Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Keshia Joot. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Keshia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a customer success story with us?

As we are only in our 2nd year, repeat customers are few. One couple who came back for their 2nd stay was an 81 year old couple. This time the husband had wanted to surprise his wife with a simple celebration as it was their 60th wedding anniversary. He had never made anniversaries special and he partly blamed this on the fact that he had 2 sons and no daughters. Well, we spoke secretly for a couple months and I helped organized a private catered dinner with a private musician at camp. She had no idea and was completely blown away by what he had done for her. Her smile and our hard work, was such a special moment for us.

Keshia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Before we started our business, Glamping Canyonlands, my husband (Erik) and I lived in Las Vegas for 10 years. We moved there for the love of the outdoors and wanted to explore the State and the surrounding states. We bought a house and had stable jobs. I worked in management at Tesla and he worked for a small company as a tour guide taking people to the Grand Canyon. After about 7 years, we decided we were ready for something different. So, we made a plan. 3 years later, we sold our home, quit our jobs, bought a plane ticket to New Zealand and left! We had no plans for what was next after our planned 6 months of traveling. All we knew was wanted to buy land in Utah and start a hospitality business. After Covid shortened our travel plans down to only 3 months, we came back to the States and started looking around for land. While there weren’t many options, we found 22 acres on HWY 211 which is the road to The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. This is actually where we spent some of our time on our Honeymoon backpacking! We bought PURE land. There wasn’t even road access to our property. Not only did we have to learn how to START a business, we had to learn how to gain road access, build a road, install a septic system, a parking lot, install solar as we are completely off grid and do not have utilities out here. We are on our 2nd season and even though we have conquered many things, we are still learning and growing. We didn’t come from a business background or go to college. We didn’t and still don’t have investors. We just work hard and the income generated from bookings, goes back into growing the business. We learn from our guests and as time goes on, we learn how we want our business to look and operate. Thankfully, we don’t have anyone to answer to because we are ALWAYS changing our minds!

We are most proud of the positive response that we have received since opening in October 2020. We have over 70, 5 star reviews on Google and many others on other booking platforms. We put a lot of love, hours, hard work, and dedication to our guests and business. We are so thankful to those who choose to support and stay with a small business like ours. We are able to continue our dream and grow into something really special.

We want Glamping Canyonlands to be a place where even if you have not camped or glamped before to feel a connection to the property and slow down. People love that we are off grid as this gives them a chance to unwind, disconnect and reset. A favorite activity people do is lie in their private hammocks, take in the views, stargaze, see the Milky Way for the first time or enjoy sunrise with a complementary coffee delivery right to their tent. A recent wood burning Sauna addition is a nice welcome to those who want the ultimate relaxation after an exhausting day. We want to be the place where people enjoy their stay and feel like they just had a unique experience and can’t wait to return!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We recently had a major flood that caused some major damage. This is one of those floods that locals who have lived here their whole lives have never seen. This flood created a canyon along side the highway and on 1/2 of our property. It also cracked our water cistern, destroyed our fence and brought in a lot of sand. It was devastating to watch all of our hard work be potentially washed away. There was nothing we could do for hours but wait until the water stopped. Afterwards, we got right to work in cleaning up and repairing. Luckily we live in an amazing small town and the community of Monticello, Utah stepped in. We don’t ask for help. We would’ve had to close for at least a week to repair but people we didn’t even know came out to help and we didn’t even have to loose a day of bookings.

The feeling of helplessness and fear of watching that was heartbreaking. We’ve been told our resilience for this and what we have done to build this business is inspiring. It’s hard for us to see it this way but we just keep moving forward and get it done.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

We got the initial capital from selling our home in Vegas. After paying off debts we had and spending a little to travel, we didn’t have much so almost all of it went to buying the land. We couldn’t do as much as we wanted when we first got started. We never wanted investors. We wanted to do this on our own and completely be our own bosses. We didn’t take out any loans. We use credit cards and pay them off as we go. Maybe this isn’t the best business mind set but we don’t care. It’s ours and we like it this way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.glampingcanyonlands.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glampingcanyonlands/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlampingCanyonlands
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/glamping-canyonlands-monticello?osq=glamping+canyonlands
• Other: Trip Advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g57071-d21253356-Reviews-Glamping_Canyonlands-Monticello_Utah.html

Image Credits
Chris Tieu, Claire Codling, Angela Hays.