Pricing models for your boat rental, fixed or flexible

Your electric boat needs a price per hour. Too high, and it stays at the dock on a sunny Tuesday. Too low, and you’re booked solid in July and still can’t pay for the winter storage.

Fixed prices

With a fixed price, a boat costs the same every day, whatever the weather. Say 60 an hour for an electric boat, from May to September.

What fixed prices give you

Easy to explain. Your customer sees one price and knows what they’ll pay.

Easy to plan. You know what a full day brings in, so you can work out your season ahead.

Trust. A customer who pays 60 again this year feels treated fairly, and comes back.

Where fixed prices fall short

They don’t move with demand. A hot Saturday in July sells out by ten, at the same price as a rainy Wednesday that sells nothing. On Saturday you could have asked more. On Wednesday a lower price might have filled a boat.

One price never fits everyone. Some customers find it too high and rent somewhere else. Others would happily have paid more.

Flexible prices

With flexible prices, the price moves with the season, the day or the demand. The same electric boat costs 75 an hour on a Saturday in July and 50 on a weekday in May.

What flexible prices give you

More from your busiest days. When everybody wants a boat, you earn more per hour. On a quiet day, a lower price brings out customers who would have stayed home.

Room to react. When a rental nearby changes its prices, you change yours the same day.

A price for each kind of customer. Regulars pay less, families get a weekday deal, and a customer who books early gets a discount.

Where flexible prices fall short

More work. Every rule is one more thing to set up and check. With one to three boats, that is time you’d rather spend at the dock.

Harder to explain. A customer feels cheated when their neighbor paid less for the same boat last week. Some say so in a review.

Start simple

Start with one fixed price per boat. After the first season, look at which days sold out and which stayed quiet. Then change one thing at a time.

A summer price and an off-season price are a good first step, and they’re still fixed prices. Saturdays in July full by Wednesday? Try a higher Saturday rate. Weekdays in May empty? Try a lower price for customers who book early, or a discount code that only works on those days.

In Let’s Book, you start with a rate per hour and per day for each rental you sell. You add seasons, a weekend rate or an early-booking price when your bookings ask for them.

Next to the price, decide whether you ask for a security deposit, and which add-ons you sell with the boat.