I first saw the igloos in Boston in January of 2018 and now slowly this trend is catching on in smaller resort towns.
Igloos are not just for big-city restaurants, they are ideal for outdoor destinations!
Last year, The Fort William Henry Resort and The Erlowest Inn in Lake George, NY added heated igloos, and hoteliers reported they were an instant success.
What are Rental Prices for an Igloo for the Night?
Restaurant and hotel owners buy the garden tents, decorate them with lights, add faux fur blankets, space heaters. The more in demand the igloo, the more you can charge for the rental. Some restaurants have minimum spends and some charge a flat rental fee plus food and drink fees. Lumen, a Detroit restaurant rents the snowglobes for $400/night on regular nights and upped the price to $1000/night for Superbowl.
According to an EATER article: Publico in Georgia where temps drop to 33 degrees in January has a waitlist every night for their 6 snowglobes – they rent their patio as pet friendly which has also been a huge hit.
Are heated igloos safe for Covid?
There has been a lot of talk about igloos. Obviously, it’s as safe as the care. The benefits are these igloos are perfect for social distancing. They are best if used only by one party per evening and thoroughly cleaned every night for the next evening – just like a hotel room!
Yurts & unusual outdoor structures are also popular
Yurts & unusual outdoor structures are also popularWe love novel ideas. Have you been to a Yurt Bar? Probably not, so how could one pass up the opportunity.
If you head to North Creek, NY, you will most likely be told that you have to go to Becks Tavern. That’s not because of the bar itself (which is quite nice) but the Yurts that have become a destination for apres-ski. Decked out with picnic tables and dartboards, it creates a fun and social vibe. It’s the kind of place where you have to work hard not to make new friends.
Where to buy Igloos?
GardenIgloo USA makes commercial igloos. These are the igloos shown in the featured image of The Envoy Hotel in Boston. 754-222-9124
Shelter Domes USA Shelter Dome is out of China and is a manufacturer. They may be able to direct you to local suppliers when they are sold out.
We know of a few hotels that bought the more affordable tents right off Amazon, the caveat is if you buy the cheaper Garden Domes off Amazon, you will need to be very careful about shoveling them off after snowstorms and ice storms as they do break with too much snow/ice weight!
Special thanks to the Boston Envoy Hotel for use of their beautiful photo showing the blue glowing igloo bar against the Boston skyline and thank you to Shelter Domes Geodesic dome structures