How to start a successful boat rental company
Looking to start a new business in the boating industry? Whether it’s electric boat rental or renting out sailing boats, the key to success is a strong business model.
This is an amazing market with lots of potential, but there are plenty of pitfalls too. Luckily, we’ve got you covered! With years of experience of helping boat rental companies become market leaders, we can show you how to avoid the common mistakes that waste time and money.
Let’s book is the place for expert tips that will help you beat the competition. With our step-by-step guide on how to run a successful boat rental business, you’re on your way.
Be in demand
Start by finding out whether or not there is a demand for your boating business. To be successful, you’ll need to be answering a demand from customers.
Boating might not be ideal for everyone when it’s pouring with rain outside, but who wouldn’t love to be on the water when the sun is shining?
Make sure you check out the competition as well, to find out what they’re offering and if your business will bring something new or better to the table.
And don’t just blatantly follow them, be creative with new ideas and concepts to give your customers the ultimate experience. Market leaders don’t follow the rest, which is why they are called leaders.
It’s all about location!
Most types of boat rental aren’t primarily about the boats, but the location where the boats are rented from. Locations need to be reachable, visible and attractive.
And if your location is invisible/unappealing in the real world, then you’d better make it visible and attractive online! Around each rental location you can create your own unique market. What is better than a good rental location? More rental locations!
They allow you to access new markets and new types of customers. Your business will gain more revenue and be more robust for the future.
But only expand to new locations if you can afford to buy more boats. A boat rental location is hardly appealing if there are only two boats. Also be aware that optimizing your business can be a challenge if you need to split your attention over multiple locations.
Just be smart and don’t jump into new adventures if you are not ready. But if you are ready … then go for it!
Finding the perfect boat
So many choices … so many mistakes you can make. Don’t buy boats that you think look good, buy boats that can help you to reach your goal – creating a beautiful business that generates good profit.
This may seem like obvious advice, but there is a clear difference between these two perspectives. There are a lot of things that can break on boats, especially if these ‘things’ get heavy use. Boats cost money, and so does maintenance. How do you maintain your fleet in good shape and how do you prevent boats from letting you down in the middle of the season?
You will have to keep a strong focus on nuts and bolts, while at the same time making sure your boats look fabulous – it’s about the right balance between good looks and an easy-to-maintain fleet.
When it comes to expanding your fleet, it makes sense to buy more of the boats you already have rather than adding a lot of different models. This will help you both to optimize your bookings and your maintenance.
Check local legislation, get insurance
As fun as it is to be on the water, renting out your boats is not without risk or regulation. Most local authorities only allow boat rental from your dream location with the proper permit to do so. Make sure you do your research with regard to local legislation, get the licenses you need (this could involve more paperwork than you expect and take time, so do your homework in advance) then prepare for rental. Since there will be a ton of risks involved in running a boating company, managing them is important. Get insurance at an early stage to cover these risks so you can keep your focus on renting out your lovely boats!
Set up your branding, website and management software
Keep it simple. Offer your customers a quick and easy way to find all the information they need, automate the actual rental process and make sure you have a speedy way to manage all bookings. To help you with all the necessities of a boat rental website we’ve written an entire blog dedicated to getting you set up with the perfect website!
It’s vital to your business to show your customers you have everything under control. By offering them all the information they need at the click of a button, you’ll gain their trust and in turn increase your chances of making the sale.
Let’s book!
Experience complete control over bookings, planning, payments, marketing, fleet management plus all communication between you, your customers and your boats. Our quick and easy software is key to turning your business into a success! Check it out today.
Go live with your new boat rental business!
Now that you’re up and running, it’s time to get the word out. Your amazing boats are available for rental and everyone should know about it!
Consider upgrading your social media game (we’ve written a blog on starting your social media presence)
Invite friends and family to sail with you to streamline every step of the process.
Add your company to Google my business and ask everyone who sails with you to leave a review in sites such as Google and tripadvisor to spread the love for your company.
Want to do more? To truly get noticed, make sure you keep your website fresh by writing blogs, as well as advertising and creating a lively presence on social media. Local media will also be interested to know about your newly opened business. Show everyone the fun of boating life and you’re certain to pull in more customers!
Buy more boats, hire staff and expand!
With this great start, you will be able to get your business up and running in no time. Your bookings will be overflowing, and you will be looking to expand.
To properly manage your sales you’ll need to further automate your booking process, communication flow and marketing. This will also be the stage to get as much data-driven insight as possible into your company.
Our flexible software can help , both with keeping staff costs to a minimum thanks to automation and by giving you all the inside information you need. With Let’s book, you’ll spend less time managing your rentals, leaving plenty of chance to think about how best to expand your company using the insights our software provides.
And that’s it! Starting your own boating company is a great idea, and at Let’s book we have happily helped our fair share of companies become industry leaders. Will you be next?
