How To Develop A Boat/Yacht Renting Mobile App?

Last Updated on January 21, 2022

The people’s interest in adventure & recreational sports is increasing rapidly. Out of many recreational sports, one such activity is renting a boat or yacht. The demand for renting boats has grown expansively in the last few years. Most people either book a boat with a driver, or if they are truly adventurous then they will book with the self-ride option. For tech-savvy people, boat and yacht rental apps are also available these days.

Booking boats through phone calls or right at the time of boating can be hassling and time-consuming. Thus, a boat renting mobile app development is the best solution for meeting the ever-rising expectations of the users. There are many boat renting companies that are either collaborating or getting linked with such apps for serving a larger customer base. Such services are getting popular within the coastal areas. That’s why many businesses are looking for developing a boat renting app. In this article, we will be learning all the aspects of the boat renting app development including benefits, revenue strategy, features, and much more.

Yacht or Boat Rental App & How It Works?

A boat rental mobile will act as an intermediate between customers and boat renting service providers, allow the users to book a boat within a few minutes. In the last few years, we have seen how on-demand mobile app development has revolutionized many industries such as cab booking, food delivery, ticket booking, etc. The users get all the details while booking such as fares, time estimation, distance, ratings, etc.

The same model is great for the boat renting app as well. Here is the overall flow of a boat renting  mobile app:

• Customers will register & login to the app and search for the city, state, or country where they want to book a boat.
• A list of available boats, yachts, watercraft, etc. will be displayed to the users after submitting the search. The customers can even apply a filter or sort the search as per their preference.
• After going through all the details the customers can either book the boat or contact the owner.
• Then the customer will check the availability of the boat and make the payment for a successful booking.
• The customer will receive an e-mail for receipt and booking confirmation.

Benefits Of Boat Rental Mobile App Development

There are many people who feel constrained when they want to try a perfect charter opportunity but a boat rental app can make the whole experience a lot better and easier. Let’s know the benefits of developing a boat renting mobile app for both customers and service providers:

1. Accessibility tickets
Do you know that more than half of the purchases in the US in the last year were made through a smartphone? It is not even worth a surprising reaction as every person has their smartphone in his hand even on the go. This portable gateway lets you buy almost everything from the world of e-commerce.

The boat booking industry is also not different. There may be scenarios when a user wants to book a boat but he is not in front of his/her computer, as the users can be in flight or already on vacation. In this scenario, providing a mobile app will be really helpful for the users as they can make an immediate booking.

2. Options
Not every traveler, tourist, or boating enthusiast will have knowledge about different types of boats. It means not every boat, vessel can meet the passenger needs, and not every crew will be available when you need them. Thus, instead of calling every different boat agency by going through a phone directory, you can check all your choices through a mobile app.

A boat booking mobile app will have all the options to sort & filter the boats as per your requirement. Whether you need a party yacht, an intimate honeymoon cruiser, or a sailing catamaran with a full rig on it, all will be available on the app.

3. Connectivity
The benefits are not just limited for the users but the boat owners will also get a lot of benefits from a boat booking mobile app. In the boat rental business, an app will connect the boat owners and borrowers easily. The boat rental mobile app provides a list of the boat details and navigate renters to find desired listings with better filter options.

4. Management
Using a boat renting mobile app, it is easy to manage listed boats and their trip details along with the user’s details. The backend behind the mobile app will collect all the data, categorizes and stores it securely.

5. Manage through Dashboard
As an administrator, you will get a dashboard where you can view and check a comprehensive detail of every boat rental. Thus, the workload on the admin gets reduced with easy moves on the app backend.

6. 24 x 7 booking available
While the traditional booking system works only on working hours, a user can book a book anytime through a mobile booking app. This maximizes the sales since working hours are not limited. Also, studies show that 24 x 7 boat rental also increases the number of bookings.

7. Cut manual workload
Obviously, using a digital solution for your traditional booking business will eliminate a lot of manual workloads and optimizes customer service. All the bookings will be in synchronization and the availability will be updated with each booking. A good booking app makes the process carefree.

Boat Rental & Yacht Charter Apps Market Size & Stats

In the luxury segment, the Global Yacht Charter market is expected to reach $27.8 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 15%. However, the small boats are most common i.e. 48% of the boats present on the oceans are less than 16 feet. Recreational boating is one of the most popular activities in the US, with more than 87 million. The global boat rental market is expected to reach a valuation of more than USD 19.7 billion by 2030.

Number of registered recreational boating vessels in the U.S. from 1980 to 2019

Monetization Strategies For Boat Rental Business App

It is obvious that if you are spending so much effort and money on developing a mobile app for boat renting, then sooner or later you want to make money from the app. The monetization strategy of your mobile application can begin even at the development phase of your mobile app. During the development, you have to plan what features or functionalities you want to include in your boat renting mobile app so that users will be ready to pay for them. Here are the primary monetization strategies for your mobile app:

1. Commissions
You can charge the boat owners a particular commission, depending upon the type of boat. For e.g. you can charge 15% on a small boat which is less than 16 meters, while 20% fee for a yacht which is more than 24 meters.

2. Featured Listing
Many boats or yacht owners are ready to get the featured listing. Featured listing allows them to get a spotlight and get distinguished from the other boat owners. You can charge a particular fee depending upon the type of fees for a featured listing.

3. Advertisement selling
You can also incorporate advertising to make money through your app. In order to get paid ads on your mobile app, you have to first make it popular. The number of downloads of your app shows its popularity. After your app gets popular, you can choose an advertising network, and implement its SDK on the app.

4. eCommerce Integration
Integrating the ecommerce functionality on your mobile app will let you make money in the long run. You can either charge the boat owners to get listed, make commissions, implement subscription functionality, etc.

Popular Yacht & Boat Renting Apps

Before developing a boat renting app, it is best to thoroughly study the features, functionality, business model of the existing boat renting mobile apps. Here are the top boat renting apps to consider:

a. GetMyBoat – Boat Rentals & Experiences

You can book an exciting water experience by booking a boat through the GetMyBoat app. The apps allow finding boats, charters, small watercraft on rent. You can also book tours and a lesson in any waterway. You can book boat rentals for big events, small groups of kith & kin, or for a special date with your spouse. If you already have a watercraft then you can make money by renting it out to visitors and guests.

Features

• Easy to create a free listing
• You can directly contact the boat renters with dates, group size, and other important information
• Customize the pricing and booking even on the go
• In-built chat message to communicate
• Quick online payments

b. Boatsetter – Yacht Charter, Catamaran & Boat Rental

Boatsetter is in partnership with the popular vacation stays booking company  Airbnb. Since a lot of people are already using Airbnb for vacation lodging, the affordability of boats and captains makes trips more accessible and memorable. You can book yachts, cruising boats, sailing boats, fishing boats, catamaran, etc.

Features

• Choose either half-day, full-day, or multi-day trips.
• Boat rental request will send in seconds
• Either self-drive the boat or select a licensed driver

c. Ahoy – Easy and Fun Way of Yachting

Ahoy is a digital marketplace where seekers of luxury marine adventurous or extravagant superyachts. There are more than 3,610 yachts present on the app. The luxury yacht owners can list their boats and will get absolute control over charter scheduling and pricing.

Features

• Boat owners can list the boats
• Customers can easily sort the boat through filters
• Easy payment functionality

General Features Of Boat Renting App

There will be 3 major entities in the boat renting app with a different set of features. The three entities are Users, Boat owners, and Admin. We will discuss the features for each entity:

Boat Charter User Panel

1. Register & Login
Users should be able to easily register on your app and create an account. It is better to provide social login facility on the app.

2. Selection of Boat Type
In this section, the users will be able to select the type of boat at their convenience. There will be different types of boats on the app such as yacht, sailing boats, etc.

3. Filters
The search queries can be filtered further as per the price, ratings, etc.

4. Schedule booking
After getting the details of the boat, they can get basic information about the boat, and then book it in a convenient way.

5. Manage bookings
Users will be able to check their previous bookings, confirmed booking, along with the time span charted with a single tap.

6. Price calculator
In this feature, as per the distance and time to rent the boat, the fare will be calculated. The users can determine the subsequent KM charges and can calculate the fare charges.

7. Payments & receipts
There must be digital payment systems integrated into the app so the users can make the payment in advance without any hassle.

8. Notification & alerts
Push notification helps the users to know about their booking status, reminders to reach the boat, new discounts, and offers.

9. Cancel a booking
If there are changes in the plan, or due to some urgency the users may need to cancel the booking. There will be an effective cancellation policy considering the refund.

10. Rating & Reviews
In this section, the user can assign a rating to the rented boat and also give feedback for the same on the basis of their experience. The users can also check other users ratings for a boat.

Boat/Yacht Owner’s Panel Features

1. Register & Login
Just like the users, the boat owners should also be able to login into the app effortlessly. You can verify the boat owners through OTP or e-mail.

2. Boat Listing
The boat owners will be able to list their boats that they want to rent out to the customers. They can upload the basic details of the boat along with their interior & exterior images.

3. Requests accept or reject
Consider the number and type of the users’ request, the owner can confirm/accept, or reject the request of the user.

4. Analytics
The boat owners can view the performance of their business using detailed analytics and reports.

5. Dashboard
Through a dashboard, they will get an overall view of their earnings, rentals, and more.

6. Discounts/offers
A boat owner is also capable of exciting discounts to woo the users. On using them, users will avail concessions on their rent requests.

Admin Panel Features

1. Dashboard
Admin would be able to easily check the overview of all the processes undergoing in the app through the dashboard.

2. Managing boats
The admin can monitor all the boats which are listed on the app by different boat owners.

3. Customer management
The users who are using the app, their complaints, queries, feedback, etc. will be maintained within this section.

4. Managing payments
All the payment mechanisms, payment issues, gateways, revenue, fees to the boat owners, refunds to the passengers, etc. will be managed in this section.

5. Reporting & analytics
The real-time reports of boat renting details like which boats are booked most, in which season there are most bookings, etc. can be graphed or presented in the form of charts through reporting & analytics.

6. Managing boat owners
All the boat owners, their payments, etc. will be managed within this section.

Advanced Features Of A Boat Rental App

If you want to develop an outstanding or out-of-the-box app, then you have to consider some advanced features. These are:

Social Login
As we mentioned above, social logins such as login through Facebook or Google will help the users to onboard on your app within a few seconds.

Push Notifications
Push notifications have become an inevitable feature for mobile applications. These notifications can send timely updates, alerts, new offers, reminders, etc. to the users. Push notifications can also increase customer engagement to the app, and increase the turnover of inactive users. As per a report, push notifications in a mobile app can increase the retention rate by 3 to 10 times. Push notifications can also track the user-behavior or its behavioral pattern.

In-app call-chat
The users should be able to contact the boat owners through either call or by chatting medium. Both call & chatting functionality should be implemented that calling users’ don’t have to rely on their SIM services and there will be notifications for every chat message.

In-app navigation
The users will be able to track the location of the boat spot through an in-built navigation system within the app.

In-app doc management
The documents of the boat owners and users must be managed effectively within the app.

In-app camera
The boat owners would be able to upload the images of the boat by using the in-app camera functionality.

CRM Integration
To effectively managing your customer base, you must integrate a reputed CRM in your mobile app.

Real-time tracking
You can collect the data easily in a mobile application. You can monitor the user’s activities, shopping trends, searching activities, and other related data through a mobile application. Later on, you can analyze this data and can come up with meaningful business decisions.

Loyalty Programs
A customer loyalty program in an e-commerce store is a customer retention tool that is focused to keep and engage your customers. This will result in more shopping from your store by customers, regular shopping, and frequent interaction with your brand. An effective customer loyalty program should be easy-to-understand, with a clear path to rewards, and provides a fun experience.

Rating & Reviews
Ratings & reviews are highly essential as the users can get info about the boat owner, boat facility, and other things through the ratings & reviews.

Panic button
A Panic button in your app helps the users to contact a rescue team or ask for help in case of any emergency.

Things To Be Considered Before Developing A Boat Rental App

There are several things that you have to consider before developing a boat renting  mobile app:

1. Robust user-authentication
Robust user authentication is the backbone of any security strategy. It consists of multi-factor authentication. The user has two or more independent means of identification for authentication. It includes userID, password, e-mail, mobile number, etc. Currently, biometric scans such as fingerprints also come under robust user authentication.

2. Watercraft Insurance
Before listing a boat, the boat should be insured by a legal insurance service. Thus, if there will be any mishappening, such as crashing of a boat, or anything else, the riders don’t have to worry as the boat is insured.

3. Security
The app should be highly secure as it involves the data of the users especially the e-mail, phone numbers, and payment details. A user will not trust your app if it isn’t secure. Any data breach can degrade your business.

4. Damage policy
As we mentioned above, that in case of an accident or mishappening, the user will not get the complete burden of the repairing as the boat will be insured. However, providing a damage policy to the users in advance will help you to avoid any conflicts.

Tech Stack For Yacht & Boat Rental Mobile App

How Much Does It Cost To Develop A Boat Rental App?

Finally, after knowing so much about the boat rent mobile app development, you must be wondering how much it will Cost to develop such an app. The development cost will depend on the features that you want to implement, design, and the regional location of the mobile development company that you hire. For e.g. in North America, the hourly rate is $150 per hour while in South America hourly cost is $130 per hour. If you hire a mobile app development company from India then it will cost you $35 per hour.

How We Can Help?

At Emizentech, the best mobile application development company in India, we are having expertise in developing mobile apps from scratch for both Android & iOS. Our mobile app developer is highly experienced in React Native as well as Flutter and can develop highly user interactive & captivating apps. Let us know your requirements.