Greenough, Mont. – When 6-year-old Ethan Bondick told his mom and dad he wanted to go fly-fishing in Montana, his well-heeled parents were stumped.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘Oh, God, now what?”‘ said Gigi Bondick, 37, a “reformed” attorney whose husband works as a private-equity partner in Massachusetts.
“We’re just not the camping kind of people. We don’t pitch tents. We don’t cook outdoors. We don’t share a bathroom. It’s just not going to happen.
“This is a kid who has never flown anything but first class or stayed anywhere other than a Four Seasons.”
After typing “luxury” into a Google search along with “camping” and “Montana,” the couple settled on The Resort at Paws Up, a 37,000-acre getaway in the heart of Big Sky Country. It’s a place for affluent travelers who want to enjoy the outdoors but can’t fathom using a smelly outhouse.
The Bondicks, who live in a sprawling home outside Boston and hire a personal chef at home, shelled out $595 a night, plus an additional $110 per person per day for food.
It’s a hefty price to sleep in a tent, but the perks include a camp butler to build their fire, a maid to crank up the heated down comforter at nightfall and a cook to whip up bison rib-eye for dinner and French toast topped with huckleberries for breakfast.
The number of visits to U.S. national parks is declining, but “glamping” – glamorous camping – is on the rise in North America after gaining popularity among wealthy travelers in Africa and England, where luxury tents come with Persian rugs and electricity to power blow dryers.
Every year since it opened in 2005, Paws Up has charged more to keep up with high demand and sold-out nights.
