Travel Research: Rental Market Shows RVing is Here to Stay
Much like vacation rentals, interest in recreational vehicle accommodations soared amid the pandemic as travelers sought out safe modes of travel, according to a posting at PhocusWire.com, a website devoted to research in the travel industry.
Investor attention followed, with a number of RV rental platforms and peer-to-peer marketplaces attracting financing and undergoing efforts to professionalize their services to meet evolving consumer expectations.
Now almost three years into the pandemic, RV travel is showing little indication of slowing down: RV rental marketplace Outdoorsy, for example, just reached a milestone $2 billion in total transactions following a record year in 2021.
Other platforms are seeing sustained growth, as well: RV membership platform Harvest Hosts says membership signups and interest in RVing remain at all-time highs, while peer-to-peer marketplace RVshare says bookings are exponentially higher than pre-pandemic levels.
As Outdoorsy co-founder and CEO Jeff Cavins puts it: “Once the consumer knows they can have more, there’s no going back.”
Renting an RV has come a long way since the days of illegal listings on Craigslist, Cavins says, when there were no precautions such as driver record checks or insurance coverage. “The trip was reckless on both sides of the table,” he says. “We saw this as a ‘bleeding from the neck’ problem’ in desperate need of a solution.”
Founded in 2014, Austin, Texas-based Outdoorsy “added a level of trust, safety and professionalization to the RV rental experiences so guests could fully enjoy their vacations,” Cavins says.
Since then, Outdoorsy’s partnership with its hosts has resulted in more than five million days of booked travel through RV rentals available in 4,800 cities throughout the United States and Canada.
In June 2021, it raised $120 million, bringing the rental marketplace’s total funding to $227 million. And despite a year of inflation and rising fuel costs, Outdoorsy’s momentum has remained strong.
“The pandemic elevated traveler awareness of RV rentals as an accommodation option,” Cavins says, “and we’ll still realize gains from this new awareness for years to come.”
Cavins continues that Outdoorsy’s repeat booking rate is at an all-time high for 2022 – up 26% year-on-year and up 231% from 2019.
To read the entire PhocusWire.com article, click here.
Source: https://rvbusiness.com/travel-research-rental-market-shows-rving-is-here-to-stay/
