Essential ammenities for camping?

[Christine914]

Hi there! My *bring your tent and camp here* sites open May 24. Because the space people are renting is for camping, I'm not providing the essential ammenities of "towels, bed sheets, and pillows."  We will have a shower tent and portable toilet, so the "soap, toilet paper" part of essentials is easily covered. 

It's a "unique" site. It's like going to a state campground to go camping -- which is bring your own camping gear -- including your own towels, bedding and pillows. It's just a place for people to pitch their tents in a more secluded spot than public campgrounds. 

I'm getting pestered on my listing for NOT having those three "essentials," but how on earth would I provide those three things for campsites? I have 3 sites with up to 4 people each. That's a LOT of sleeping bags and pillows to purchase for the multiple sites. Storage, cleaning...etc. How would that be even possible? Seriously, this could shut me down, and I'm way financially invested in getting this tent site Airbnb going.

It says by July these things will be required for Airbnb. I don't even know how to address this issue. I cannot find anyone to contact that's from Airbnb -- just the help community. So I really hope y'all have some great answers!

Thanks much. 🙂  

[Christina355]

I am so happy to see other hosts that offer tent camping! I check the box that I have the essentials and let my guests know that I can provide those items upon request, but I recommend they bring their own gear. I don't think that anyone camping would expect you to provide those items. I have had a few inquiries asking if I rent camping gear to camp at my location and I simply say no. So far I haven't had anyone ask for a thing. I have a propane grill and fire pit for guests to use and I keep some cooking essentials in one of those plastic totes next to the grill. 

I find that people that come for camping are very low maintenance and don't ask much of me. Hope this helps 🙂 Good luck with your camp sites! 

[Christine914]

You are offereing your guests some great ammenities for camping!

Thanks for your answer. It gives me something to consider. 🙂

[Jeff158]

@Christine914

I have a camping barn listed where you bring your own sleeping bag and towels and no way will I be providing them,  Its a great site for advertising my holiday cottage but airbnb does not bring in enough camping bookings to bother me if the camping barn is delisted.

Airbnb does not in my view suit campsites and thats why I advertise my campsite and barn on websites specifically for campsites. I use pitchup who also cover the USA and get 60% of camping bookings through it.

Diversify and survive.

[Christine914]

Thank you so much! I love that others have found a way to provide the towels and bedding, but I don't think that's for me either. I think that Airbnb is going to have to re-evaluate their "essential" list when it comes to their "unique" listings. I just don't feel it's appropriate or feesible to ask hosts of campsites to provide towels and bedding when the clients will need to pack in all of their other equipment. 
I'm checking out Pitchup now. Thanks for the tip! I am also listed on Hipcamp, but I didn't see if they offer bookings in the UK. I would LOVE to come to your camping barn! Maybe if I start getting enough bookings, I'll have the money for that trip! 🙂

Thanks again. 

[Paul154]

@Christine914,

I agree that sheets and towels are onerous for your offering.

It does seem silly that Airbnb is pushing this. I've always thought Airbnb's strength was its diversity of its offerings.  People want camping sites and don't expect towels and sheets to be provided.

I would seek a better place to market my camping site.

Another possibility is to offer sheets and towels in a pile, just to appease Airbnb.

Don't put much effort or expense into the available sheets and towels.

Guests could come and get, if they want.

My hope is guests would not come and get the offerings. If they do, then you can price that into the equation.

[Christine914]

I'm glad people agree that it's a bit much to ask hosts to provide these things for *campsites*! Why offer a place for "unique" listings if it doesn't match their criteria? It's an oddity, and one I am having a hard time getting an actual representative from Airbnb to address.

Anyway, I don't really have a place to offer a supply of sleeping bags, pillows and towels. My max potential of guests any given night is 12. So that's like 24 pillows, 12 sleeping bags, and 12 towels minimum. But...it gets worse. I'd have to have extra because that also mean laundering those items to prepare them for the next guest. So it's more like 24 sleeping bags. And I'm not sure my wash cycle or septic system could handle washing 12 sleeping bags in one day! 

So...yep! It remains a challenge! 

Thanks for your input, though. I may have to figure out a way to appease Airbnb with a "I guess you can use it if you want it" pile (for a hefty fee, of course)!

[Fred13]

Well @Christine914, we are practically neighbors. I have 6 very cool acres down the road by Crocker Lake, and was thinking of doing the same.  Never thought along Airbnb lines, and yes can appreciate the dilemma. Isn't there another entity like an 'Airbnb Camping' service that may be better suited? The name escapes me at the moment..something like HipCamping?

[Christine914]

Howdy neighbor!

I am listed on Hipcamp -- a decent site. Thanks to Jeff in the U.K., I'm now listed on Pitchup based upon his recommendation. Both Hipcamp and Pitchup do recognize that this is bring your own gear camping. 

There may be other places to list on, but I think the three are going to be enough for me to juggle for awhile. In the meantime, I intend to keep hunting down an actual answer from Airbnb itself! If I do happen to find one, I'll post an update here.

[Christine914]

Good morning all! I've received good news from an Airbnb representative! It took some doing to find the section to directly ask Airbnb directly, but it is in there under Help. 

As the representative explained, the "essential amenities" that include bedding, pillows, and towels specifically is because this is Air-*BNB*, emphasis on the "bed" part of bed and breakfast. He looked over my three campsite listings as they are within the "unique" category. Because I clearly spell out that my guests are renting a patch of ground to pitch a tent and that the campers must bring all of their own equipment (as we the hosts do not provide any camping gear), he says my listings should be good to go. I can disregard the bedding, pillows and towels portion of the requirements.

If any of you all are interested in how I phrased it for future guests, here's the website address of "tent site #2."  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/23871330?location=Sequim%2C%20WA%2C%20United%20States&check_in=2018-06-...

So...lesson here is, be VERY SPECIFIC in the description of what the guest is getting, and it should be good to go.

Hope that answer helps some other unique campsite hosts out as much as it did me!

[Zappa0]

Hi Everyone! I have the same issue...You need to check out HipCamp.com. It is the Airbnb...for camping!

[Christine914]

There's also Pitchup.com. It serves a more European audience, but is expanding in the United States. Anyway, it gets listings out there to overseas guests. It's not as easy a site to navagate in the set up. I'm getting the hang of it, though, so it's getting easier to use. 

I've listed Hipcamp, Pitchup, and Airbnb. So...we'll see which site I get the most bookings through. These are new listings and don't open until the end of May. I just have the one booking thus far. But...summer is coming, so I'm hopeful. 🙂

The answer I got back from Airbnb is as long as it's clearly and specifically spelled out in your description on Airbnb that this is campsite only and that the guest must provide *all* of their own gear, the representative said that hosts should be good to go. For me that was bedding, pillows and towels. But, I think that could include any of the essential amenities as long as it's very clear to the guest what they will need to provide for themselves.

[Zappa0]

Oh...just noticed that was added. I will check out PitchUp too 🙂

[Tracy67]

Hi Christine, not sure if you (or the other hosts involved on this thread) are interested in learning more about the high ROI on making a site an official "glamping" experience. If so, I have heard this Global Glamping Summit in Long Beach, CA Nov. 27-28 is a place you can learn from glamping industry expert speakers and exhibits about innovative solutions, products, exclusive discounts, and current industry tips and regulations. Here's the website if you're interested: www.glampingsummit.com/?utm_source=AirBnb&utm_campaign=GGSPR

[Pete28]

Check zoning - atleast in Seattle city is restricting Airbnb to habitable structures. Tents, RV and boats will not be legal from next year