events season opens
The Gulf has a world-class events season — and nowhere premium to sleep.
Nine months a year, the UAE and Saudi run an unbroken calendar of festivals, motorsport, golf, wellness and corporate events. Almost none can offer guests a premium place to stay on site. Wanderlust is a movable luxury camp that drops into any of them — an overnight village by night, a VIP lounge by day. One kit, a whole season of demand.
Vren Heierli has staged experiences for the Gulf's biggest names — for 25 years.
MESE Award winner. Lead decor at Zero Gravity. The first person in the UAE to turn shipping containers into event venues — a category she defined.
- ›Cartier Polo · Formula 1 · Dubai Boat Show · World Air Games · XDubai
- ›First to import an Airstream food truck to the UAE
- ›6,000 plates in three days — celebrity-chef pop-up, Taste of Dubai
- ›On the Expo 2020 pre-event team
- ›Re-bookable roster: INEOS · KTM · BMW · Mercedes · Emirates NBD · ENOC · Platinum Heritage
A proven, asset-backed camp — available to acquire and scale before the season.
An operating, licensed glamping camp — 40 teepees, full infrastructure, a swimming pool. The kit is available to acquire for AED 100,000 — a fraction of what it cost to build — with a total AED 180,000 raise (AED 100k kit · AED 30k transport · AED 50k licence & refurbishment) to relaunch it under Vren in time for the season that opens in September. Not a punt on an idea — a category-defining business, available at the right moment, to the buyer who's ready first.
*Replacement value to be confirmed from the operator's records before circulation.
Not a concept — a working camp with a delivered client list.
*Guest-nights and build value to be confirmed from Vren's records before circulation.
Mercedes-Benz Off-Road Experience, KTM ride weekends and private desert camps — delivered, photographed, re-bookable. See the track record →
She built the Middle East's first container venue in 2011 — and it's still open.
Vren built the first container project in the Middle East — the Meydan golf café, 2011, still in daily use — and a decade of branded pop-up venues from shipping containers: Cartier Polo, the Formula 1 beach club, the Dubai Boat Show, the World Air Games. The movable camp is the same instinct, evolved.
One kit, six revenue streams — a slow month in one fills from another.
Festival village
Beds beside the stage. Solves traffic and drink-driving; hands the promoter a VIP tier to sell.
Bespoke private camp
2–100 guests, any location, fully themed.
Corporate & wellness
CSR days, offsites, retreats, ice-bath / breathwork / yoga.
Car & motorsport
Off-road + catering. The INEOS / KTM / BMW / Mercedes model.
Day VIP lounge
Golf, concerts, marathons, F1. Branded chill-out lounges.
Ramadan / Iftar
Corporate iftar hosting & branded majlis. A differentiated seasonal play that fills the spring calendar.
Mapped against the UAE market — Wanderlust wins across all six opportunity areas.
Every player scored on what they sell, to whom, at what price and how much of a threat — across festivals, corporate camping, wellness, motorsport, day VIP and the new Ramadan / Iftar play. The opportunity map shows where to push now and where to differentiate.
The same kit becomes a day VIP lounge or a 120-bed overnight village.
The same teepees, washrooms, pool and food truck reconfigure between a fast day-VIP lounge and a full overnight village. Footprints are indicative — to be confirmed against each venue.
Three ways it sells — and all three channels already exist in the UAE.
The camp sells three ways — direct to the end client, through the event companies that produce the events, and through the DMC and tourism-authority channel. All three already exist in the UAE.
Festivals, brands & corporates
Promoters, motorsport and brand teams book the camp for their own event — the INEOS, KTM, Laureus and Mercedes model Vren already runs.
Event & production companies
The agencies that win the brief and build the event sub-contract the camp as a supplier — accommodation and hospitality inside a bigger production. Flash Entertainment, Done Events and the festival promoters all buy this way.
DMCs & tourism authorities
Destination management companies (Vren already works with Platinum Heritage) book camps for MICE groups, incentives and tour programmes; and the emirates’ tourism authorities — DCT Abu Dhabi, Dubai DET, RAKTDA, Experience AlUla — commission signature destination experiences. Recurring, high-volume, mid-week demand.
35+ Gulf events a season already need beds on site.
We track 35+ Gulf events a movable camp can serve — by country, by date — from the Dubai Rugby Sevens and the golf majors to Liwa, the desert rallies, the festivals and the wellness calendar. A sample below; the full live calendar is in the data room.
UNTOLD Dubai
High fitOvernight festival village + VIP zones beside the stage.
Emirates Dubai Sevens
High fit3-day festival on huge grounds — VIP camps + overnight village.
Kayan Wellness
LIVEGlamping + standard tents for the region's largest wellness festival.
Golf — 5 UAE events
Fairway VIP day lounges, Nov & Jan: DP World Tour Champ., Abu Dhabi, Dubai Desert Classic.
Liwa / Moreeb Dune
High fitDesert festival camping + premium VIP; includes UTV / Polaris RZR racing.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Branded overnight + hospitality pods, Yas weekend.
Full 35+ event calendar — UAE, Saudi & Oman, by country and date — lives in the data room (Airtable, calendar view).
About AED 2.5m a season — and roughly half is profit.
Fifty events across the season, at Vren's real price points. The base case in full:
| Revenue stream (Year 1 base case) | Events | Avg deal | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marquee festival / large event | 2 | AED 250,000 | AED 500,000 |
| Private / bespoke camp (weekend) | 14 | AED 45,000 | AED 630,000 |
| Corporate wellness / team | 14 | AED 40,000 | AED 560,000 |
| Car / brand activation | 4 | AED 60,000 | AED 240,000 |
| Day VIP lounge | 16 | AED 11,000 | AED 176,000 |
| Camp hire subtotal | 50 | AED 2,106,000 | |
| Food / food-truck (60% margin) | AED 280,000 | ||
| 3rd-party add-ons (50% margin) | AED 150,000 | ||
| Total revenue | AED 2,536,000 | ||
| EBITDA (after season costs) | ~50% | AED 1,261,000 |
Years 2 & 3 — the ramp
Year 1 is the current base case. Years 2–3 grow event counts and modest price, margins held ~50–54% — cumulative 3-year EBITDA ~AED 5.7m. Full editable model with all three years in the data room below.
Use of funds — AED 180k: AED 100k kit buy-in · AED 30k transport · AED 50k licence & refurbishment. Additional covers/decor funded from bookings as events confirm.
What clients say — on the record, with one already booking.
Every quote, reference letter and demand email is logged — see the testimonials data →
“Incredible ability to create meaningful, well-organized, transformative retreat experiences… participants leave feeling inspired, connected and renewed. I highly recommend Vren.”
“We absolutely love what you've created… incredibly impressed by the quality and creativity of your setups… a perfect fit for many of our corporate and leisure guests. We look forward to unforgettable moments in the season ahead.”
“I have known Vren for twenty years, and she has consistently been my go-to for creative concepts… reliable, imaginative and highly skilled at turning concepts into engaging experiences. I would wholeheartedly recommend her.”
Live enquiry, in hand: a full camping proposal requested for Kayan Wellness Festival 2026 — 20 glamping + 180 standard tents, seating 100–200. The region’s largest wellness festival, asking now.
“We have worked with Vren on several day and overnight events with groups of 30–40, and have consistently had a very positive experience… she pays attention to the details and makes an extra effort to ensure everything runs smoothly… We look forward to more events in the coming season and beyond.”
Video testimonial confirmed — on its way.
Video testimonial confirmed — on its way.
Footage from real camps.
Real footage from camps Vren has built and run — partner retreats, brand activations, desert rides and wellness setups. No stock.
The full P&L, and the data behind every figure.
The Excel model downloads for offline review. Airtable links open the live, always-current data.
AED 100–130k buys a kit worth more than the loan.*
*In negotiation.
Independent replacement value ~AED 1m* — the kit covers the investment. Full asset register in the data room. *To confirm with the operator.
Questions investors ask.
Why is it available at this price?
The current owner is moving on and wants a clean, quick handover. The price reflects timing and circumstance — not the quality of the kit, which is sound, insurable and asset-backed. The buyer's only real edge is being ready now, before the season.
One asset, one founder — isn't that fragile?
The kit is insurable and asset-backed; the crew is freelance and scales per event; Articulate runs the demand side. Key-person risk is real and it's priced into the terms, not hidden.
It's seasonal — what happens in summer?
It runs Sept–May with near-zero fixed cost off-season and per-event staffing. Summer is dormant by design, not a loss. The model already assumes it.
What's committed versus projected?
Committed and evidenced: a AED 333,400 Laureus invoice, a live Kayan proposal for 200 tents, an inbound GoToDXB partnership. Projected: the ~AED 2.5m season. We never blur the two.
Is AED 2.5m credible?
It's ~50 events — Vren's own historical cadence — at her real price points. The downside case is AED 2.0m at the same ~50% margin. Every driver gets locked with the operator before you wire a dirham.
What do I get for AED 180k?
Asset-backed downside — AED 100–130k buys a kit worth more than the whole loan, with AED 30k transport and AED 50k licence & refurbishment getting it event-ready — structured as a short-term loan with equity, or a JV. Repaid inside the first major event.
Why her over an agency?
25 years, a MESE award, the first to turn shipping containers into event venues in the UAE, and a re-bookable roster: INEOS, KTM, BMW, Mercedes, Emirates NBD. You're backing an operator, not a tent.
What about the previous business?
Wander Retreats built the kit, the licences and the client list. This is the same operator and the same assets, relaunched leaner — the track record carries over.
This model is proven worldwide — and backed by serious capital.
Movable luxury camps are a proven, fundable category worldwide — from festival pop-ups to PE-backed park resorts, and into the Gulf via AlUla and Dubai. None combine Vren’s movable, multi-format kit with the UAE’s event calendar the way Wanderlust does.
Camp Kerala
Collective Retreats
Screenshots are generated live from each operator’s site. A comparable-set summary — model, clients, locations, owners/backers — is maintained in the data room.
AED 180,000. Short-term loan with equity, or JV.
AED 100–130k acquires the full kit; AED 30k transport and AED 50k licence & refurbishment get it event-ready. Repaid inside the first major event. A seasonal, low-fixed-cost business with a 35+ event pipeline, live demand in hand, and a three-year path to ~AED 2.6m EBITDA.
Vren Heierli
Founder · Wanderlust Events · Very Vivid Events FZE · +971 58 569 7077
Draft investment memo. Figures marked * to be confirmed. Vren photography is placeholder, to be replaced. Event imagery illustrative. Built by Articulate.