Gaby Hogg and her partner Lindsay started a B&B business and have since expanded into various accommodations and an event venue. When they wanted to start offering glamping services, they needed to separate the booking from their main offering. Booqable was the perfect solution, and they were able to use the website builder to create a booking website they could easily share with select guests.
Charm Lodge
Gaby and Lindsay purchased a family farm on Lake Charm, Victoria, Australia, in 1994. They ran it successfully for 25 years, but economic conditions made it difficult to maintain. So, in 2009, they started redeveloping part of the land to create guest accommodations for family and friends to stay in while visiting. In 2014, they decided to expand this offering and establish a new B&B business under the name Charm Lodge.
Throughout the years, Charm Lodge has expanded, offering a complete event venue for weddings and several other types of accommodation. The latest addition was glamping tents, which are located on the venue’s grounds. These tents are not offered to the general public and are exclusively for guests hosting weddings and events at the venue as an add-on to their services.
Groups can hire up to 11 glamping tents for their guests to stay in over the weekend of their event. They provide a luxury camping experience in the beautiful grounds of the Charm Lodge. While Gaby and Lindsay primarily host weddings, they want to expand into health, author, and artist retreats. This will allow them to increase bookings outside the expected 10 weddings they currently host annually.
A separate booking platform
When they decided to expand into glamping tents, Gaby and Lindsay knew they would need a separate platform for guests to book tents. These tents are not available to the public and are exclusively for clients hosting events at the venue. They had two main priorities for the platform: it needed to be affordable and easy to set up. So, they began looking at the options available to them.
Among the different solutions on the market, Booqable best met their requirements. With the website builder, they were able to create a separate booking website that could be shared with guests easily. Starting with the Romance theme, they created a beautiful website where clients can view and book glamping tents for their event. In addition, after client feedback, they have integrated Stripe to accept credit card payments.
They can then use the order and inventory management in the backend of Booqable to keep track of bookings, payments, and tent availability. This makes it easy to get a quick overview of what’s required for each event, allowing them to make the necessary preparations. For example, some guests book tents for sleeping, while others book them for other uses such as dining.
Continuing to grow
Gaby and Lindsay hope to continue hosting roughly 10 weddings per year alongside their B&B and other accommodation options. As mentioned, they are also seeking to expand their client base by offering retreats and getaways for a wider group of people outside of the usual weddings, birthdays, and events they host.
