A bonkers idea!

davidjwest

http://www.forestholidays.co.uk/cabins/our_cabins/treehouse.aspx

paddyrg

I wouldn't get too scared by people saying you need many millions - you're never going to be filling 20 rooms at a time, just a few at most, and you can add units as you see the model working/not working.

Woodland is around £10k/acre (very roughly, depends on location and covenants), and you will need several acres for people to use as woodland, have views, etc, even if all the pods are close together.

You would want to aim at the boutique end of the market - and why not? These guys http://www.yurthotel.com/ did the same with nice quality yurts in Spain, eco-tourism at its best - they started with a bit of land, and one nicely fitted yurt, and have grown. People will pay for comfort and quality with a bit of a quirk.

pitkin2020

paddyrg wrote: »

I wouldn't get too scared by people saying you need many millions - you're never going to be filling 20 rooms at a time, just a few at most, and you can add units as you see the model working/not working.

Woodland is around £10k/acre (very roughly, depends on location and covenants), and you will need several acres for people to use as woodland, have views, etc, even if all the pods are close together.

You would want to aim at the boutique end of the market - and why not? These guys http://www.yurthotel.com/ did the same with nice quality yurts in Spain, eco-tourism at its best - they started with a bit of land, and one nicely fitted yurt, and have grown. People will pay for comfort and quality with a bit of a quirk.

On the ground buildings whether they are log cabons or yurts would be the far cheaper option. Woodland maybe around 10k an acre but the OP would need very old woodland for larger trees so even at 10k an acre the OP will need nearer 100k to just purchase the land, solicitors fees etc. Add the design and planning on another couple of K. If he went for log cabins/yurts to start with 250k would be doable as a start up. A minor access road would be needed.

Start bringing in steels and cranes then a major access road would need to be built, after purchase costs of land, materials the £250k budget would be blown out the water.

Like I said earlier it could work but the right location would be needed, nothing worse then after 5-10 years finding the local area is being redeveloped and extended close to your "in the wilderness" hotel.

InsideInsurance

Plus eco tourism is significantly different to the luxury end of the market the OP originally mentioned.

I personally think the idea doesnt have legs. I cannot see anywhere in the UK which has an area that is pretty enough to warrant being there simply for the sake of being there that is also spacious enough to build a luxury hotel and the other infrastructure etc that such a thing requires and their customers demand which isnt a national park and therefore an absolute no on planning permission.

jexygirl

to be fair, tree tops in kenya (yes I have been ) is far from luxury, or top class food - it is what it is, and you are walked to it with armed guard in case a rhino or something attacks - you cant drive up to it. My point - you are there for the experience BUT YOU ARE IN KENYA not Sherwood forest... not sure a run away dog has the same fear factor...
To stay in a wood shed/hut on stilts, in the middle of Kenya, with elephants coming to feed from the look out shack, that means you are inches away or to watch wild animals in their natural habitat feed off or make a kill by the watering hole.
You sleep or virtually camp in your room, share a bathroom, you eat canteen style, with everyone else there, and the choice is almost zero - but you are there for the experience, and that is reflected in the price.
Not sure what a british version could /would offer / appeal to... or what people would pay for the "experience" tho i like the idea of tree house, lets not even talk H&S either!
Good idea in Kenya, not sure it would work so well here, given cost, legislation, and little appeal imo (and I am a hippy chick!)
Jex

Savvy_Sue

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Start bringing in steels and cranes then a major access road would need to be built, after purchase costs of land, materials the £250k budget would be blown out the water.

Like I said earlier it could work but the right location would be needed, nothing worse then after 5-10 years finding the local area is being redeveloped and extended close to your "in the wilderness" hotel.

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I personally think the idea doesnt have legs. I cannot see anywhere in the UK which has an area that is pretty enough to warrant being there simply for the sake of being there that is also spacious enough to build a luxury hotel and the other infrastructure etc that such a thing requires and their customers demand which isnt a national park and therefore an absolute no on planning permission.

I was thinking the very same things earlier, while I pondered the range of ideas people share for making money on MSE.

If you're doing the Treehouse thing for the benefits of being able to watch wildlife 'up close and personal', can you honestly think of ANYWHERE in the UK with enough wildlife where you would stand a snowball's chance of getting planning permission?

If not, the idea is a complete non-starter, IMO.

pitkin2020

Been having a think on this and I think its been approached from the wrong direction, we have all tried to link it to the same sort of features as a kenyan tree top where by you go there for the wildlife. Thats never going to happen in the UK BUT if you go for total isolation that could be feasable, think how many holiday cottages are hired for 1k a week in the middle of no where in the UK. People don't use it for the wildlife around them but for the isolation and tranquillity. You could achieve that sort of feel in a heavy woodland but you would need to space each pod/treehouse quite well so each one can't be seen by the other.

It still wouldn't be cheap but if you could find a great USP it could work well. You would only really have 2 markets the ultimate luxury end of the market where each pod would be secluded and would be crammed full of pure luxury. The other market could be the adventurous end but you would ideally need activities like highwires etc and maybe near a lake for kayaking and the alike. More pods could be built and would only need basics inside, still good but not pure luxury items.

paddyrg

^^ Third market would be workshops/retreats, they often look for low-cost accommodation with parking and some kind of kitchen area/loos and trees/woodland/clearings for non-mainstream workshop activities from shamanic stuff to iron casting to survival classes. Also, writers will often appreciate complete peace for a couple of weeks whilst getting into a new work, and one without phones and distractions is even better.

spaceboyted

Thanks for your feedback guys. The plan was never to offer an expeirence like the treetop resorts in the tropical rainforrests as the UK simply doesn't have the weather or the wildlife those countries have. I was thinking of offering either the more secluded approach or the adventurous holiday market. From the responses so far, people seem to be intrigued by the treehouse hotel idea which is great. Whether it would work as a viable business is another issue all together.

crazyguy

I would like to invest in your mad hatters plan the sum of £1.00 I think you have watched to many tarzan films !