Hosting Camping Gear

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MacKenzie78
Level 2
Redondo Beach, CA

Hosting Camping Gear

Greetings All,

 

My partner and I are avid campers, outdoor enthusiasts and travelers of near and far. We've recently become interested in the idea of offering others rental of camping/adventure gear through AirBnB. This would include tents, sleeping pads/bags, pillows, lanterns, cooking gear, cooler, chairs, etc. based on the number of guests booking. I've noticed a few other hosts on this site, in various places, offering similar packages of equipment. To be clear, we are not offering a campsite, just the gear.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how to go about setting up this profile (is this considered an experience or general hosting situation?), best way to check on taxes for my area, any concerns to be aware of, insurance for this type of offer and the like. All advice, constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome. 

 

Many thanks and Aloha,

MacKenzie 

1 Best Answer
Lawrene0
Level 10
Florence, Canada

Hey, @MacKenzie78 , I'm going to hop in here because I have sometimes lent my camping equipment to my own guests. My strong advice is don't do it.

Camping, in itself, is hard on things, and it's made worse by people who don't own those things. Thanks to experience, the only thing I will lend at this point is a campstove, and it absolutely is not the campstove I use myself when camping. 

Outfitters are set up for equipment rentals with insurance and replacements and a great attitude about damage, because it isn't their personal stuff: it's just business. Maybe consider being an outfitter? It sounds more like what you want to do. 

However, I just did a search, and a guy called Joe in Arizona is advertising his camping equipment on Airbnb and getting great reviews. The search terms I used were "camping equipment airbnb". I'm not going to paste his URL here in case he doesn't want that. Anyway, try that and it might work better for research than asking here in community centre. (Although asking is always good!) It's just that I picture Joe being too busy mending ripped tents to have time for a host forum. 😉

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Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@MacKenzie78  This idea is not something you could create a listing for. It isn't a stay or an experience, it is just an equipment rental business. Similar to businesses that rent baby gear or event equipment.

 

So the place to advertise this would be in online marketplaces, outdoor publications, etc. You could also look for an Airbnb Facebook group in your area, and ask hosts if they would be interested in putting your business cards or brochures in their house manuals. Many hosts will have business cards, menus for local restaurants, massage therapists, etc, in their info for guests.

This is so helpful @Sarah977! Thank you 🙂 

Can you explain why I see other profiles offering these equipment rentals though? Have they illegally set up their accounts? Have they just not done their due diligence in researching what Airbnb allows to be listed? Now I'm curious...

@MacKenzie78  I'm not sure where you are seeing this- can you post some links to those account listings?

@Sarah977  there seems to be a number of Airbnb profiles for hosts offering camping gear rentals (equipment only), that have been up and running successfully for years, with a lot of great reviews. Am I missing something here? 

Aloha @MacKenzie78 
Welcome to the community 😊
You are right.


You may provide the gear and created a listing for hosting. Yet, you need to be clearly described in the announcement as the guest must secure the online champing permit in the state of Hawaii.
After the guest downloads the permit, you can reserve and supply the tent package to the guest.

You can go through other listing detail, apply your license and the tax in the state.
Do consult more detail with Airbnb Support Help Center. You can message or live chat with the team [ not an Airbnb bot ] that is someone always here to respond to you within few minutes.
Acknowledge your concern and request advice before you publishing.

Happy Hosting! ✌️
Way to go!

@MacKenzie78  The first link you posted is actually on the AirBnB India site. That may be how they have circumvented the rules, because it's actually against the rules to list services. When you click on "report listing," one of the first options that comes up is, "it's not a real place to stay." Neither of those is a real place to stay. 

I think the concept of renting camping gear is great, but I don't think AirBnB is a good place to advertise. If you think about it, people are on the site because they are looking for a place to stay, not camp. If they're looking to camp, they're on Recreation.gov or similar. Yes, people do list camp sites on here, but they're generally glamping listings and have everything provided. 

Besides, if you're going to provide quality gear you'll put a lot of money out, and the wear and tear on the items will cost you, especially with people who don't know how to treat good camping gear. Good luck, Kia

@Kia272  I didn't even notice that but you are correct - that first link does seem to be using the Airbnb India platform, but their listing is referring to gear rental in Portland, Main, USA. Super suspect.

 

I was originally turned onto this idea when traveling Maui, HI some time ago, looking for affordable accommodations, and I happened across a similar Airbnb host (not one linked above) offering camp gear exclusively. Seemed like a neat budget-friendly, alternative to other (significantly more expensive) accommodations and made sense at the time. However, while I did not end up booking anything, I did hold onto the idea (until now). I liked the prospect of sharing my immense camping experience + providing gear to other campers/budget travelers who might be interested, utilizing Airbnb's wide-reaching platform. In an effort of doing my due diligence, I decided to share this thought with the Airbnb community first and foremost. I'm certainly glad I did. I've gotten good (although somewhat contradictory) feedback and generally helpful insight on this matter. 

 

I agree with your other sentiments. But, a dive into some profiles like the ones I previously linked,  have a lot of positive reviews, showing there is indeed a market for this type of offering here. Seems there are plenty of people (judging by future booking calendars, past reviews, ratings, etc) utilizing these hosts equipment and they are more than happy to have this option. Maybe these folks (like myself) were/are unaware of other existing camp rental booking sites and came to Airbnb looking for any type of accomodation (on or off-grid) that fits their price range. Sometimes, what's available isn't affordable, but camp gear rental will (almost always) fit into any budget. 

 

I saw one woman's review that said she booked a week long stay for her family on the CA coast with a large Airbnb home. She also wanted to camp for 2 nights during that week but didn't have any equipment, as she was from out of town. She found a local host (on Airbnnb) offering camp gear and booked right away for the 2 nights desired. Airbnb profited from both of her bookings, and her family was able to enjoy the unique vacation they wanted, all while using a single and familiar website. I almost think Airbnb should delibertly expand their business model and look into a new branch of accomodations, including camp gear, as alternatives to their existing listings. It's clearly a corner of the travelers market that's in demand and holds a genuine interest for some.  

@MacKenzie78  It's a good idea, and rather than them being presented as listings or accommodations, there could be an Airbnb marketplace section for different areas. So if you were travelling to a certain area, not only would you be shown accommodation for that area, there would be a link to marketplace listings for services a guest might avail themselves of- camping gear, baby gear, bicycle rentals, babysitting services, etc. 

 

As I mentioned, many hosts provide info for these sorts of businesses in the area to their guests, and guests can also check for businesses online, but it might be a good adjunct to the Airbnb platform.

@MacKenzie78  I'm an outdoors person. I own good camping gear. If I'm traveling somewhere to camp or backpack, my first instinct would be to bring my own gear. I know how to set my own tent up, I know it will stay dry, I know which sleeping bag will offer the right amount of warmth for the conditions, etc. 

 

If that were not possible, I'd expect the same level of quality and durability that my own gear provides. That costs money. 

I know how to treat my tent and sleeping bag, pad, etc. so that they will last a long time. Renters of most anything generally do not treat what they are renting as well as something they own. Some people don't even treat stuff that they own well. 

 

But anyway, overall I'm just saying that there's a huge platform out there that can reach your audience- you know, the Internet. I'm just thinking that AirBnB is not reaching your demographic. I think there's some niche advertising that could work out really well for you, and your efforts would pay off if you spent some time exploring that. 

 

The woman you mention above? That's someone of privilege. She could afford to book a place on AirBnB and apparently felt okay about leaving it for a couple of days to go camping elsewhere. I'm going to feel like I'm wasting money if I do that. 

 

So, are you catering to weekend warrior campers, i.e. they'll be happy with a Walmart tent? Or are you catering to gearheads like me? My calculation is going to be the cost of checking a bag both ways and bringing my own stuff, vs. renting camping gear. That's about $80 dollars I'm going to be willing to spend on renting gear. Aside from which, if the weekend warriors set up the tent wrong, and it rains and they get wet, I'm thinking your ratings will suffer. 

 

I appreciate your entrepreneurial thinking, but I think there are some details to hash out. Again, good luck! Kia

I hear you loud and clear @Kia272 

At this point, Im just speaking in hypotheticals as I do not have a listing created for this type of offering. Lots to consider. I’m aware of the Internet (lol) and I’ll happily continue to do more research regarding this issue. 

 

You bring up valid points and I’m grateful for your input. There are still a lot of people out there, using Airbnb, who don’t think like you. They don’t travel the way you do. They have a different budget, and experience level than you. Those people are already utilizing this platform in ways you admittedly never would, and they’re super happy to do so. They appear to vary in rank of “privilege” and not all are like the woman I cited in my previous example. I’m not just making this stuff up for the sake of argument. There are plenty of reviews/bookings to back up my claim and prove that this idea works well, on this site. While I think your opinion definitely matters (and there’s probably many of same mind) there are other opinions to consider. That’s why I’m here, in this discussion - to consider all opinions 🙂 

 

What I love most about Airbnb is that it caters to a variety of guests and hosts alike, with varying lifestyles and wants/needs. While I obviously don’t see you as being part of the demographic interested in this particular objective, I’m literally finding hundreds of others who fit that exact profile. There also seems to be a larger number of renters in the world

who treat rental items respectfully vs those that don't. Especially when their ID and credit cards are on the line and the option to receive a poor and public review is on the table. That's why this site works. Homeowners such as yourself, trust the process of renting property on this site and I'd feel no different in offering camp gear and assuming the same risks/liabilities as other hosts. 

 

Another user @Sarah977  and I collectively think that Airbnb offering a type of “marketplace” could be a good extension of this platform's services. This would include such listings as local camp gear rental (high-end gear, low-end gear, and everything in between - just like the scope of homes for rent on this site), bikes, baby equipment, sporting goods, etc. This wouldn’t take away from anyone’s trip, or intended experience of finding accommodations. Rather potentially enhance someone’s journey at will, while bringing in additional profit to Airbnb. However, I clearly don’t work for this site and it’s up to those who do to implement a new feature such as this. 

 

I’m still not certain how the story ends for me and I don’t intend to set up a hosting profile any time soon, but, I’m still genuinely curious in the matter. Thanks again for giving me some more food for thought and best to you as well. 

@MacKenzie78   "Especially when their ID and credit cards are on the line..."

 

The problem with that statement is that Airbnb's so-called security deposit is bogus. They don't put a hold on the guest's credit card for the security deposit. 

 

If a host has a claim, they have to first request the money from the guest and the sort of guests who tend to do damage are also the sort who deny culpability. Then begins the ling and frustrating process of submitting documentation to Airbnb, and most of tbe time it's like pulling teeth to get compensated. They either classify it as "normal wear and tear", or offer $200 on $2000 worth of damage due to "depreciation".

 

So renting out equipment would require your own insurance, and most insurance has a deductible, so if someone were to damage a nice tent to the point it couldn't be used anymore, the insurance might not even kick in and the replacement would come out of your own pocket. 

 

An Airbnb marketplace would have to be set up differently for equipment a guest actually walks away with, than normal accommodation rentals.

 

 

@Sarah977 all really good points to consider here. I'm sure there are many risks involved when hosting/renting anything and some solutions to various problems that arise aren't always favorable. I can see where Airbnb could do a better job at mitigating risks or improving their support system that's currently in place. I'm kind of hoping that someone with an existing profile (offering camping gear specifically), would jump into this discussion and give some details about their experience and how they've handled these issues (if any) in the past. I doubt that will happen, but it'd be nice to speak with someone with real experience instead of just speculating on the subject. At this point, all I can offer are assumptions or predictions when it comes to these details.    

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@MacKenzie78  Well, that is very interesting. I have never seen listings like that before and it seems to me like those listings contravene Airbnb policies and are misrepresenting themselves,  because they list "beds"and "bedrooms" as if it's a place to stay. 

 

Maybe give Airbnb customer service a call and ask about this.