SettlersNest
Experience Virginia Farms
Shenandoah Valley Farmers
Earn significant extra yearly income for your farm providing guests with a unique farm experience from a luxury camping tent.
No money down, No experience needed, No risk to you.
"Our primary goal is to help farmers add a significant non-seasonal income stream to their bottom line to alleviate seasonal cash flow pressures and contribute to their overall sustainability"
Gareth Noble - Founder - SettlersNest
The Deal
1
You have land,
beautiful land
Most people have never experienced what it's like to be on a working farm. Sharing your farm, your life is an experience people will happily pay for. We need about 900 ft² of that beautiful land per tent and plan for each farm to host up to two tents. The tents are 100% off grid, and fully self contained.
2
We have funds, experience & technology
With our turn-key model, we invest in the entire cost of installation up to $15k/tent. Using world class hotel and short-term rental management software & AI, we can list with 200+ short-term rental listing channels. With total dashboard visibility to revenues and costs, and integration with your current accounting system.
3
We join forces & share the revenue, work & fun
As the farmer, you are responsible for the guest experience by sharing what you do, interfacing with guests & housekeeping when guests move out. We manage occupancy, online booking, 24/7 farm & guest support, guest payments, insurance, revenue distribution, marketing, social media presence & more.
How it Works
Compatibility
Are you the right fit? We are seeking farms that are owner operated. Farms that are slightly off the beaten path, ie: not on a major road or facing into industrial or residential areas. Not inside a town's limits. You need to agree to active participation in the partnership, as you & your farm will be the reason people visit and stay. No experience is needed and we will walk you through exactly how everything works. We will be around 24/7 to ensure your success. We will assess each farm for compatibility on case-by-case bases.
Zoning
Before anything happens we need to establish the zoning permissions for your farm, town & county. Each farm can have up to 2 tents and a Special Use Permit will be required. We pay for this. We will also work with planning and zoning on your behalf. Zoning will be concerned with access, parking, environmental impact, etc. The tents are not permanent structures do not have wastewater requirements (incinerating toilets), and do not need water piped in. Electrical service is via a state of the art, generator & lithium ion batteries.
Agreement
If you decide to give it a shot, and we are green-lit by planning and zoning, we will sign a simple agreement that defines our roles & responsibilities, how we both get paid and what the future looks like. Each farm gets the same deal.
The farmer will get 70% of 'net' revenue, we will get 30% of 'net' revenue. Expenses include the running costs (upkeep, propane). The tent and contents are rented from SettlersNest at 10% of gross revenue per month and included as an expense. The farmer also gets paid for the housekeeping at $35 per stay.
Installation
With 415 ft² of floor space, our tents are huge & designed for 4-season, long-term use and can sleep six+ adults. Each tent is 100% off the grid. Each interior is professionally designed & curated to reflect the particular character of your farm. Fully furnished, each has a king bed, 2 queen futons, generator and battery, incinerating toilet, an outside grill and more. Site selection is critical and we will jointly find a suitable spot near the farmhouse so the guests can experience; the day-to-day of farm life and ensure that housekeeping is easy.
The Tents
We have chosen the fully loaded Sibley 700 ProTech Quad Door! the biggest tent made by Canvas Camp. The 700 is as big as a 2-car garage, measuring 23ft (7m) in diameter with 415 ft² (38,48m²) of floor space. Four A-frame doors with 6.5 ft (2m) clearance provide no-duck access and unobstructed views in four directions. Designed for 4 season use in a variety of environments, the ProTech is equipped with both canvas and mesh doors, windows, and walls – all of which can be neatly tied back when not in use. The water and vapor impenetrable bathtub style floor can be unzipped and separated from the canvas canopy for cleaning, transport, or storage. With a 4 season waterproof PRO Canvas (360 gr/m² or 10.62 oz/yd²). the 700 ProTech Quad Door is the pinnacle of performance, space, accessibility, and luxury.
What We Do
Think of us as a 'distributed' hotel utterly focused on world-class hospitality and absolutely, manically driven to increase occupancy. In short, we're a marketing machine on a mission to maximize guest experiences and revenues. Using every tool in the box we will seek to reach millions, through influencers, social media technologies, and grassroots marketing techniques.
The suite of software tools and partners we use are world-class and used by millions of customers worldwide. In the spirit of transparency, we felt it would be great to show those tools so you can get an idea of how we work. All these tools are integrated together into a single software stack that is SettlersNest.
HostHub is the #1 rated Channel Manager in the World and our property management system (PMS). HostHub allows us to interface with all booking channels. HostHub has also built for us our booking website SettlersNest.com and connected us with Stripe. With this integration we are your 'Front Desk'. We respond to guest inquiries on your behalf, confirm your bookings, and provide 24/7 guest support.
SettlersNest
With access to global platforms like Airbnb & VRBO and using our own booking website, SettlersNest, our reach is already sufficient to reach the minimum occupancy rate of 65% generating approximately $60,000/year/tent/gross. You will be set up for success right out of the box.
All tents and surrounding farm areas are covered by Short Term Rental insurance. The fee for insurance is $TBD monthly/tent and goes live only when the tent is listed and live. We count this as an item in the 'expense' column, covered by Rental Income and backed by SettlersNest. You and your farm are 'named insured'. Coverage highlights are:
-
Commercial Package Policy: coverage for building, contents, income, and liability.
-
Building & Contents: special cause of loss (all-risk) with replacement cost valuation (new for old)
-
Liability: $1,000,000 of commercial general liability per occurrence with a $2,000,000 per occurrence option
-
Income: actual loss sustained business income coverage with no time limit
-
Liability coverage extended over amenities such as pools, hot tubs, bicycles, small watercraft + more
-
No limit on damage caused by a renter including theft, vandalism, and other intentional acts
TBD
We are currently working on this
Millions of companies of all sizes—from startups to Fortune 500s—use Stripe’s Marketplace software and APIs to onboard service providers, manage payments, accept payments, send payouts, and manage their businesses online. Stripe is fully integrated with all booking platforms and will provide seamless, automated payments to you as bookings happen. Companies like DoorDash, Booking.com, and Instacart use Stripe’s suite of products to increase retention and scale their operations globally.
Using Avalara's 'MyLodgeTax' feature, we automatically remit State & Local short-term rental tax on your behalf every month. Both Airbnb & VRBO remit STR tax to the State of Virginia, so you/we don't have to. However, our booking website will collect STR tax on each booking. Avalara takes over the complicated and intimidating task of keeping up with tax rules and rates, due dates, filing requirements, and more. We have used Avalara for years and love the peace of mind.
Part of making this work is our ability to manage Social Media (SM) across multiple channels. We do this by streamlining the process of distribution of digital assets like video, pictures, blogs, etc. Our goal here, is to create significant momentum in the SM space by rewarding sharing and deep interaction with guests. In addition to our own SM presence, each farm will have a landing page on our site with its own SM tools which we will set up.
AirDNA is our secret sauce. The deep analytics provided has allowed us to project occupancy, length of stay, revenues, etc against all short-term rentals in the local Shenandoah Vally region. This enables us to predict demand ("Pacing" in hotel speak) and at what rents. We will use 'Dynamic Pricing' on each listing we manage, meaning we will manage rents much the same way as airlines do to keep planes full. This is a tool to maximize occupancy.
Understanding your guests and those that interact with us digitally, is paramount. Using Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and more, we are able to deeply identify market groups and target those groups with campaigns to further our reach. We do this holistically, and our campaigns will change to meet trends over time. This is something we do at no cost to you.
We have partnered with Farmbrite to offer our joining farmers an exclusive deal for Farmbrite's 'Best in Class' farm management software. In addition to the 15 days free trial, we have negotiated a reduced rate of $55/month fee (reduced from $65) for their Premium Plus package. This $55/ month fee can be absorbed by the monthly rental revenue, essentially making the software free. 'Short-term-rental (STR)' revenue can be set as a line item on the accounting feature to accommodate STR revenues, for tax reporting. Revenues can be reported directly to your FarmBrite account through our link with Stripe in real-time. You do not have to accept this trial or the subsequent monthly fees.
Professionally curated tent spaces will tell the story of
unrequited luxury in the most beautiful pastural destinations.
Exclusive, romantic, nostalgic, experiential
CONTACT US
Call or Text Gareth on 203-216-3439
or drop us a note.