In recent years, online boat rental businesses have played a major role in the growing country’s economy. The expert says the US boat rental market will reach $19.7bn by 2030, as the interest of users are growing rapidly and they want to feel luxurious to see the beauty and elevated their experience.
The industry demand was growing during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing safe and reliable travel experience and this will also stand far from crowded places. The booking process for boat rental business is done with the help of online boat rental software so this will help you to manage your booking easily with contactless booking.
The online boat rental industry shows significant profit and demand increases so the reason is too many new players are entering in online rental business industry. In this article, you will learn about the top players in this online boat rental business industry, website creation tips for boat rental, and important activities that will help you to launch your own online boat rental business.
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Top Players in The Online Boat Rental Business
According to 2024, the following are the top players in the online boat rental industry worldwide that are mentioned below with the details of company name, CEO name, established year, and also the funding amount.
- Boatsetter – This is a USA based online boat rental industry that was established in 2012. This company CEO is Aclyn Baumgarten and the total fund raised by the company is up to $27M.
- GetMyBoat – This is also a USA / Canada based online boat rental industry that was founded in 2012. This company CEO is Sascha Mornell and the fund raises up to $ 15M.
- Zizooboats – This is an Austria based online boat rental company that was established in 2014. The company CEO is Anna Banicevic and total fund raise is up to $10M.
- BorrowABoat – This is a United Kingdom online boat rental company that was established in 2017. This business CEO is Matt Ovenden and total funds raised up to $5M.
- GlobeSailor – This one is a france based online boat rental industry that was founded in 2014. The company CEO is Laurent Calando and the total fund raised up to $300K.
This is one of the best companies in the online boat rental industry that will expand their business day to day. If you are looking for unique and profitable business ideas then you can enter this industry and earn lots of money and easily build your identity in a very short time.
Understand The Types of Rental Boats And Target Audience
There are six types of boats that are in high demand in the market. So , if you are planning to enter this industry then you have to show these types of boats on your online boat rental website that are mentioned below.
a. Motor Yachts – The boat size is large and experience required to operate that is minimum. This is basically used for general destinations and their target audience is the general population so, this boat is always used so you have to avail this option all the time.
b. Luxury Yachts – This boat size is very large and experience required to operate that is minimum. This is generally used for voyages and celebration purposes and their target audience is business personality and high income daily so this one gives you more revenue but you have to maintain the class.
c. Catamarans – This boat size is considered as a large but experience required to operate that is moderate. This is basically used for general occasions and watersports and their target audience is those who are interested in a boating experience that is also known as Boating Enthusiasts.
d. Speed Boats – This boat size is small but experience required to operate that is moderate. Their use is for quick transportation and water sports, which is the reason the size of the boat is small . Their target audience is solo travelers, Boating Enthusiasts, and Millenials.
e. Jet Skis – The boat capacity is one to two seater but experience required to operate that is minimum. This is generally used for quick transportation, general purpose and watersports. Their target audience is both the general population and Boating Enthusiasts.
f. Sail Boats – This boat size is small but experience required to operate that is high because their use is watersports that is the reason you have a good experience. Their target audience is only Boating Enthusiasts.
Here are, 3 Activities To Start An Online Boat Rental Business
Following are the major activities that are essential to enter in the online boat rental business. These major activities help you to understand the requirements of boats.
1. Cruising
The demand for cruising is increasing day by day because this one helps people to celebrate their holiday time and they really enjoyed booking a cruise for their vacation. This culture comes from European countries.
The number of global crossing both rental shares are very high so you can’t ignore and this one will be growing day after day. The Cruise organizers are always looking for boats to give a good experience to their customers.
2. Watersports
In the above, we are discussing many of the boats that are used for water sports that are sailing boats, speed boats, and catamarans. Many people want to explore in water so they prefer to use water sports boots because they want to build a memory so there is a good opportunity to launch your business in the online boat rental industry.
Whenever you go to a trip location where you find some of the people are enjoying the water sports in a boat. You will also think about how you can do it so that you feel that you have to enter and rent a boat to create a memorable time. This one is connected with people’s hearts so their demand is never gone.
3. Fishing
Fishing has always been unique and connected with all the types of people because the ancient are interested. Many families want to explore the fishing experience with the help of a boat so this is the reason that you have to enter the online boat rental business.
You can see on the internet many businessmen or even a high income family are going on a trip and they really enjoy a fishing experience. The activities of fishing help to grow your business so you have to just think about the rental software to enable on your website to manage booking.
Types of Rental Agreement
Following are the major and popular types of rental agreement that are used by online boat rental businesses. To conducting successfully and profitable business without any objections that are mentioned in below;
A. Basic Rental Agreement
Small boats that do not need a big crew because this one is basically rented out for short trips that are a week or less. When someone rents these boats they will drive himself and hire a captain to help them. But, if they are choosing to drive himself then they will be able to take responsibility for keeping the boat safe and making sure it does not get damaged.
But in the case of luxurious boats you have to contract special agreements because they need more work. So you can’t rent luxurious boats like small boats.
B. Charter Agreement
Charter agreements involve longer periods of time such as a week or months for renting out of the boat. These agreements are divided into three types that are mentioned in the below. So, read carefully to operate your online boat rental business without any objections;
- Bareboat Charters – Bareboat charters are a type of boat rental where there is no requirement of captain or crew. Those who rent out the boats are responsible to take care of the daily routine of boats, manage all the required things, and they have to deliver in a good condition.
- Cabin Charters – Cabin charters just rent out one cabin on a boat that already has a full crew. So you don’t have to worry about driving or taking care of boats. Basically, you have to share the boat with other passengers that are also renting the cabins like you.
- Crewed Charters – In the crewed charters, when you rent a boat then you have to come with its own captain and crew. This means the crew takes care of everything and you have to just relax and enjoy your trip.
Important Trends For Online Boat Rental Business
The following trends are very important if you are planning to launch your own online boat rental business. These trends are according to customer experience that they feel boat rental industry should be improve so, all the point are mentioned in below;
Demographic Trends
The medium age of customers is about 50 years and are highly regulated in the online boat rental industry. Anyway, boat rental customers are becoming more diverse, With more people joining it with different backgrounds. Recently, Hispanic customers are leading the trend.
Green Boats
Basically green boards are environment friendly and this is fuel efficient. This one boat is more preferred by customers because of many reasons but some of the like – producing less noise, solar and wind power variants. Many of the green boats have a feature to self drive this one is a good concept for new customers.
Safety Switches
The two important features are popular on rental boats: the “kill switch” and the “man – overboard” alarm. The kill switch helps to stop the engine in case of emergency and cuts the power. The man overboard feature helps to pass the signal of alarm alerts to crew and nearby boats. In case someone falls into the water, help them and respond quickly as soon as possible.
Demand of Medium Sized Boats
Many customers are reviewing the size of boats as being about 28 to 45 feet long. Smaller boat sizes are 28 feet that are more popular in the market. Many of the people rent big boats around the size of 35 feet, to rent these boats means you have to invest a lot of money. Many customers are paying you a large amount of money for renting out a boat so you have to fulfill the customer expectation.
Increase of Online Booking
At this time customers are not hesitant to book online for renting out a boat. If they have any in booking they can easily take contact support on a website. To improve customer experience you have to enable a good online boat rental software that has secure payment options, and SSL encryption makes renting boats online safer and more convenient.
Learn The Boat Rental Website Work Process
The work process of online boat rental websites are explained in basically three parts in which the business model of a website, revenue channels and the features. All the things will be discussed below so read carefully to understand the earning and operating concept of the website.
Business Model of a Boat Rental Marketplace Website
A Boat rental Marketplace is developed by connecting with people who own boats and to those who want to rent out. The platform where owner can list their boat with price, size, location, feature, and types. Where renter browse the products and compare to budget then they made a booking on a marketplace website.
The marketplace charged from both sides as well as owner and customer. This feeling will help the Marketplace to cover their investment value and make some profit. If you want to make the booking process easy then you have to work on payment methods and SSL inscriptions. Your customer review should be mandatory to show on your listing because this will help customers to make a decision for renting with the help of previous ratings and reviews.
Customer support is very essential to run a smooth Marketplace because many users may face some problems when renting a boat. Your Marketplace should also collaborate with insurance companies and provide a customer insurance premium plan that will help them from any loss. This business model helps boat owners to earn money with their boats and renters also have a lot of options for their trips.
Revenue Channels of a Boat Rental Website
The owner of a boat rental Marketplace earns money through various revenue channels. You have to focus on these channels because this will help you to generate lots of money for your online boat rental Marketplace website.
- General Commission – The owner of the marketplace can receive a commission for each transaction that is made from the online boat rental marketplace.
- Advertising Model – The owner can collaborate with advertising agencies to promote their products or services on their marketplace. You can get payment through click basis or total view count. This revenue model depends on how your marketplace will be popular in the market.
- Featured Listing Model – Boat owners can be connected to you to show their boat in the ‘featured section’ of the marketplace so you can charge them to show the initial focus area of your marketplace.
- Subscription Model – The online boat rental marketplace owner can create subscription plans for customers by offering free delivery, coupon code on each order, and many more.
Main Functionalities of a Multi Vendor Boat Rental Website
They differ from eCommerce website functionalities so, online boat rental websites have unique functionalities such as a booking calendar to search a boat for specific date and duration. As well as online boat rental website price and invoice calculation is tough these things are more different from regular eCommerce.
For a boat rental website you have to think of features in three categories such as features for customers, boat owners and business owners. Due to the above factors a regular eCommerce website software can’t be used as an online boat rental software.
Features For Customers
In this section you are going to see all the important features in an online boat rental website that is required for customers.
- Advanced Search Options – You have to show the different types of search options such as location, types of motor, duration, activities, and total number of passengers.
- Multiple Payment Integration – Boat rental services price is expensive so you have to give exclusive offers to your customers so they can easily rent out a boat from different payment methods such as credit card, debit card, upi, and any types of wallets.
- Enable Multilingual Options – If you are planning to do something big in the online boat rental industry then you have to optimize your website with multilingual options so this will help users to access all the information in their own language.
- Add Coupon Code – When your customers rent a boat then you have to give some coupon code to attract the customers because they feel some discounts are available at this time of booking. Your coupon code should be according to the festival or any occasion so people will connect with you by their emotion.
- Detailed Invoicing – At that time of check out boat rental you have to mention all the things clearly such as price, days or duration, cancellation charge, any insurance.
Features For Boat Owners
- Complete Boat Owner Profile – In this section you have to complete all the details such as reviews, location of owners, deliver times, and fulfillment orders.
- GPS Tracking – This feature is very important for boat owners to protect their boats from thieves as well as this is also beneficial for security purposes.
- Income Calculator – This calculator helps boat owners to figure out their total income from renting out boats.
Feature For Business Owners
In this section you are going to see all the important features in an online boat rental website that is required for business owners.
- Analytics And Report – The websites should also have the analytics and report features for measuring the tax and sales reports.
- Third Party Integration (TPIs) – You can collaborate with some travel agencies such as – trip advisor, AirBnb. This will help to enhance your boat rental booking.
- Discounts Module – This section helps business owners to create a discount code for their customers according to the festive season.
- Multi User CMS – With the help of this section admin have the ability to control multiple admin areas so to handle a website is more efficient.
Conclusions
Hope this article will help you to start your own online boat rental business. Here we will discuss all the important things that are required for this business.You will also understand the top players in this industry, types of boats and their target audience, boat rental website work process, and important features.
If you have any query or suggestion please feel free to connect with us. you can connect with us via contact form or comment options.
