The Secret Garden Glamping founder Derry Green is offering to sprinkle some of his magic dust on fellow glamping industry businesses.
The award winning businessman, who made a success of the Secret Garden Glamping after a successful pitch on BBC show Dragon’s Den, has launched The Secret Garden Franchise, an opportunity for park owners to gain access to the winning formula for glamping success.
Derry has launched The Secret Garden Franchise to provide opportunities to both existing glamping site operators and aspiring ones.
Derry, who was recently re-elected as Chairman of the Glamping Industry Trade Association (GITA), said: “This is a first. What we’re trying to do by creating the franchises is to get people away from the OTA (Online Travel Agency) booking sites.
“Rather than having to set up a site and then instantly give away 15 to 20% of revenue to Airbnb or Booking.com while getting no support from them, I think there’s a better way.
“Right now if you don’t use OTAs there’s almost no way to get visibility.
“We know how to get bookings – we turn away thousands of bookings a year.
“But it’s not just that, I believe we can help the site owners with all the other things.
“I know what the pitfalls are, what owners struggle with on a daily basis because I struggled with it too.”
What do franchisees get?
- Franchisees will benefit from an exclusive territory to use the Secret Garden Glamping Brand
- Access to the business model developed by Derry that made the Secret Garden Glamping the UK’s most booked and most successful glamping site
- A back-office service handling operations such as bookings, customer enquiries, cleaning and maintenance
- The Secret Garden HQ will also take over the marketing and social media activity side of the business so operators can focus on their customers.
- New sites can access support in buying/acquiring land, gaining planning permission and other licences.
- Advice on installation of infrastructure, facilities, activities and accommodation is also available.
- Personal access to Derry for bespoke consultancy advice
How many franchises are available?
It is planned to accept up to 15 sites as franchises by the end of 2026 with continued future expansion into 2027/28. There are also ambitions to expand overseas.
What does it cost?
The costs will be based on the number of units on the site with Derry willing to offer franchises to both small, medium and larger operators.
What criteria are there to be accepted?
The types of accommodation are very flexible, from simple yurts, lodges and huts up to more quirky or unique options such as domes or bespoke tree houses.
The Secret Garden Glamping is looking for a range of sites to partner with across the UK and is willing to look at any location so long as it has the feasibility to offer certain key facilities.
What are the timescales?
With permissions and regulations varying depending on the part of the UK it’s very hard to give set timescales, however, some existing sites could benefit from a Secret Garden makeover and rebrand within 6-8 weeks.
Escaping the grind of running a business
Derry believes the franchise scheme will give participants the dual benefit of boosting their revenue and freeing up their time to enjoy being a site owner.
He added: “A lot of people get into this as a lifestyle business but they end up getting trapped in the day-to-day operations, because you are every part of the business.
“One minute you’re changing some beds, the next minute you’re fixing a toilet, then you’ve got to send some emails, do some Facebook posts and so on and so on.
“The question that comes up over and over again is; how do you go on holiday?
“How do you get a holiday if you’re a site owner, because you’re stuck within the business. What I quickly realized from setting up The Secret Garden is that 90% of the work is actually all the back end.
“It’s all the emails and the phone calls and the booking system and the marketing and social media and the content creation.
“The remaining 10% is actually the bit we all get into it for, which is the forward facing customer stuff.
“That’s what I love doing, and it’s what most site owners love doing.
“None of us get into owning a glamping site so we can send more emails.
“So this franchise scheme is the result of me trying to find a way out of all the problem points that I’ve had over the past five years.
“How can I get rid of them for either new site owners or existing site owners?
“And that’s what we do, everything, and I do mean everything, up until the customer turns up at their door before them.
“Airbnb will get you a booking, and then it’s your problem to speak to them and find out why they’re coming and what time they’re arriving, and do they need any extras?
“All these sorts of things are down to you to resolve.
“But for our franchisees, we do all that. So by the time the customer gets to your gate or your door or your bridge or whatever it might be, they’ve got everything they could possibly need.”
To find out more call Derry on 07732 812409 email him directly via info@thesecretgardenglamping.uk or visit www.thesecretgardenglamping.uk/franchise
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