In the boat rental business, picking the right boat rental management software for your business is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. Unfortunately, you can spend hours on Google searching for what you think is the “best boat rental software” only to discover that it doesn’t meet your needs.
To help you, we put together this guide on choosing the right boat rental management system. This article will reveal everything you need to know before making your choice.
How to Select the Best Boat Rental Software for your Boat Rental Company
Boat rental software is a reservation system. It connects customers with boat rental businesses, allowing them to find the type of boat they are looking for - a pontoon boat, center console, yacht, or ski boat. Customers can search for tours or rentals by date, location, price, and other factors. Boat rental and tour owners can use the software to manage their business more efficiently by accepting reservations, managing prices, creating itineraries, and taking payments automatically. Boat rental and tour reservation software can maximize your revenues from your rentals by never overbooking or underbooking them and improving your sales and bottom line.
Using boat rental software software allows you to set schedules for availability. This gives you greater flexibility ensuring that you capture all potential bookings for that rental equipment currently and in the future.
How much does boat rental and tour software cost?
Depending on the provider you choose to work with, two models are generally offered, fee-based and non-fee-based.
A fee-based company generally has no monthly subscription fees. Indexic is a fee-based software that provides a comprehensive solution to this with a free-to-use system. There are no monthly fees, no contacts, or set up costs. A low convenience fee is applied when a customer makes a reservation through our website. When you make a reservation there are no costs, except for the cost of a credit card of course.
Other boat rental software can bill a monthly subscription fee and or a fee on sales.
As a small business, reducing your spending is key to your profit intake; hence, boat rental software allows you to budget accordingly. Furthermore, there are no hidden costs; their pricing model is designed to be transparent and up-front with every booking.
Customers want simplified rental transactions to pay for their needs and an easy-to-use and, most importantly, easy-to-understand software.
What functionality do you need?
When you're thinking about how to choose the right boat tour and rental management software, there are a few key areas to consider:
- What functionality do you need?
- Do you need electronic waiver software? If yes, do they have their software or is it a 3rd party?
- Is there a contract and can you get out of the contract if the software or service does not meet your standards/needs?
- Does it have a camera function so you can record the condition of the boat before and after the rental?
- Does it have a resource/equipment tracking how each boat/equipment is being used and when it will return on an easy-to-read calendar?
- Since people don’t read emails regularly - You may want to consider a two-way texting feature.
- Does it offer auto-programmed texting reminders to your customers?
- With the fluctuating price of fuel today, will you want to be able to add a surcharge for fuel?
- Since your business is weather-dependent, does it have an auto cancellation and rescheduling feature?
- Make sure they offer an easy it is to reschedule a customer.
- Consider if the rental is returned early, does the software have an early return feature that places the equipment back into inventory to maximize your resources for a higher revenue?
- Are you going to offer deliveries? If so, does it offer a delivery and pick-up report?
- Does the software company provide great customer service?
- Does the software company provide training?
- How long have they been in business?
- What level of service do they offer? Read their customer reviews?
- How easy is it for your customers to use it?
- How will your staff use it?
- Does it offer smart comprehensive reporting?
- What does your accounting department need from the system?
- What does your marketing department need from the system?
By thinking about each of these things, you'll be able to make an informed decision and choose the best software for your boat rental business.
Which features should you look for in a boat booking system?
Choosing the right boat booking software helps you understand what features are important to you, your customers, and your employees. Features like customer management, reporting functionality, and waiver integrations with other systems are great ways to improve productivity and enhance the customer experience.
Ultimately, the system should be easy to use, have a clean user interface, and not provide any complex issues for your customers. They should be able to see the boats that are available, choose a time, reserve the boat, and pay. Anything more or less than this is likely to decrease your conversion rate.
Where is the company located?
It's also important to note where the software company is located. You want to know their time zone and what time of day you can expect them to be working - are they based in the US or overseas? It's also helpful to know how long it takes them to respond to emails, especially if you have questions or concerns.
Indexic is based in the US, but you can be assured that your queries will be answered promptly as a customer wherever you are in the world. Customer service is the cornerstone of Indexic; you can rest easy knowing that whenever you call through, the dedicated service team will be there to assist you.
How is their customer service?
The most important thing you can do is talk to the company's customer service department. Call them and ask how long they've been in business, how many customers they have, and what kind of phone support they offer. If those questions make you nervous, talk to other people who have used the company's services before, that will give you a better idea of whether or not their customer service is good. A good way to learn more about the company is to read their online reviews in the Google Business listing.
At Indexic, the customer service team is always on call to assist customers. They are equipped with the right expertise and industry knowledge and are skilled in our software to provide you with the best service with every call.
Once you're satisfied with their customer service options (and before signing any contracts), request a free demo or free consultation so that one of their techs can come out and show you how the software works in person. This will also allow them to explain any features that may not be obvious on paper. And if anything, still seems unclear after all this information, then reach out and ask for support.
There are many options for a boat tour and rental management software.
There are several factors to consider when choosing boat tour management software. While it may seem straightforward, many considerations and nuances can make or break your experience with the right vendor.
One thing to keep in mind is cost. Some companies offer free trials, while others require payment before you can use their software, so it is important to analyze each company's pricing structure carefully before making any decisions. Moreover, suppose you are considering an international company. In that case, you need to examine how they structure their plans internationally since they may not be able to accommodate all locations (or languages).
You should also consider how much functionality you want out of the system. For example, some platforms include only basic features while others offer more advanced ones, such as accounting integration and marketing automation tools for email campaigns or SMS notifications.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you should consider all of the factors discussed above. Each of these things can make or break your business, so you shouldn't rush to choose a platform. Instead, by taking your time and following the advice in this article, you'll be able to make the best decision, ultimately resulting in more bookings and more revenue. This information can be summed up in the following five tips.
- Consider how affordable the software is
- Consider what features and functions you require
- Choose a company that's located in a similar time zone
- Make sure the customer service is on point
- Request a demo before selecting the software
Remember, you will only truly know if the software is a good solution after trying it out in a live environment, but by considering the factors discussed in this article and following the tips mentioned above, you will have a much better chance of selecting a solution that will work well for you and your boat rental business.
