A major resort project cannot always start with a heavy capital hotel, which requires a lot of investment, long design, complex financing, long construction and high risk of error. For an emerging resort area, it is often better to start with the first stage: apart units, modular houses, glamping city, bath complex, cafe, routes, medical or wellness unit and a basic service center.
The first priority is not just to open doors for the first guests, but to revitalize the land, prove demand, generate revenue, create photos, testimonials, customer base, financial statistics and investor trust, and then the territory ceases to be an abstract land asset and becomes a working resort project.
1.The first stage should prove the model, not close the whole project.
The developer's big mistake is to try to build the perfect resort at once. In theory, it looks beautiful: a big hotel, restaurant, swimming pool, medical center, glampings, cottages, roads, services, parking, landscape and all infrastructure at once. In practice, this approach requires a lot of money and creates a high risk: if the concept, prices, loading or operating model turns out to be wrong, it will be expensive to correct the mistake.
The first line has to be different. It's about quickly testing key hypotheses: Who comes? How many days? What prices? What buys besides accommodation? What services are in demand? How does seasonality work? What rooms are better sold? Should the pool be first or first more important than the bath and routes? What kind of food is suitable? How much is the cleaning? What kind of staff? What kind of feedback do guests leave?
In development, the first step is not just the start of construction, it's a tool for market verification.
2.Modular accommodation facilities have already become a recognized trend in Russia
In Russia, the state has actually recognized modular non-capital accommodation as a separate tool for tourism development.The Russian government in April 2025 approved the rules for granting subsidies for the creation of modular hotels in 2025-2027. This program provides 15 billion rubles of federal funding, and support can cover up to 50% of the cost of the project, but not more than 1.5 million rubles per room.
In 2026, the Ministry of Economic Development first estimated the demand for such facilities: in 2025, about 2.4 thousand modular non-capital accommodation facilities worked in Russia, more than 2.7 million tourists stayed in them, and the average load for the year was about 35%.
In 2026, the Ministry of Economic Development also reported on the selection of 58 investment projects worth 1.8 billion rubles for the construction of modular non-capital accommodation facilities, which confirms that state support will strengthen fast, flexible and nature-oriented accommodation formats.
This is especially true in Altai, where mountainous terrain, sophisticated engineering, seasonal logistics, and the high cost of capital construction make modular first not a temporary weakness, but a rational way to launch.
3.Glamping is not a tent, but a separate market for natural hospitality
Glamping is often misunderstood as a beautiful tent or a lightweight campground, and in fact, the global glamping market has become a separate segment of hospitality, combining nature, comfort, privacy, unusual architecture, sustainability and a living experience that is different from a standard hotel room.
According to Global Market Insights, the global glamping market was estimated at $2.6 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow to $5.6 billion by 2035 with an average annual growth rate of around 8.3%. Other analytical estimates give an even higher forecast: Global Insight Services estimates market growth from $4.8 billion in 2025 to $13.1 billion by 2035 with an average annual growth of about 9.8%. Different estimates differ, but the overall conclusion is that the demand for comfortable living in nature continues to grow. (gminsights.com, globalinsights.com, globalinsights.com)
For Altai, glamping is particularly organic. The tourist comes here not for a city room, but for nature. But the mass tourist is not always ready for a tent, no shower, bad bed and domestic discomfort. He wants nature without losing the basic quality of life: warmth, bathroom, clean underwear, good bed, security, beautiful view, food, routes and service.
That is why glamping city can become a strong first stage of a resort project.
4. Aparthotel and modular units solve different tasks
Aparthotels are more capital, investor-friendly models, where you can sell units, transfer them to management, build a financial model of profitability, connect a management company and form a hotel fund, and an aparthotel is good where you already have a strong location, clear infrastructure, demand for personal use and investment product.
Modular units and glamping houses work faster, and can be run in stages, tested on different typologies, reconfigured, added new blocks, and shifted between family, pair, premium, expedition and wellness formats.
For the first stage, it's better not to pit these models against each other. They can work together. The aparthotel gives investors a clear property; the glamping city gives the territory a quick life, photos, emotion and natural experience; modular units give flexibility; the bath complex, the cafe, the routes and the medical unit give the guest a reason to stay.
The first stage should not be one building, but the collected minimum resort product.
Minimum composition of the first stage
The first phase of a resort project should not only include accommodation, if you build only houses, you get a sleepover, if you add services, you get a resort environment.
The minimum composition can be as follows: 20-50 modular units or glamping houses, a small cafe or restaurant, a bath complex, an administrative and service unit, a reception, a business area, a clothing warehouse, a laundry room or an agreement with an external laundry room, a route bureau, a basic medical or wellness room, a lecture and meeting area, equipment rental, parking, an engineering hub, walking trails, viewpoints and several ready-made excursion scenarios.
For Altai, it is important to immediately lay down activities: horse routes, rafting, hiking, quad bikes, snowmobiles in winter, photo tours, glamping trips, excursions to natural points. Without activity, the guest will quickly tire of the territory. With activity, he stays longer and buys more services.
The first step is to answer the question: What does a man do here for three, seven, fourteen days?
6.The bath complex and water are often more important than the large pool at the start
In presentations, you often want to show swimming pools, water zones, spas and large-scale public spaces, which is right for the final concept, but not always right for the first stage. A large pool requires capital expenditure, engineering, heating, cleaning, personnel and fixed costs.
At the start, it is sometimes wiser to run a strong bath complex, fonts, warm water, species areas, a small year-round water area, vats, massage, recovery procedures and walking routes, which are cheaper, faster, better connected to nature and work well in the winter season.
For the Altai Bath, hot water, silence, snow, mountains, river and recovery after the route can be stronger than a standard urban pool. Later, when the load is proven, you can expand the water infrastructure: pools, thermal zones, winter gardens, indoor green spaces, a spa and a wellness center.
In the first stage, it is important not to build everything, but to choose what gives the maximum effect for the guest and minimal risk for the capital.
7.The medical or wellness block is required from the first stage
If a project is positioned as a health resort ecosystem, a medical or wellness area cannot be postponed to the distant future, but it should be present already in the first stage, at least in a compact form.
At the start, this can be a doctor's or counselor's office, a diagnostic room, a lecture hall, a space for a health school, sleep programs, stress, nutrition, soft movement, breathing, bath practices, walks and personalized care. If there are licensed medical services, they must be run strictly in a legal regime, with staff, documents, contraindications and medical responsibility.
The first wellness unit is not to replace a full-fledged sanatorium, but to create meaning for the stay, and the person must understand that he came not just to live in a house, but to restore energy, to complete the program, to change the regime, to gain knowledge and return in a better state.
This is especially important for unit sales: An investor is quicker to believe in profitability if he sees not only the numbers but also the reason for the load.
8 First phase creates data for financial model
Before the project is launched, all the numbers are forecast. Once the first phase is launched, the real data comes in: average load, average overnight price, seasonality, guest structure, sales channels, cleaning costs, staff, marketing, utility bills, repairs, average supplementary service check, repeat visits, reviews, booking deadline, depth of sales and price sensitivity.
This data is critical for the next line, and it shows you which rooms to build next, which area is optimal, which services pay off, which sales channels work, which guests pay more, which mistakes need to be corrected.
For a negotiation with a bank, a developer, an investor, and a management company, the real performance of the first stage is much stronger than any presentation, and the working area sells better than an empty master plan.
9.The first phase increases the value of the remaining land
The land before the project is launched is assessed as potential, and once the first phase is launched, it is assessed as a proven demand area, which changes the bargaining position of the landowner.
If you already have guests, revenue, photos, reviews, services, routes, staff and management team on site, it's easier for the next developer to enter. He sees the place works. The investor sees that it's not an abstract dream. The bank sees operational data. The municipality sees jobs and the tax perspective.
So the first phase can be a tool to capitalize not only the built facilities, but the rest of the land, and this is one of the main arguments for rapid launch through modular and glamping formats.
10.The architecture of the first stage should be premium, but not heavy.
Modular format doesn't have to look like a time bar. The mistake many projects make is to put cheap houses that spoil the perception of the territory. In a resort development, the appearance of the first stage sets the level of the entire project.
We need architecture that looks easy, natural and premium: wood, glass, terraces, view windows, high-quality textiles, warm light, competent landing on the relief, privacy, preservation of trees, trails, small forms, thoughtful navigation, a single style.
The international market shows that modular and semi-mobile solutions can be architecturally strong. For example, BIG and Nokken have unveiled Softshell’s modular sustainable cabin concept for luxury off-grid camping: lightweight construction, climate adaptation, autonomous systems, smart-tech and minimal site impact.
This is especially important in Altai, where poor-quality first line can permanently reduce the status of the territory, and a good first line creates a visual brand and increases confidence in the future resort.
11.The management company must participate before construction
A common mistake is to build first, then find an operator. In an aparthotel, glamping and modular resort, it's dangerous. The management company has to be involved in the design phase.
The operator understands in advance what types of rooms will be sold, where the warehouse of clothes is needed, how many parking lots are needed, how the reception should work, where the staff area should be, how to organize cleaning, where to put engineering blocks, how to breed the flow of guests and household services, which rooms will be noisy, which - premium, which - family, which - for couples.
If you get the operator on late, you can build a beautiful but uncomfortable facility, and then it will hit the costs, reviews, loads and returns of investors.
The first stage should be designed not only by the architect, but also by future operation.
12.Phase one units can be used as an investment product
The first phase can be financed partly through unit sales, but it needs to be done carefully, because the investor cannot sell only the promise of high returns, but needs to explain the model: the facility, the management company, the commission, the costs, the repair fund, the personal use, the rules of the reservation by the owner, the reporting, the payment terms, the exit procedure, taxes and seasonal risks.
The first-line unit is particularly interesting because the investor enters early, and if the territory develops properly, it can generate not only operating income, but also an increase in the value of the object, but it must be honestly served: the return depends on the load, service, reputation, expenses and development of the entire territory.
For Altai, a strong formula is this: an investor buys not just a house or an apartment, but a place in the growing resort ecosystem.
13.When is it better to use a project AO instead of selling units
Not all of the first-line items need to be sold as units, some elements are better arranged through a project company or a separate operating company, such as a bath complex, restaurant, rental, tour bureau, medical unit, service center, glamping network or transport operator.
In this model, the investor does not buy a specific number, but shares in the company that owns or operates the business, which is convenient where the revenue is generated by common services rather than by a single property, the unit owner receives income from the placement, the service company shareholder can profit from baths, excursions, meals, rental, transfers or medical programs.
A resort town needs both models: units for accommodation and design companies for services, and then the economy gets deeper and investors can be offered different levels of participation.
14.The first phase should be scalable
The start-up project needs to be designed to be expanded without disrupting the existing system, and roads, engineering, reception, service areas, utility blocks, parking lots, routes and recreation areas need to take into account future queues.
A bad start is when the first stage is built randomly and then interferes with development, and a good start is when each next stage reinforces the previous one.
So for example, you start with 30 modular units, bathhouses, cafes and routes. You add an apart housing. You add a medical facility. You add a glamping satellite. You get a water and bath complex. You get a service center. You get a design AO for individual services. If you put all of this in the master plan, you grow in a manageable way.
Scaling is the main point of the first phase, and it should be the beginning of the system, not a temporary project.
15.A practical conclusion for Altai
For the Altai Republic, the first phase of a resort project should be fast, beautiful, manageable and evidence-based, it doesn't have to be huge at once, but it should show that the area works: people come, stay, pay, come back, buy services, leave feedback and understand the meaning of the place.
The optimal first phase could include apart units, glamping houses, modular houses, bath complex, cafe, route bureau, wellness block, lecture space, rental, walking trails and active tours, enough to make the land stop being an empty asset and start turning into a resort ecosystem.
The big takeaway is that the first line should not just build, but start the economy of the territory, and it creates demand, data, trust, photos, reviews, revenue and land value growth.
Aparthotel, glamping city and modular units can be the right first phase of a resort project in Altai, an approach that allows you not to wait for the full construction of a large hotel, but to quickly launch the territory, check demand, get first guests, generate feedback, generate revenue and show investors a working model.
Modular accommodation facilities have already become a recognized destination in Russia: the state subsidizes such projects, and in 2025 more than 2.7 million tourists stayed in modular facilities. For Altai, this is especially true because the mountainous territory requires flexible, fast and neat formats that do not destroy the natural environment and allow the development of the project in stages.
The first phase should include not only houses or units, but a minimum resort system: accommodation, bathhouse, cafe, wellness block, routes, rental, service center, management company and stay program, then the object begins to work not as a set of rooms, but as a future resort city, where each next stage increases the value of the entire territory.