It’s hard to scroll through social media this week without feeling a little… off.
It’s not just the usual AI headlines or clickbait fear-mongering. It’s the videos. Hyper-real, eerily human, and 100% fake.
Google’s Veo 3 dropped this week, and suddenly our feeds are flooded with footage of people who don’t exist, doing things that never happened.
And I’ll be honest…
Sitting here as someone who’s pouring everything into building a physical place like Ferncrest—it stirs something in me. It’s hard not to wonder what the future holds when entire realities can be generated from a single line of text.
But here’s what’s become crystal clear:
As the digital world becomes more fabricated, the physical world becomes more sacred.
That’s where you come in.
Below: A quick prompt in veo3 to get a video of someone talking about glamping and dome tents. Not particularly compelling content, but it took me 1 minute and it is eerily human….
The Most Human Business Left
In the past two weeks alone, I’ve watched guests at Ferncrest strike up conversations with total strangers and leave as friends. I’ve seen kids unplug and go days without screens because there’s dirt to play in or a tree to climb.
Last week, we hosted our first-ever Discovery Day at Ferncrest—an immersive day for people considering opening a Ferncrest of their own. I had the chance to not just talk with potential franchisees but camp alongside them.
This isn’t nostalgia—it’s competitive advantage.
In a world where AI can generate an entire movie from a text prompt, a real conversation, in a real place, with real people is about to be the most high-value currency we have.
And glamping, for all its trendiness, is actually one of the last bastions of that human-first, experience-driven economy.
Why This Business Matters More Than Ever
You’ve probably felt it too—that sense that the world is becoming less personal, less grounded. But that just makes what we’re building even more valuable.
When someone steps into a glampground, they’re not just booking a stay. They’re booking a feeling.
One they can’t download.
One they can’t fake.
One that AI can’t touch.
And that’s our edge.
So as the tech world accelerates at breakneck speed, keep building something slow. Something meaningful. Something real.
Let’s remind people what it means to feel alive.
Happy Glamping,
Brian & Joanna Linton
