Entrepreneurs are always in search of business opportunities.
Entrepreneurs are always in search of business opportunities. Their primary goal is to introduce new services and products (or in new ways) that no other business offers and to enjoy the benefits of being dominant in that field, making the competition irrelevant.
In this article, we chose the travel industry and narrowed our focus to campervan rentals. Our goal is to determine two basic questions:
Let's start with the fundamental question.
If you are an active social media user, you might have seen photos of people posing inside or next to their fully equipped campervans surrounded by nature.
Those are the younger generation of travelers who seek freedom and adventure at the same time by living on the go. It is not just popular in the US but is an ever-growing trend in other parts of the world as well.
To see the popularity of the trend, just type #Vanlife on any available social media platforms, and the search results will come back with millions of posts.
It is because #VANLIFE is a modern trend with enormous buzz around it.
The study conducted by Sereikaitė & Raišutienė (2022) found that the "Vanlife" keyword gets millions of searches on online platforms:
- Google 20.8 million
- Instagram 12.2 million
- YouTube 3.3 million
According to Yahoo Finance, there were more than 3.1 million Van lifers in the United States alone, which is a 63% increase from 1.9 million in 2020.
In some countries, housing prices have gone up through the roof. For example, according to Zillow, an average home value in the US is around $342,685.
Low-wage people can not afford a house, so they look for alternatives like renting a room or living in an RV or campervan.
If you research social media, it is evident that even people with nice homes try the Vanlife for fun.
A study by Sereikaitė & Raišutienė (2022) lists the top 5 reasons why people prefer van life.
Since we know that van life is increasing trend, renting campervans to van lifers will be a good business idea.
But the idea itself is not enough. Your business model should address the very ambitions that make people vanlife fans in the first place. It means that simply offering bare campervans will not produce good results. You need to equip the vans with all the essentials that will satisfy the desires of vanlife fans.
Digital nomads travel and work at the same, living a laptop lifestyle. So, your campervan should include amenities that will suit their needs.
The availability of the following features will offer more value to vanlife fans, including digital nomads.
The very first reason is campervans become more fashionable than RVs. Youths think traveling in a van is way cooler than bulky and expensive RVs. Minimalism got its fair share here.
We also believe that these six reasons explain why some people prefer campervans:
It is the most asked question by those new to the trend. And businesses should know that, too, so they can construct your business model accordingly.
The answer may vary depending on places and situations.
For example, one of the Vanlife fans mentions that his primary challenge is the windshield tickets for parking in private properties and spots where overnight parking is not allowed.
So, we recommend to follow these guidelines:
You can prop up your business by motivating the target population with an education. Since the van life idea is new, it would help to organize a special course among travel enthusiasts about traveling with campervans.
Your education should include:
- Possibilities and benefits of traveling with campervans
- Usage instructions and safety guidelines
- The list of legal places to park
- Suggestions on best routes and destinations.
Note: Offering specific route maps along with camper vans may ease the concerns of new renters.
Your business plan will define your success and help you navigate through challenges that may arise during your business.
The planning should address the following:
You need to study your target population and try to determine which campervans will be in high demand. If you are targetting wealthy customers, then you need to offer campervans with more luxury and conveniences. However, the downside of it is the need for bigger starting capital.
What if you can't afford to buy campervans?
There are two ways. The first is to seek bank financing or investment from individuals and companies to buy campervans for your business.
The second option is to buy a used van and turn it into a campervan using your creativity. If you decide to take this route, you may find used vans from the following places:
Please note: If you are building a campervan yourself, you must follow all the safety rules to ensure safe & secure vans for clients.
A guy buys a 2012 Volkswagen Crafter for $13000 and turns it into a fantastic campervan. Watch it here.
A couple converts a Fiat Ducato van into a campervan and demonstrates how they do it through a detailed timelapse video. Watch it here.
A man builds a very cool campervan from an old van and shows the process from start to finish. Watch it here.
A study by Sereikaitė & Raišutienė (2022) did a feasibility study on campervan rentals using the Latvian company called "Meza Vans" as an example.
Meza Vans is the first company to initiate this business model in the Baltic States. So, they claim to have no direct competitors.
Even though the company operates with only one vehicle, it got over 75 rentals in a single year (not offered during the winter).
To start a rental business, they purchased a used van vehicle and rebuilt it into a campervan with all amenities, including:
After they prepared the campervan, the company created a website and started marketing their business on Facebook and Instagram in June 2020. They primarily targeted customers with #Vanlife hashtags.
As of January 22, 2024, their Instagram page has close to 1,900 followers. Their Facebook page has over 600 followers, which we believe they achieved organically by only posting a few simple images and content per year.
Throughout our experience, we noticed that the younger generation prefers to book rental items online. However, Meza Vans does not offer this feature, although they have a website and primarily target online users.
We believe that offering online booking with credit card or e-wallet payments may increase orders by improving the rates of customer acquisition and retention.
So, how can we create and sustain the campervan business using technologies?
The simple answer is using the rental software that supports campervan rentals.
For example, Reservety has all the features to support new or existing campervan rentals.
In short, the Reservety team sets up the website and the backend for your campervan rental business and customizes it based on your business model.
Based on our research, we found that the following are the possible challenges in the campervan rentals:
Solution: Create a short online or offline session about Vanlife and invite travel enthusiasts. You can organize and deliver the short course through your website built with Reservety.
Solution: With Reservety, you can schedule and track the maintenance and repairs and manage the expenses in an organized manner.
Solution: Create a liability waiver indicating the renters' responsibilities in the case of accidents and have them sign the document digitally during the online booking process. (Reservety has that feature!)
Solution: Set up seasonal pricing with Reservety. For example, you can drop the prices during the low season and increase them as the demand peaks.
Solution: Always keep up with the modern trends and change your business model to stay consistent with current demands and expectations. If you change your business model, Reservety can be customized to support it. For example, suppose you want to introduce a payment plan to support travelers with a limited budget. In that case, Reservety can activate the installment payments option and automatically collect the payments on time based on the programmed schedules.
Solution: Install GPS trackers into your vans and never let your vehicles escape your sight.
It is important to note that Campervan rentals have the potential to generate a stable income as there is demand, as we discussed above.
Since the idea is new, we recommend starting the business with a few vans and acquiring more as you grow. Also, we believe that basing your rental business near tourist destinations will attract more customers from the local population and international tourists.
Reservety handles your website, bookings, inventory, and payments — so you can focus on growing your business.