After its success in France, , the boat rental portal between individuals, is launched in Spain. The concept is simple and aims to reduce the maintenance costs of pleasure boats while making navigation affordable for those who do not own their own boat. Laurent Calando, one of the founders of the brand, tells Evasión the keys and conditions of how to use his platform to make private boats profitable while they are at the pier ‘spending money’.
How much money can the maintenance of a recreational boat cost?
To have a general idea on the subject, maintenance involves expenses each year that correspond to approximately 10% of the purchase price of the boat.
According to data provided by your company, in 2014 300% of boats have gone from private use to commercial use for rental: why do you think this trend is occurring?
With the crisis, many shipowners have not been able to meet the costs of owning a boat. The solution to be able to cope has been to put the boat up for rent to get some money and thus not have to sell it. Because when you like the sea and sailing, you love your boat.
In addition, in the pre-crisis period, upper-middle class people who did not have a nautical tradition acquired boats, but who no longer want to leave it. Navigation engages both owners and users.
Also, the collaborative economy is increasingly present in our lives and it seems logical to share underused goods.
In this rental process through SamBoat: what percentage does the owner of the boat get?
An owner can register his boat on the portal for free and without obligation. We charge a commission to the owner for the rentals he makes with us. We charge 15% commission. We have boats that are very successful and that have already completed the season, there really are owners who have already made the annual maintenance costs of the boat profitable.
Do you advise the owners to improve the facilities or decoration of the boat to make it more profitable?
We advise the owners to have a perfectly maintained boat and not to leave too many personal items so that the renters can project themselves well. A well-maintained boat with a simple and beautiful decoration attracts customers much more, since they are based on the equipment present on the boat and on the photos present in the advertisement.
Who sets the rental price?
The owner sets his rental price based on the market, we advise individuals to set prices 30% cheaper than professionals. We also offer a price simulator that advises a price according to the type of boat, the area where it is located and how old it is.
What security measures do you have so that the owner trusts you with his boat?
Renters when they create an account on the portal, fill out a “Nautical CV” indicating the navigation skills they have, in the event that they want to rent a boat without a skipper, they have to upload a copy of the original document of the title of navigation. The owner is thus sure that his tenant can handle the boat.
The boat reservation is confirmed only when the customer has paid through the portal. Payment is made online, which allows it to be secure. We provide a rental contract and also manage the deposit, which means that the owner does not have to worry about whether the client has paid or not, and avoid conflicts when charging the deposit if a problem has arisen.
Samboat’s goal is also to create a community of trust. Each user is evaluated after each rental. We also take care of ruling out bad users, which allows us to guarantee a good quality of advertisements and tenants.
Are the weeks that the boat is rented agreed with the owner?
When the owner receives an application, he can accept or reject it. He manages his schedule as he pleases so that he can dispose of his ship whenever he feels like it. The owner is free on how he wants to rent his boat. He can choose to rent it without a skipper or with a skipper for the day or for full weeks.
During the winter we receive many requests from people who have vacation projects for the summer, generally they are requests for a week or more. During the high season (July and August) is where the activity is at its maximum and they are more like daily rentals.
What services do you offer to the owner?
We relate the owners with the clients through the platform, we take care of facilitating the reservation process, payments, communication between the two parties to finalize the rental. We provide a rental contract and a deposit management through a pre-authorization on the customer’s bank card. In case of problem, it allows us to access it, facilitating the management of the owner.
In France we have a network of local representatives (nautical professionals) in each port; If the owners do not have time to manage the rentals, they can request a representative who will be in charge of managing the rentals and everything that goes with it. We are currently creating a network in Spain. For the cleaning of the boat, it depends on the owners. Clients can pay extra for cleaning or take care of delivering the clean boat.
We have a customer service present 7 days a week to help tenants in case of problems during the stay.
Do some of the boats have a purchase option?
No, SamBoat exists so that boat owners can monetize expenses and allow people who do not have a boat to enjoy sailing.
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