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Yurts as a vacation rental

M

maynardhiker

New member
My husband and I have recently gotten interested in buying a yurt(s) to use for a vacation rental. It seems like a great business idea because they're low-cost, quick to build, low-impact (we'd put them up in the desert), and unique. I would love to hear from someone who's done this about what your experience was like. What are your suggestions for someone new to yurt vacation rentals?

I've only been able to find a couple of glamping-style businesses, along with a few yurts that are rented out for campers on state and national land. From what I can see, it costs $50 - 280/night to stay at a yurt. I am curious about what it costs to maintain a yurt with regular visitors.
 
While I'm still just researching yurts, I have researched quite a bit about the ones for rent. I haven't seen any off-the-grid yurts, and the ones that you mentioned at that price tend to have electricity, air conditioning, and a microwave etc. Even the inexpensive $50.00 ones at National Parks. Was that your target? I've heard that there is much more involved with having them permitted if they are fully wired.

It sounds like an interesting and exciting proposition. Where in the desert are you setting up? I'm currently in the southwest and I'd like to see more yurts in our area.
 
We'd be interested in doing it in the Big Bend region. The high season is October - June, so potentially, the yurts could be taken down over the summer to avoid the hottest sun.

I would like these to appeal to the people who rent vacation homes, so we'd furnish them as such (and of course, that would make it more difficult to tear down)
 
I wouldn't recommend taking them down myself. They biggest risk to damaging a yurt is usually during the process of breaking them down. They will probably work great all year round. I would imagine they would be awesome in the desert as long as you get a reflectix type insulation.

Welcome to the site! :)
 
We had a vacation rental out of our yurts this summer (we are back living in them full time now). We will do it again down the road in a few years. They are unique enough that people would stay in them for the right price. Since ours serves as our main home we had to have all the proper permits in place to build and put in septics, wells, hydros and even a driveway so it wasn't too much skin off our nose to switch it up to a vacation place, but I would imagine that if you don't already have a property in place with all these amenities it would definitely add to your start up costs. I don't really consider our home 'glamping' its more of a unique cottage setting (thats what the bank calls it haha).

I'm with Jafo on the disassembling of the yurts repeatedly. We moved our one 14 footer last winter (while there was no snow) and although it is easy on a scale of moving a HOUSE, it is considerably more work than moving a tent. Its also astronomically more expensive than a tent... so the wear and tear on it from constant set up and dismantle is not worth it. Buy from a reputable dealer like Pacific Yurts that can stand up to all weather conditions and have factors like heat and sun wear built into it.

Make sure you have lots of cross ventilation planned if they are in the desert too or at least doors and windows that open towards the prevailing wind... we dont live in a hot climate at all, but the summers can be a struggle even here (plus we are whimps when it comes to heat). Just opening the dome is not enough most of the time.
 
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