Harvard Startup 'Getaway' Taps Into Tiny House Movement
BOSTON (CBS) - Going small is catching on. On the Boston waterfront, micro condos at 450 square feet are popping up everywhere and now, WBZ's business reporter Jeff Brown finds vacationers are opting for close quarters as well.
How do you vacation with accommodations of just 160 square feet? For a growing portion of the millennial population smaller is better.
And a new Harvard startup is just beginning to tap into the small movement.
The company is called Getaway and for founder and CEO Jon Staff, if you build it, they will come.
"Seventy eight percent of millennials would rather pay for an experience than a thing," Staff says.
According to Staff and his partner Pete Davis, the concept of Getaway is simply that: To escape everyday hassles and get in touch with nature.
The cabins will be based in New Hampshire about two hours outside Boston, where the sky is bluer and the stars are brighter.
Staff says the micro-cabins are made with all natural products and aren't as small as you would think.
"Sleeping for four so there's a queen bed and two twins, so it actually feels quite big," Staff says. "You can hang out with six people in one of these houses."
And customers can feel good about going green.
"Our houses are completely off grid so there's solar electricity, propane heat and a propane cook-top and a composting toilet," he says.
But wait there's more.
"Running water, hot and cold so there are a lot of comforts of home we've packed into this unit that in fact we can just roll in and roll off the property."
And quaint comes to mind, the cabins all have names.
"They're all named after our team member's grandparents."
Getaway has just one cabin now, another one is set to roll next month and a third in September. After that, the company will take a breather, and for good reason.
"Unlike building software, like I did in my past life where you can easily change a few lines of code, it's a lot harder to change a house if you've messed up 10 of them."
But these guys are aggressive and they've got big plans.
"We hope to build one or two dozen over the next 12 months at least."
Getaway has hired a carpenter to build the rolling cabins, so I had to ask, how much do they cost to build?
"Yeah, we're not releasing that quite yet, good try."
But for $99 per night, not a bad alternative to a motel room.
For more information visit: http://getaway.house/