A Captain is Announced in the 'Airbnb for Boats' Race, SamBoat Goes Global
BORDEAUX, France, November 29, 2017 (Newswire.com) - The sharing economy concept has officially spread to boats! Nowadays, companies like SamBoat make peer-to-peer boat rental a reality and allow people who couldn't previously afford leisure boating to experience it.
1) In the beginning…
Today, we make more rentals and sales in one day than were made in a whole year three years ago.
Laurent CALANDO, CEO of SamBoat
It all started when Laurent Calando, SamBoat’s co-founder, realized that his boat was expensive to maintain and he only used it two weeks a year. In 2014, he was on the verge of selling, when he noticed that he was not the only person with an expensive and little-used boat. On average, a boat is used 10 days per year and costs about 10 percent of its original price - annually!
Laurent then met Nicolas Cargou, SamBoat’s other co-founder, who introduced him to the sharing economy world and the business benefits of peer-to-peer economies. Laurent was excited at the prospect of renting out his boat to cover his maintenance expenses, and bringing more affordability to people looking to rent boats. In April 2014, SamBoat was born.
2) A Trusted Community
SamBoat puts private boat owners and potential renters in touch in an easy, friendly and safe manner. Similar to how Airbnb connects people with apartments, boat owners list their boat for free on the website. Owners can pick when and to whom they want to rent their boat, according to the applicant’s profile, request and comments.
Using SamBoat, sailors have access to a vast offering of boats everywhere in the world for rates on average 30 percent cheaper than the traditional market. Booking is just a few clicks away. SamBoat is a trusted third-party. It offers tight control over every booking; handling payments and deposits through a bank-secured trustee account; and finally collecting reviews about the owners, renters and boats.
This win-win situation started by quickly seducing many French boat enthusiasts and then rapidly expanded to its European neighbors: Italy, Spain, Croatia, Greece … and it’s now going global!
3) Growing and becoming a world leader
August brought to our attention an incredible fact: SamBoat might be the first in the world for boat rentals between private individuals!
When Boatsetter took over BoatBound, their figures were released and showed that they had collected a catalogue of 5,000 available boats since their inception, and registered $25 million in rental requests. Contrasting these numbers with those of SamBoat, Laurent Calando, the co-founder and CEO of Samboat, stated that “We offer 20,000 boats and 34 million euros in booking requests."
Since its creation in 2014 in Bordeaux, France, the company has recorded spectacular growth: "Today, we make more rentals and sales in one day than were made in a whole year three years ago," says Calando.
About SamBoat
Founded in 2014 by Laurent Calando and Nicolas Cargou, the French start-up is today a major world player in the peer-to-peer boat rental sector by offering more than 20,000 motorboats and sailboats to private individuals and professionals all over the world. Starting from € 50 per day and the possibility of renting with skipper, the company participates in making yacht charter more accessible. SamBoat has raised 2 million euros since its launch.
Source: SamBoat
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