Starstruck Glamping Founders Story
Starstruck Glamping is founded, owned & operated by spouses Ziad & Emily. We love health & wellness, travel & adventure, business & entrepreneurship, friends & family, & learning & growing.
Before glamping, Ziad was a realtor. Emily was a mortgage banker. Together we ventured into real estate investing - wholesaling & flipping homes in the Metro Detroit area.
The Inspiration
A romantic getaway to the Grand Canyon with a stay at "The Love Shack" - a vintage camper - became a major light bulb moment. We could create something like this - & offer folks their own slice of the desert to make memories & connect with loved ones.
During a time of great uncertainty, the Covid days, we sold our suburban home in Metro Detroit and built a campervan. Together with our goldendoodle, Mylo, we took to the open road. We traveled to state & national parks across the USA. Along the way, we kept this glamping idea in mind, & kept our eyes open for the perfect property.
During a visit to the beautiful Big Bend National Park in West Texas, we found the perfect spot. Stunning mountain views, protected dark skies, & land that you could see both sunrise & sunset from - we were smitten.
Unfortunately for us, we saw the land at sunset with the land owner present & completely gave away all bargaining power. "WOW!" "This is incredible! So beautiful!" & like phrases couldn't help but fall off our lips. We made an offer soon after. It was accepted!
Although the land had gorgeous views, it did have some major shortcomings. Namely, there was no power grid in sight! This meant we would need to develop our glamping accommodations completely off the grid.
We didn't want it to be too rustic, with outhouses & without climate control. So, we turned to solar power. Our place is 100% solar-powered, with no grid to fall back on. We invested heavily in solar panels, inverters & batteries to bring our vision to life.
Our vision was luxury glamping - combining nature + all the creature comforts we're used to for an elevated camping experience.
Glamorous + Camping = Glamping
Our must-haves: a unique & beautiful structure, private interior bathrooms, heating & cooling, comfy beds, mini-fridge & coffee makers. Everything you'd expect from a hotel + MORE: a way to connect with the great outdoors! Private patios & fire pits, & shaded outdoor kitchens.
Once we found the dome, we couldn't get it out of our minds. We compared it to many structures & were ultimately inspired the most by this unique round structure that is wholly different from typical homes.
4 months of planning + 10 months of building later & Starstruck Glamping was born. We hosted our first guests on 3/11/2022.
Although we completed our ground-up development, the story was far from over. We opened our doors to guests & had to learn how to operate a hospitality business. Of course, there were some growing pains & trouble-shooting, but the feedback we were getting was phenomenal.
Dreams to reality - our guests were making core memories.
Reading the guest book became our favorite: "I haven't seen stars like this since I was a little girl", "We got engaged here! This will always be a special place for us." & the like. We knew all the blood, sweat & tears of bringing this to life was well worth it.
We built a small team to help us run the day-to-day dealings of our small business. Things were great... until they weren't. Our investment started to show signs of wear & tear within a year of opening. Turns out, PVC domes in an intense UV environment were not a great match. You live & you learn!
After only 1 year of operating, we had to completely replace each dome. We found a hard shell dome made of aluminum panels & double paned glass windows. We knew these materials would fare much better in our harsh desert environment. In January 2024 we upgraded our domes.
Our business is built on listening to feedback, adjusting & ensuring the absolute best experience for our guests. We are happy to report the new domes have taken the guest experience to new heights.
So, that leads us to today. Where we host guests from Texas & beyond. We provide a safe, clean, beautiful & unique space for guests to stay while exploring the Big Bend region.
We'd be honored to host YOU as well.
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