its collection of 18. Occupancy is up more than 40 percent this year.
"Camping for big kids"
At Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in British Columbia, accessible by seaplane from Vancouver, bookings have doubled year after year since it opened in 2000. The resort originally erected five tents as an experiment to see if luxury camping would catch on. It did, and there are 20 tents today.
"It's not the traditional kind of camping," Clayoquot's Sue Bosdet conceded. "We say it's like camping for big kids."
At Paws Up, those who can't hack the tent can upgrade to luxury mountain homes with hot tubs for up to $3,460 a night. There's also a restaurant, Pomp, where the ever-changing menu recently offered broiled brown-butter Alaska halibut cheeks and other dishes more likely to be served at a Michelin-rated New York restaurant.
Just about every week, someone arrives on a private jet. The Rolling Stones once took over the place, and high-powered Hollywood types always are dropping in.
The guests "only sorta kinda want to rough it," said Paws Up General Manager Terre Short.
Lewis and Clark it ain't
"It's not about experiencing what Lewis and Clark did," said Milton Pedrazza, chief executive of Luxury Institute, a New York research company. "It's about enjoying nature and all the comforts that come with the luxury lifestyle."
Peter Yesawich, chairman of the travel-marketing-services firm Ypartnership, said affluent travelers whose household income is more than $150,000 a year are interested in "soft adventure."
"It's kind of an interesting psychology," Yesawich said. "They might like hiking and white-water rafting or trekking, but they want to return to white linens and fine cabernet."
When the Bondicks went fly-fishing on the Blackfoot River, for example, they caught 20 trout, after a guide expertly navigated them to a great fishing spot, taught them to cast and selected the perfect flies.
Lisa and Rhyne Davis and their son, Jack, saw a herd of more than 350 elk. It wasn't serendipity. Mark Duggan, the camp butler, sent a scout ahead to track the animals on the property and drove the family to the spot.
On one hike, Paws Up guides dropped Rob and Alison John off at a trailhead and picked them up at a designated spot, allowing them to enjoy the scenic part of the three-mile hike without having to hoof it past the same view twice.
Back at the tents, the only thing remotely resembling the hassles of camping is venturing outside to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
The bathhouses, a short walk from the tents, have heated slate floors, a rain-forest shower big enough for two, granite counter tops and mountain-sage soap.
True campers might scoff at sleeping on a pillow-top mattress in a heated tent with artwork on the walls, but glampers relish the luxury.
"It's OK to be spoiled, it really is," Gigi Bondick said. "It's nature on a silver platter."
from: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003852600_glamcamp25.html