TINY VACATION HOMES

Irene O'GormanEngineering, New Projects

Several members of the Kramer Engineers team recently worked with a client to design a pocket of tiny vacation home rentals.  The structures were a series of geodesic domes (geodomes); one large open space with a central bathroom and kitchen.  I thought it was a clever idea, so I did some research to see if there were others out there.  And there were…lots of them.  Turns out, there are all sorts of tiny vacation home options, all I had to do was climb out from under my rock and look. 

When I ran an internet search on geodome vacation rentals, one of the first sites to pop up was GLAMPINGHUB.COM.  And I found that they offered a seriously wide variety of offerings from traditional cabins and cottages to some out of the box options like:

  • Tree Houses
  • Teepees | Yurts
  • Glamping Pods
  • Caves
  • Igloos
  • Huts
  • Hobbit Houses
  • Private Islands
  • Floating Homes
  • The list goes on…

GEODOME | BUBBLE DOMES

Luxury Bubble in Mauritius, Africa | photo courtesy of Shutterstock

On the GLAMPINGHUB.COM home page, they had geodomes spanning the globe, priced from $97/night to a whopping $661/night, thank you very much. Some were hard sided, others were canvas. But most had a wall of “windows” which gave the illusion of sleeping outside. 

Now, if you’re like me and refuse to go camping because you’re just not into roughing it, allow me to introduce you to the bubble dome: a true “under the stars” experience.  It’s like a geodome but completely transparent. But better still, some of the luxury bubbles featured on HOSTUNUSUAL.COM, TRAVELCHANNEL.COM and BUUBBLE.COM rival many 5-star hotels; climate controlled, down comforters, Egyptian cotton sheets and free WIFI.  And if you visit the Finn Lough Bubble Resort in Northern Ireland, you’ll find they also include Nespresso coffee service, robes and daily breakfast.

CAVES

Well, you can’t dangle a “cave” rental category in front of me and expect me not to take a peek.  So I did, and what I saw was straight out of the Flintstones. Dozens of caverns along the hills of Spain’s southern coast converted into minimalist stone age suites. And a bare bones, open mouth, seaside sleeping cave in Cavi, Corsica.   

But you don’t have to travel nearly that far to experience authentic cave charm. Because the Beckham Creek Cave Lodge deep in the Ozark National Forest in Parthenon Arkansas is 5800 SF of sleek urban finish, juxtaposed against the stalactites and raw rock of the cave’s interior.  The contrast is stunning.  Although the average Joe is not likely to afford the $1600/night rate, the remarkable web pics of the 4 BR, 4 bath interiors can be viewed for free.

IGLOOS

If winter sports and the great outdoors is your jam, then hunkering down overnight in an igloo may be up your alley.  I’m not referring to the famed Ice Hotels you’d find in Norway and Sweden.  I’m talking about a single room niche carved out of the frozen landscape along the snow-covered mountains in places like the French Alps, Finland or the Australian Alps.  The accommodations might be spartan, but the experience would be unforgettable.

TINY VACATION HOMES

Have you watched HGTV in the last few years? Then you have witnessed a shift to small, more efficient spaces.  And if you have ever wondered what it would be like to live in a tiny home, what better way than to rent one for a time.  Well, the tiny house craze has made it easy.  You don’t have to travel to the Netherlands or Hong Kong. Just log onto AIRBNB.COM click the Tiny House search category find one near you.

If a family destination is the goal, Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio is a 364-acre amusement park located on Lake Erie.  But to make it easy to play and stay, adjacent to the park is Lighthouse Point at Cedar Point.  It’s a luxury RV, cottage and tiny home campground with bathhouse and laundry facilities, water play areas, beach and lake parasail/jet ski rentals. Lighthouse Point was voted one of the 9 most beautiful RV Campgrounds in the U.S. by Travel and Leisure Magazine.

However, not to be outdone by Cedar Point, Kings Island Amusement Park in Mason Ohio is launching Camp Cedar, a new $27M luxury tiny home and RV resort providing lodging and entertainment for their park guests.  So, the 50-acre destination resort will feature recreational pools, ponds, walking trail, bathhouses, laundry facilities, firepits, grills and picnic tables and the Grand Lodge with food truck style restaurants and indoor & outdoor bars. Kings Island Camp Cedar is slated to open 6/24/2021.