Of Course There's an Airbnb For RV Rentals
Jakob Helbig
The great American road trip is the stuff of mythology, and now it’s just gotten a little bit easier—if you have RV travel in mind. Outdoorsy is a new start-up that TechCrunch reports is essentially the Airbnb of RV rentals. Owners list their personal rigs on the site’s marketplace, where potential renters can decide on the vehicle that most appeals. The ultimate idea is for owners to make money off the RVs which they presumably aren’t using all the time, and for renters to have more options for their trips.
Though RV rentals already exist, Outdoorsy seems to grant a lot more flexibility to the owners in particular. As the site’s FAQ notes, owners are free to set the parameters of RV usage: they can decline renters, specify any restrictions on where the renters take their rigs, create their own cancellation and pet policies, and more.
But this flexibility could also be a boon to renters. Outdoorsy says that many of its owners have outdoor gear like kayaks and bikes that they might be willing to rent out in addition to the RV. If you’re delayed or having too much fun on your trip, you can also request to keep the rig for longer, though that’s entirely up to the owner’s description. And, the site claims, some owners “will even stock the fridge full of cold ones upon request.” Both the renter and the owner are covered by a $1 million liability insurance policy, too.
TechCrunch notes that the RV lifestyle and the Outdoorsy concept, by extension, might seem particularly “romantic” to millennial travelers. And that certainly seems to be where Outdoorsy is aiming, noting in press materials that millennials are increasingly interested in RV travel—and also noting that most American RV owners don’t use their rigs for most of the year.
Millennials aside, rentals through Outdoorsy are fairly straightforward. Start off by searching for rigs in or near your city of departure, and narrow that search by the dates you want to travel, the number of guests in the group, price, and RV type. Other criteria like pet-friendliness, distance covered, mileage included, and more can be hammered out in conversation with the owner before submitting your payment, just as is the case with Airbnb. So have at it, would-be RV travelers.
