How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Boat Rental App?

So, you have decided to invest in boat rental mobile app development to expand your boat/yacht chartering business and are seeking the app development cost. Well, you are at the right place! In the past few years, the companies of boat/yacht rental apps have increased tremendously.   

Call it the people’s interest in adventurous activities or the rise in Uber-like services, the boat rental app has become a popular term in the app development market. Furthermore, the ease of booking boats with the preferred mobile devices and connecting with a larger user base conveniently also facilitated the trend of developing boat rental apps.   

As per trusted sources, the boat rental app development market will surpass $19.7 billion by 2030. The global yacht charter market, seen as a luxury component, will also rise with a growth rate of 7.3%.   

So, if you are also looking to develop a boat rental app, this is the guide! This guide will explore the latest features, monetization models, development steps, and other factors that impact your app development cost. We will also cover the top competitors playing big in this field. So, let’s get started!  

Why Develop a Boat Rental App for Your Business?

The concept of boat rental app development has gained huge momentum. But why? Well, there are many factors associated with this drastic growth. Rapid spread of digital transformation services, the ever-changing customer needs, and the dawn of mobile-driven era are some factors driving the growth of boat rental apps. However, one reason is the surge in recreational activities in the USA. The popularity of recreational activities and water sports in the USA has reached 87 million.    

That’s why companies worldwide are investing in boat rental app development. Fortune Business Insights predicts that the boat rental app market will reach $280.02 million between 2022 and 2028!   

But the high profits and competition are not the only reasons for the growth in boat rental apps. Here are some excellent benefits that companies get by developing yacht rental apps.   

Better Reach 

One of the foremost benefits of developing a boat/yacht rental app is better to reach. Nowadays, everyone likes to access everything from their smartphones, whether ordering food or buying new stocks. So, why should boat rent be an exception?  

Hence, with boat rental apps, you can easily reach the right customers with minimal effort. You can offer your users a wide range of boats/yachts, and they can choose any of them depending on their needs. Furthermore, having a dedicated app will also help you distinguish your brand from other competitors that do not have any digital platform.   

More Revenues

That one goes without saying. Better customers eventually result in more revenues and better profits. You can easily generate more revenues by reaching more users and marketing your brand on the digital front. Besides that, there are many other monetization models that you can adopt for your boat rental app to generate extra revenue-generating opportunities.   

Easy Management

Easy management and automated operations are other benefits of boat rental app development. With a dedicated boat/yacht rental app, you can easily get a real-time view of your business performance.  

Reports like total sales, best marketing campaigns, current yachts in use, available boats, total traffic, etc., can easily be determined. Furthermore, a professional custom app development company can help you generate custom reports based on your business requirements.   

Not to mention, you can even manage your employees’ salaries and get your drivers’ real-time location. That ensures secure and efficient operations.   

High Customer Experience

You can enhance your customer service and experience with a dedicated boat rental app. Your customers could easily book the best boat, yacht, or hot tub boats through their preferred mobile devices. Additionally, they will also have dedicated online support through which they can resolve all their concerns.  

You can also send personalized notifications or loyalty coupons to your valuable users through a boat rental app. All that eventually increases customer satisfaction and builds your brand value.   

Your Competitors are Doing It

Lastly, the strongest reason to invest in boat rental app development is that your competitors are doing it. Yes, you heard it right! Boat rental app development has become a hot trend today. Most companies have launched a custom boat rental app, and are making good profits from it. So, when your competitors are doing it, why not you?  

Popular Boat/Yacht Renting Apps

So, you have now planned to develop a boat rental app for your business. However, you may miss an important aspect before that – competitor analysis. Yes, there’s no harm in analyzing your competitors’ features or marketing strategies when you know that it can lead you to success.   

You can easily pick the best features from your competitors and include them in your boat rental app for sure-shot success. Hence, as a leading mobile app development company, we list the top boat rental apps prevalent in the market.  

GetMyBoat

GetMyBoat is an interactive online boat rental app that connects the captain and boat owners with the customers. The users can easily book boat rentals, jet skis, yachts, pontoon boats, and fishing charters as per their needs.   

Features:  

• The users can explore a variety of boats/yachts per their requirements  
• There are new listings that show the nearby yachts/boats for rents  
• The users can explore yachts/hot tub boats available at popular destinations  
• Online payments, social signup, and customer reviews are also available  

Boatsetter

Another excellent boat rental app that is prevalent in the market is Boatsetter. This app was launched in 2012, and since then, it has been one of the pioneers of the online boat-renting niche. Boatsetter is partnered with Airbnb. Hence, the users can easily book their boats/yachts while booking their stays.   

Features:  

• The users can select either captained boat/solo boats per their requirements.  
• There are various user options, including yachts, cruising, sailing, fishing, etc.  
• There are options for a half-day, single-day, or multi-day trip for the users.  
• Vacation lodging and boat renting can be done via the same app since Boatsetter is partnered with Airbnb.  

Turo

Many of you might have heard about the Turo associated with car rental services. However, the company has expanded its operations by launching its boat rental app, enabling users to book hot tub boats online. The users can access the app on their preferred mobile devices and book their favorite boats for suitable locations.   

Features:  

• There are several options available for users at multiple locations  
• The users can easily access the information of all the boats through their smartphones  
• The hot tub boats can be booked throughout the year  
• Online payments and 24*7 support are available to the users  

Ahoy

Ahoy is another boat/yacht rental app performing great in the market. For people seeking luxury yacht experiences or extravagant marine adventures, Ahoy is the best app. The users can easily explore a wide range of options for the yachts along with the prices through the boat rental app. Moreover, they can even buy passes if they want to rent boats on multiple occasions.   

Features:  

• There are multiple options available for the users, including boat passes, the BoatersEd program (for people with no boating experience), and BoatSales for people seeking more than passes.   
• Directions, locations, customer reviews, and online booking options are available.  
• Users can enjoy perks like a life jacket for kids, pet onboarding, a free temporary boating license, etc.  
• Free boating classes are also available. 

How Much Does Boat Rental App Development Cost?

So, we are at the most awaited section of our article, the cost of developing a boat rental app. Let’s dig in to know more!  

Developing a boat rental app can include many factors. For instance, your boat rental app could offer luxury yachts or hot tub boats like Turo. It can be for Android users, or it can be for multiple operating systems.   

In short, to find the accurate boat rental app development cost, we need to analyze each app development process involving multiple factors that collectively impacts your app development cost.   

Hence, as a leading app development company, here we have mentioned a few of those factors that, when considered, can help you get a ballpark figure for boat rental app development.  

Business Requirements

The foremost factor that can impact your boat rental app development cost is business requirements. To develop a custom boat rental app, you first must understand your business goals. Ask yourself questions like:  

• What sort of boat rental app do I need to develop?  
• Who is my target audience, and what is my target location?  
• How will my custom boat rental app benefit my target audience?  
• Do I need to offer yachts or fishing boats, hot tub boats, cruising boats, sailing boats, or catamarans?  

Apart from that, you also need to analyze the latest market trends that can enhance your boat rental apps. For instance, AI development services are used in most mobile applications. Hence, you must also consider the scope of integrating at least one AI service in your boat rental app.    

All that will help you frame an effective app development strategy that will eventually help you get an estimated cost for your boat rental app.   

Features

Features are more critical to the app’s success than anything else. If you have the right set of features that not only resolve your customer concerns but also distinguish your brand from other competitors, your chances of success increase exponentially!  

And depending on the complexity of your features, your boat rental app development cost will vary. For instance, the price of a boat rental app with all the complex features will be much higher than an app with a mixture of basic and advanced features.  

Hence, you must choose the best features that perfectly cater to your business requirements while making you one of the pioneers in your field. Partnering with a reputed app development company will definitely help you to get the best features for your boat/yacht rental app.  

Here are the features that we recommend for your boat rental app. As a leader in app development, we have categorized the features into three modules, each for a specific set of users: admin, boat owners, and end-users.  

For Users

• Social Signup  

Enable users to sign up for your boat rental app on social media. The users can register on your app through a valid email and password or use their Gmail/Facebook account for social signup. That eventually simplifies the registration process, allowing users to enjoy your boat rental services seamlessly.   

• Choose the Boat/Yacht Type  

Allow your users to choose a wide range of boats/yachts for their trips. Your boat rental apps must have a wide range of options, including fishing boats, yachts, sailing boats, hot tub boats, etc.   

• Cost Estimation  

Everybody wants to know the exact cost before booking the services, and boat rental services are no exception. Hence, you must enable your users to view the exact cost based on the number of people, the type of boat, and the duration of their trip.   

• Choose Location  

Everybody wants a perfect vacation, including stay, travel, and other activities. Hence, you can offer your users the available yachts/boats at popular travel destinations. The users must even be able to select their yachts to travel to those popular destinations through your boat rental app.  

• Online Payments  

Enable your customers to pay for your boat rental services via any preferred payment channel by offering them an online payment option. You can offer payments through credit cards, debit cards, or digital wallets. You can even allow users to use their reward points to pay for their trips.    

• Booking Management  

Enable your users to schedule their bookings per their availability directly through their smartphones. The users can view their booking timings and amount and can even re-schedule their bookings using this feature.   

• Cancellation  

Use your boat rental app to allow your users to cancel their rides anytime they want. You can easily adjust your bookings and can even refund the amount to your customers based on your cancellation policy.   

• Search Filters  

Enable your users to search for specific boats/yachts using special filters. The users can easily filter the boat type based on size, location, price, solo/captained, and other factors.  

• Customer Support  

The most important element for your boat rental app can be customer support. The users must be able to register the complaints or get real-time assistance for their bookings using your customer support module.   

For Admin

• User Management  

You can easily view your app’s total number of visitors/active users. Besides that, you can also manage the boat owners and their listings on your app.   

• Payment Management  

Track the status of all the payments happening on your app. In case of returns, you can easily manage the pending amount or can resolve any disputed payments through this feature.   

• Custom Reports  

You can easily generate custom reports to get a real-time check on your boat rental app’s performance. The reports can be about your drivers, total sales, best marketing campaigns, or the utility of a particular type of boat.   

• Boat Management  

Easily manage different types of boats available on your custom mobile app. You can even check which types of boats are getting maximum engagement or which ones are getting maximum hits in a particular region.   

• On-demand Pricing  

You can easily change the base price of your boats with the help of this feature. You can know if there is a surge in the boat demands and can alter the prices accordingly.   

• Boat Availability  

Get real-time status of all the boats/yachts on your boat rental app. Track the ones on rent and monitor the available ones for optimized stock.   

For Boat Owners

• Request Approval/Rejection  

The boat owners will get the booking details for their boats through this option. They can easily accept/reject requests based on the availability of the boats.   

• Listings Management  

Enable your boat owners to list their boats/yachts on your boat rental app. You can even allow them to update their listing with time if there is an addition to their services.   

• Fare Management  

The fare management option allows the boat owners to set a base fare and additional fare for their boats. They can even change the base fare during a market surge or on special occasions.   

• Total Earnings  

The boat owners can access their total earnings through boat rentals using this feature. They can even check the pending payments or cancellations that happened through the app.   

• Boat Types  

Let your boat owners add or remove a certain type of boat/yacht using your boat rental app. They can even check which type of boats are getting the maximum requests using the same module.   

• GPS Tracking  

Enable your boat owners to check the real-time location of their boats through GPS tracking functionality. They can even get notifications if any of their boats meet with an accident.   

• Captain Information  

Lastly, let your boat owners get detailed information about the captain for a particular ride. They must know the person driving their boats/yachts and their real-time location.   

Advanced Features

Apart from all the features mentioned above, many other advanced features can add value to your boat rental app. Hence, you should try to include at least two to three features in your boat rental apps to make them unique and competitive.   

• In-app Calling  

You must enable your users to communicate with you or the boat owners through the in-app calling functionality. The users can not only send messages but can even make calls using your boat rental app.   

• Chatbot Support  

These days, the use of NLP-driven chatbots that understands the true intent of the user’s message and reply to them in the most human-striking manner is in trend. Hence, you must implement an AI-based chatbot in your boat rental app to automate customer support operations. That way, your users would get 24*7 assistance, and your operational cost would be reduced since there would be no resources required for managing the customer support operations.   

• Voice Search  

You must implement a voice-based search feature in your boat rental app to help users operate the app through their voice commands. The users should be able to explore different types of yachts and book them through their voice commands.   

• Regional Services  

You can leverage this feature to target your services for a specific region. As soon as visitors enter your location, an automated marketing message is sent to them via your app. That way, everyone will know about your boat rental services, and your business chances will increase.   

• Weather Forecast  

The weather forecast option can be used to offer real-time updates about the weather to your users and the boat owners. They can check whether it is safe for them to travel or not.   

• Refer and Earn  

Last but not least, you must offer to refer and earn policy to your users to lure new customers. You can offer rewards, or loyalty points your existing customers can use during payment.  

Looking for more features for your boat rental app? Connect with us over a free consultation call to explore exclusive features for your boat/yacht rental application!  

Tech Stack

Apart from features, the tech stack also impacts your boat rental app development cost. For instance, if you want to integrate a chatbot, you will certainly need to work on robust AI technology, and eventually, the cost will be a bit high.  

Hence, as a leading app development company, we list the tech stack required to develop a boat rental app. That will help you choose the important features and hire app developers based on your requirements. In short, you will get an estimated cost for your project!   

Features	Tech-Stack
Social Signup	Facebook API, Gmail API
Notifications	Twilio, Push.io
Messages and Call Verification	Twilio, Nexmo
Online Payments	Stripe, PayPal API
Database	MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL
Cloud Environments	Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud
User Analytics	Hadoop, Big Data, Cisco, IBM
GPS Tracking	Google Tracking API, Google Maps, Bing Maps
Programming Languages	Java (Android), Kotlin (Android), Objective-C (iOS), Swift (iOS), Flutter (cross-platform), Xamarin (cross-platform)
Email	Mandril
UI/UX Design	Adobe XD, HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3

Resources Working on Your Boat Rental App Development 

Lastly, the number of resources working on your project will also impact your boat rental app development cost. For instance, if you plan to launch your app on the Android platform, you will only hire Android developers. However, if you plan to launch a cross-platform app, you will certainly need to hire Android and iOS developers.   

Similarly, your choice of engagement model will also impact your app development cost. Hence, choose wisely, and always go with the app development company that offers flexible hiring models and needs-based scaling services. You can easily hire/remove resources from your project anytime to fit the requirements.   

A reputed app development company always offers those services. Well, at least Matellio does!  

Read More: 8 Tips for Choosing the Right Mobile App Development Company   

So, in short, there are quite a few factors that impact your app development cost. Hence, you must consider all those while making a budget for your boat rental app development.  

Alternatively, you can connect with a reputed app development company to get a free quote for your project. A professional mobile app development company will carefully analyze your business requirements and ideas to offer a custom quote for your boat rental app.

What Could be the Unique Selling Points of Your Boat Rental Application?

So, you have now decided to develop a boat rental app. You have also figured out the requirements and have chosen the best features. But what about your boat rental app’s USP (unique selling points)?   

In today’s competitive market, we have options for everything, and boat rental services are no exception. As discussed above, we already have many big players in the boat rental app market. So, you must offer some unique value to your users to distinguish your app from others.   

Here’s what you can include in your boat rental app to make it unique and valuable for your target audience.  

AI-based Recommendations

AI development services have become an essential component of running a successful business. Hence, you can leverage AI solutions and services to enhance your boat rental business. Using an AI-based recommender engine, you can offer personalized suggestions to your users based on their previous interactions with your app.   

The ML-based recommender engine will analyze the past interactions of your visitors. Based on that, it will offer personalized suggestions to your users about selecting yachts/boats. Remember that personalization is the key to success in today’s competitive market. Hence, with an AI recommender engine, you could easily enhance your customer service while driving more visitors to your boat rental app.  

Nautical Maps

Another unique selling point that can elevate the performance of your boat rental app can be nautical maps. Maps are important for any ride as they help drivers and users stay updated throughout the journey. Hence, you must include a nautical map feature for your captains and users so that they remain updated on the right path.   

Voice Commands

Another amazing AI development service that has gained huge momentum is voice recognition. Many apps today use voice commands to offer the required searches to the users. Hence you can also offer a voice-based search option to your users.   

Free Temporary Boating License

There are many popular boat/yacht rental apps that offer a free temporary boating license to the users for their rides. Hence, you can also do that to lure kore users. You can offer a free license that is only valid for a specific trip to your users.   

Pet-friendly Yachts

Another important and trending aspect that can add value to your boat rental app is pet-friendly yachts. The trend of keeping pets has increased exponentially in the past few years. In fact, people renting yachts for leisure activities always prefer to bring their dogs on trips. Hence, you can offer pet-friendly boats/yachts to your users to make their trip convenient and fun. Many popular boat rental apps even offer such services.    

Yachts at Popular Destinations

Finally, you must offer yachts available at popular travel destinations to help users enjoy their trips to the fullest. The users can plan their vacation while booking their boats/yachts. You can even take a step forward by offering stays and boat rental options as a complete vacation package.  

How to Monetize Your Boat/Yacht Rental App?

Well, who doesn’t like generating more revenues from their existing? You also want to generate extra revenue from your boat rental app! That’s where the concept of monetization models comes into play!  

With the help of a suitable monetization model, you can easily generate extra revenues from your boat/yacht rental app without much effort. You can even continue those monetization models in the future to gain a passive income.   

Third-party Advertisements

That one’s the most common monetization model used by many mobile apps. You can run third-party ads on your boat rental app to earn extra revenue. However, remember that those companies must not be associated with your niche, or you might end up marketing your competitors on your app.   

Featured Listings 

Another excellent monetization model that you can use for your boat rental app is featured listings. You can offer the boat owners an option to list their boats/yachts on your app. In return, they will have to pay a sum for listing their services.   

Commissions

That’s another popular monetization model used by brands across industries. You can easily earn a passive income if any of the boat owners receive booking requests from your app. In short, for every booking, you can ask a certain amount as a commission.    

How Can Matellio Help You to Develop a Boat Rental App?

Being an expert mobile app development company, we can help you develop a boat rental app tailored to your business needs. We have talented app developers having expertise in working on multiple next-gen technologies, including AI, ML, cloud computing, and more. Whether creating an app from scratch or updating your existing yacht rental app, we can offer every service for your business.  

You get a wide array of services, from digital consulting and wireframe designing to UI/UX, app development, legacy application modernization, and maintenance for your custom app. We also offer flexible engagement models and needs-based scaling capabilities to help you hire/remove developers anytime during the boat rental app development.  

So, why wait until you can start today? Reach out to our experts and get a free 30-minute consultation for your project. You can also leverage our free competitor research and market analysis services for your boat rental app. Get a free, no-obligation quote based on your business ideas and requirements.

Conclusion

Today’s era is all about faster and more personalized services. People want everything on their preferred mobile devices, and launching an app is the only way to offer that. Hence, companies, irrespective of their niche, are investing in mobile app development to expand their reach, enhance customer services, and build a better brand. The same is true for boat rental services.  

So, why are you lagging if your competitors are adopting boat/yacht rental apps to lure more customers? Connect with us today to kickstart your boat rental app development. Fill out our form and get a free 30-minute consultation from our experts.