Your site
Fill in your site, then click Work out the payback.
Result
By season
| Season | Days | Occupancy | Occupied nights | Lodging revenue |
|---|
If occupancy runs above or below plan
| Versus plan | Overall full | Operating income | Debt coverage | Cash after loan | Payback, own money |
|---|
If you build more or fewer units
Shared infrastructure and yearly fixed costs are held at what you entered for every count. Real costs step up as you add units, so read the larger counts as best cases.
| Units | Invested | Operating income | Per unit | Yield on cost | Payback, whole investment |
|---|
What it does, and what it leaves to you
- Counts: occupied nights per season = units x days x occupancy; lodging revenue = occupied nights x nightly rate; stays = occupied nights / average stay; guest revenue = lodging + stays x cleaning fee; commission is a percent of guest revenue; operating income = guest revenue - commission - (nights x utilities + stays x turnover cost) - yearly fixed costs - upkeep reserve (a percent of the build cost, not the shared infrastructure); loan payment = the level yearly payment on the share financed; cash after the loan = operating income - payment.
- Payback is investment divided by yearly operating income for the whole investment, and your own money divided by cash after the loan for your side. Both ignore growth, rate changes, refinancing and what the money could earn elsewhere.
- Break-even occupancy scales every season's occupancy by the same factor until cash after the loan is zero. Rate change scales every season's nightly rate by the same factor, leaving cleaning fees alone.
- Not decided: what guests near you will pay or how often they book, zoning, septic and fire permits, lodging and sales taxes, income tax and depreciation, insurance quotes, your own labour, construction overruns, and the first year's ramp-up.
Common questions
How long does it take for a glamping unit to pay for itself?
It depends on what each unit brings in after commission, turnovers, utilities, upkeep and your share of the fixed costs, against what it cost to build plus its share of the shared infrastructure. Enter your own build cost, nightly rates and occupancy by season; the page works out operating income, the loan payment, cash left after the loan and payback in years, both on the whole investment and on your own money.
What occupancy do I need to break even on a glamping site?
Break-even occupancy is where operating income just covers the yearly loan payment. The page scales all your seasons' occupancy together until cash after the loan is zero and reports the overall percentage full. If that would need the busiest season above 100%, it says occupancy cannot fix it and rates, costs or the loan have to change.
What nightly rate do I need?
The page solves for the across-the-board rate change that covers the loan, and the change that pays your own money back in the number of years you set. It does not know what nearby listings charge, so compare the result with comparable booked nights before changing a price.
Why does the number of units matter so much?
Shared infrastructure such as power, septic, roads and a bathhouse, and many yearly fixed costs, do not grow with each extra unit, so more units spread them thinner. The unit-count table shows operating income and yield at other counts, holding those costs constant, which flatters large counts, so it stops at twice your count.
Does this include lodging tax, permits or income tax?
No. Lodging and sales taxes are normally collected from guests and passed on, permits and zoning vary by county, and income tax and depreciation depend on your situation. Put permit and engineering costs in the shared infrastructure figure and talk to an accountant for tax.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing is sent; a test in the code asserts there are no network calls.