It can be difficult to stand apart from the competition in your destination, particularly if your tour and activity company is located in a travel hot spot. You might offer surfing lessons, for instance, in an oceanfront community that is filled with resorts and other travel companies that may offer the same experience. One of the ways to establish yourself within the destination and attract new types of customers is to offer rental equipment in addition to your private and group surfing lessons.

Why Offer Rental Equipment at Your Tour and Activity Company?

There are many reasons to consider investing in rental equipment for your tour and activity company. Regardless of the types of tours and activities that you provide to travelers, there’s likely some type of equipment that you can offer as an extra in order to enhance the experience. Cameras, umbrellas, snorkeling gear, sunglasses, bicycles and even picnic baskets may be useful for the customers that you target, and they can help you set yourself apart from other similar tour companies in your destination. In addition, rental equipment can help you increase the revenue you generate per booking.

Challenges You Might Face with Rental Equipment

One of the top challenges that tour and activity providers face when they invest in rental equipment is tracking the availability of said equipment. For example, at your surf shop, you may have 10 surf boards available for rental, and another 15 surf boards that you reserve for your lessons. You need to be able to book customers who simply want to rent equipment and also book customers for lessons simultaneously. Manually managing your rental inventory can be challenging, and it can put you at risk of overbooking your equipment.

How Can Your Booking Engine Help You Track Your Equipment?

By implementing an online booking system that understands the unique needs of tour and activity providers, you can easily track your rental equipment reservations and manage your inventory. Rezdy has a simple feature that allows tour and activity operators to manage their session availability, ensuring that everyone has the equipment that they need at all times. Beyond the fact that it’s easy to keep track of and manage rental equipment inventory on Rezdy, the online booking system also broadcasts that availability in real-time. This allows your distribution partners to know exactly what equipment is available at all times, minimizing the hassles and frustrations associated with overbooking equipment.

When you offer rental equipment at your tour and activity company, you will want to make sure to promote that in your marketing campaigns. Many travelers are enticed to book with tour and activity providers who offer extras that ultimately enhance their experience. In addition, you should provide your distribution agents with this valuable information. It will help them target the motivated customers that are more interested in your tours and activities, and allow them to resell more of your products. To learn more about connecting with distribution agents and improving your distribution network, download the Rezdy distribution ebook today.





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