Tent Camping - Has It Ever Been This Good?

[GaryKD]

Glamour camping
By Kimi Yoshino, of The Los Angeles Times - 08/30/2007

Luxury tents at Paws Up can include a butler to build the fire, a maid to crank up the down comforter and a cook to whip up bison rib-eye and French toast. Photo by Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times.

GREENOUGH, Mont. "” When 6-year-old Ethan Bondick told his mom and dad he wanted to go fly fishing in Montana, his well-heeled parents were stumped.

˜˜We looked at each other and said, ˜Oh, God, now what?'"� said Gigi Bondick, 37, a ˜˜reformed'' attorney whose husband works as a private-equity partner in Massachusetts.

˜˜We're just not the camping kind of people. 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 typing ˜˜luxury'' into a Google search along with ˜˜camping'' and ˜˜Montana,'' the couple settled on The Resort at Paws Up, a 37,000-acre getaway in the heart of Big Sky country. It's a place for affluent travelers who want to enjoy the outdoors but can't fathom using a smelly outhouse.

The Bondicks, who live in a sprawling home outside Boston and hire a personal chef at home, 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 their fire, a maid to crank up the heated down comforter at nightfall 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 among wealthy travelers in Africa and England, where luxury tents come with Persian rugs and electricity to power blow dryers.

Resorts like Paws Up that expand on the dude ranch concept are reporting increased bookings, another signal 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 this year is up more than 40 percent.

At Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in British Columbia, accessible by seaplane from Vancouver, bookings have doubled year after year since it opened in 2000. At the start, the resort erected only five tents as an experiment to see if the luxury camping concept would catch hold. It did, and today there are 20.

˜˜It's not the traditional kind of camping,'' concedes Clayoquot's Sue Bosdet. ˜˜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 gourmet restaurant, Pomp, where the ever-changing menu recently offered broiled brown butter Alaskan halibut cheeks and other dishes more likely to be served at a Michelin-rated New York restaurant.

Many visitors to Paws Up hail from California, New York and Florida. Just about every week, someone arrives on a private jet. The Rolling Stones once took over the place, and high-powered Hollywood types are always dropping in.

The guests ˜˜only sorta kinda want to rough it,'' said Paws Up General Manager Terre Short, who joked that when some of See GLAMOUR, Page C5 the kids go back to school after summer vacation, they'll have an entirely different notion of camping than their classmates.

Of course, these children are of a slightly different breed, proving that you can take the kid out of the city but not the reverse.

Ethan Bondick, who watches his father buy and sell businesses, decided after a few days that he no longer wanted camp butler Mark Duggan serving up the s'mores.

Instead, the first-grader declared that he had started his own s'mores business and hungry glampers should fork over $10 for each marshmallowy dessert. When his dad balked, noting that he was paying the vacation tab, Ethan negotiated down to $3.

Ethan and 5-year-old Jack Davis, his new best pal, also built what they called a ˜˜Man vs. Wild'' animal shelter with fallen logs. By the next morning, the duo had taped a hand-scrawled sign on the fort: ˜˜Animal Center. Take'z 5$ to get in.''

˜˜It's not about experiencing what Lewis and Clark did,'' said Milton Pedrazza, chief executive of Luxury Institute, a New York-based research company. ˜˜It's about enjoying nature and all the comforts that come with the luxury lifestyle. They see it as one big seamless, wonderful experience.''

Peter Yesawich, chairman of the travel marketing services firm Ypartnership, said affluent travelers whose household income is more than $150,000 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 how to cast and selected the perfect flies.

Lisa and Rhyne Davis and their son, Jack, saw a herd of more than 350 elk. But it wasn't serendipity. Duggan, the butler, sent a scout ahead to track the animals on the sprawling property, then drove the family directly to the spot.

And on one hike, Paws Up guides dropped Rob and Alison John off at a trail head, then picked them up at a designated spot "” allowing them to enjoy the most scenic part of the 3 -mile hike without having to hoof it past the same view twice.

˜˜We need to make the camping experience real and unreal at the same time,'' Duggan said.

Back at the tents, the only thing remotely resembling the hassles of camping is venturing outside the tent 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 artisan mountain sage soap.

But even that is too much roughing it for some families. After two nights, David Blake, 46, of Boston and his family abandoned their tent in favor of more luxurious digs: a 1,440-square-foot timber home on 4 acres.

The Davis family planned to follow suit.

˜˜We thought after three nights, we'd be ready for a little hot tub,'' Rhyne Davis said.

There is no shame here. True campers might scoff at the notion of 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.''

[GaryKD]

Glamour camping
By Kimi Yoshino, of The Los Angeles Times - 08/30/2007

Luxury tents at Paws Up can include a butler to build the fire, a maid to crank up the down comforter and a cook to whip up bison rib-eye and French toast. Photo by Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times.

GREENOUGH, Mont. "” When 6-year-old Ethan Bondick told his mom and dad he wanted to go fly fishing in Montana, his well-heeled parents were stumped.

˜˜We looked at each other and said, ˜Oh, God, now what?'"� said Gigi Bondick, 37, a ˜˜reformed'' attorney whose husband works as a private-equity partner in Massachusetts.

˜˜We're just not the camping kind of people. 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 typing ˜˜luxury'' into a Google search along with ˜˜camping'' and ˜˜Montana,'' the couple settled on The Resort at Paws Up, a 37,000-acre getaway in the heart of Big Sky country. It's a place for affluent travelers who want to enjoy the outdoors but can't fathom using a smelly outhouse.

The Bondicks, who live in a sprawling home outside Boston and hire a personal chef at home, 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 their fire, a maid to crank up the heated down comforter at nightfall 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 among wealthy travelers in Africa and England, where luxury tents come with Persian rugs and electricity to power blow dryers.

Resorts like Paws Up that expand on the dude ranch concept are reporting increased bookings, another signal 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 this year is up more than 40 percent.

At Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in British Columbia, accessible by seaplane from Vancouver, bookings have doubled year after year since it opened in 2000. At the start, the resort erected only five tents as an experiment to see if the luxury camping concept would catch hold. It did, and today there are 20.

˜˜It's not the traditional kind of camping,'' concedes Clayoquot's Sue Bosdet. ˜˜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 gourmet restaurant, Pomp, where the ever-changing menu recently offered broiled brown butter Alaskan halibut cheeks and other dishes more likely to be served at a Michelin-rated New York restaurant.

Many visitors to Paws Up hail from California, New York and Florida. Just about every week, someone arrives on a private jet. The Rolling Stones once took over the place, and high-powered Hollywood types are always dropping in.

The guests ˜˜only sorta kinda want to rough it,'' said Paws Up General Manager Terre Short, who joked that when some of See GLAMOUR, Page C5 the kids go back to school after summer vacation, they'll have an entirely different notion of camping than their classmates.

Of course, these children are of a slightly different breed, proving that you can take the kid out of the city but not the reverse.

Ethan Bondick, who watches his father buy and sell businesses, decided after a few days that he no longer wanted camp butler Mark Duggan serving up the s'mores.

Instead, the first-grader declared that he had started his own s'mores business and hungry glampers should fork over $10 for each marshmallowy dessert. When his dad balked, noting that he was paying the vacation tab, Ethan negotiated down to $3.

Ethan and 5-year-old Jack Davis, his new best pal, also built what they called a ˜˜Man vs. Wild'' animal shelter with fallen logs. By the next morning, the duo had taped a hand-scrawled sign on the fort: ˜˜Animal Center. Take'z 5$ to get in.''

˜˜It's not about experiencing what Lewis and Clark did,'' said Milton Pedrazza, chief executive of Luxury Institute, a New York-based research company. ˜˜It's about enjoying nature and all the comforts that come with the luxury lifestyle. They see it as one big seamless, wonderful experience.''

Peter Yesawich, chairman of the travel marketing services firm Ypartnership, said affluent travelers whose household income is more than $150,000 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 how to cast and selected the perfect flies.

Lisa and Rhyne Davis and their son, Jack, saw a herd of more than 350 elk. But it wasn't serendipity. Duggan, the butler, sent a scout ahead to track the animals on the sprawling property, then drove the family directly to the spot.

And on one hike, Paws Up guides dropped Rob and Alison John off at a trail head, then picked them up at a designated spot "” allowing them to enjoy the most scenic part of the 3 -mile hike without having to hoof it past the same view twice.

˜˜We need to make the camping experience real and unreal at the same time,'' Duggan said.

Back at the tents, the only thing remotely resembling the hassles of camping is venturing outside the tent 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 artisan mountain sage soap.

But even that is too much roughing it for some families. After two nights, David Blake, 46, of Boston and his family abandoned their tent in favor of more luxurious digs: a 1,440-square-foot timber home on 4 acres.

The Davis family planned to follow suit.

˜˜We thought after three nights, we'd be ready for a little hot tub,'' Rhyne Davis said.

There is no shame here. True campers might scoff at the notion of 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.''

[Rick A]

And people make fun of me when they see my trailer and I say I am going camping? Where is my butler and chef? I guess I am just trailer trash

[rivercat]

The only time I do "tent camping" is when I'm on a whitewater trip (the RV doesn't fit well on a raft). But I'll tell ya, even then I carry some niceties with me. After a day of hard paddling -- often for miles against stiff winds -- I feel entitled to a little inflatable comfort (and a LOT of Vitamin I -- Ibuprophen. LOL!).

But I'll take my queen-sized bed and TV in my 36-foot motor home any day. Everywhere I go, I'm home.

Trailer trash my @$$. LOL.

[Mike Finnerty]

My wife had a friend who once told her "You don't camp, you locate!". At the time we had a 23' travel trailer. Over the years we have graduated to a 33' Class A motorhome. I wonder what she thinks now?

[mamaloya]

And I thought some of the tent setups at Disney's Fort Wilderness were deluxe!!! I have seen tents with full galley's set up outside complete with fridge, micro, toaster and coffee maker under an awning. I have seen tents with air conditioners in the wall. I even saw one in December that had a chimney! It appeared to have a woodburning stove inside. It looked like a field tent like the military uses. If you are ever near there, head in and take a look at some of the sites.

As for "glamping", I like our way just fine.

[Houndog]

We call it "roughing it comfortable"

[mountainkowboy]

People at work look at the MH and say "thats not camping!" All I say is that it depends on your definition!

[Ed-Deb]

I did the backpacking, then tent camping when a family came along, then camping in the back of the pickup with a blow up mattress (bad back) and tent for the kids, and then tent trailer, and fifth wheel finally.

Never thought I would move to a MH but as we are approaching retirement ended up moving up to the MH in anticipation of traveling upon retirement.

I still call it camping...my wife says, "This is not camping"!

To each their own!

[journeylad]

Yeah, I keep telling people I'm roughing it. So far, I don't seem to have found that many people that buy into that! I just can't figure out why.

[Cruzer]

Tiffin motorhomes come with a big decal on the back that says "Roughing It Smoothly". It's kind of a trademark to them but I think it's more like "rubbing it in" so I removed the decal.