Offering a travel trailer for rent on Outdoorsy can be a great way to earn extra income if you have the right tools and tips in place for your renters. Trailers are also generally easy to deliver to your renter, can be towed by a renter’s vehicle, and usually require less maintenance than motorhomes.
All of this can add up to more income and less stress for you if you set your renters up for success when it comes to towing your trailer. In this post, we’ll unpack tips that have proven beneficial for our owners with travel trailers — we’ll chat about things like trailer delivery, trailer set up, best practices to get more bookings, and more.
Top Tips For Maximizing Your Travel Trailer Listing
- Don’t charge for mileage — Outdoorsy owners who rent out motorized vehicles usually opt to charge a mileage fee above a certain threshold because of the wear and tear that accompanies motorized RVs.
Travel trailers are different because the tow vehicle takes the brunt of the abuse over the road — meaning your maintenance for the trailer’s road parts (e.g. axles, brakes, tires, etc.) will cost substantially less than that of a motorized RV. Renters are aware of this and will usually shy away from expensive mileage charges for travel trailers.
That’s why it’s a best practice to not charge a mileage fee for travel trailer rentals — unless you rent a tow vehicle with it. Instead, you can incorporate wear and tear costs into a slightly increased nightly rental rate.
Note: The above only refers to mileage fees when a renter is towing your travel trailer over the road. For stationary rentals or any rental you deliver, you would want to charge mileage and delivery fees for the distances you cover to deliver your travel trailer to your renter. - Offer delivery — Few things are better than arriving at your vacation spot with everything ready to go so you can start vacating right away.
Renters love the idea of having you deliver and set up your travel trailer right at their campsite. By offering delivery as an option for your travel trailer, you’ll score more bookings while creating additional income for yourself via delivery and setup fees.
You can offer delivery within any radius you prefer and set your own prices for the service. You can deliver to your renters home, the airport, or anywhere else within the driving range you decide.
If you’re providing a stationary rental delivery — meaning your trailer stays in one place for the whole rental period — you’ll have the peace of mind knowing that you’ll be the only one driving your travel trailer. - Create upsells — Travel trailer owners on Outdoorsy have a wide range of upsells that can be very beneficial for renters.
For example, you could charge add-on fees for RV setup at camp, s’more packages, firewood, trailer hitch rental, brake controller rental, and more.
You can level up your income and positive reviews by offering the things your renters want at a fair price. - Make the key exchange at a spacious location — Travel trailers and tow vehicles take up a lot of space. If your renter is going to drive off with your trailer, set the key exchange for a location like a large parking lot where you can show them the ropes. Be sure to practice backing up the trailer with your renter — even if they say they’ve done it before!
While we’re on this topic, always be sure to provide ample time for the key exchange. This gives you the chance to make sure your renter knows all the ins-and-outs of your RV, addresses any questions, and gets to know you in case any issues arise over the road. - Ask the right questions of your renter — When a renter requests to tow your travel trailer, there are important things that you want to ask them. Here are a few examples:
How much towing experience do you have?
What kind of tow vehicle do you have?
Do you have a trailer brake controller? The proper hitch equipment?
Check out this article for a guide that you can share with your renter about proper tow vehicles. Our list of SUVs that can tow travel trailers is another helpful resource.
You could also provide your renter with our Tips For Towing A Travel Trailer and Safely Hitching and Unhitching A Travel Trailer articles.
Don’t be afraid to ask as many questions of your renter as you need to ensure everyone feels comfortable with the trailer rental. - Offer the right tools — It’s a best practice for you as the owner to offer everything within reason that you can to encourage a renter to rent from you. For example, if a renter has the proper tow vehicle but doesn’t have things like proper hitch equipment and a trailer brake controller, you can win the booking over another owner who might not be offering additional equipment.
As a bonus, extra add-ons give you the chance to create extra income from your travel trailer.
Travel trailers make for great rentals on Outdoorsy because they are natural fits for delivery add-ons, setup add-ons, and equipment add-ons. By sticking with the best practices above, you’ll set yourself up to make a healthy income with your travel trailer. You’ll also be opening your door to renters looking to create magical outdoor memories with their families.
