Motorhomes are extremely popular; In the last five years, ownership has grown by 50% and last year sales of motorhomes doubled to 220,000 . The UK has one of the fastest growing motorhome communities in terms of ownership in Europe. Motorhomes are expensive, which makes hiring one from an owner a good way to bring the experience to a wider demographic. However, there was no adequate means of doing so securely and with ease. The sharing economy has seen incredible growth in recent years, with websites like Airbnb bridging the gap between owners and users. Now there is a website especially for motorhome sharing: Goboony. It makes touring with a motorhome sustainable and affordable to a lot more people, because prices are 25-40% lower than commercial rental companies. Add to that the option of hiring a customised, completely unique motorhome and you have a whole new experience altogether.
Motorhome sharing has already taken off in other countries.
People who have always wanted to take a trip in a classic VW campervan, or a luxury motorhome will no longer have to go through a big rental company. There are almost a 1,000 motorhomes listed on Goboony and over 400,000 people have used the website in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. The company has also made great headway in the UK with over 110 individual motorhomes already listed on the platform.
Motorhomes are used an average 4 weeks a year
The inspiration behind Goboony came from its co-founder Mark de Vos, who discovered the joy of touring in a motorhome on holiday in New Zealand. Mark enjoyed touring so much he purchased a motorhome, opting to hire it out to cover the cost of ownership. Realising this process could be made simpler and available to a wider peer to peer community, the idea of creating Goboony was born. The sharing economy’s significant growth in recent years warrants an effective platform for doing so for motorhomes; Diversifying the holiday experience, and opening up a new means of income for motorhome owners. The startup has sustainability and efficiency in mind; aiming to raise the average usage of motorhomes to double its current rate from 4 weeks a year to 8.
Motorhomes are costly to build and maintain.
Goboony aims to tackle these costs by introducing the option of hiring. This will mean fewer neglected motorhomes sitting on driveways or in storage. The company puts further emphasis on the freedom afforded to holidaymakers hiring motorhomes. “You can see so much more of a given County, region or even Country if you have the freedom to take your accommodation with you.
Having been compared to Airbnb, Goboony differs in that it is exclusively for motorhomes, giving holidaymakers a new take on the sharing economy. The prospect of having your accommodation go with you where you please has obvious appeal, and grants people greater flexibility in their holiday destinations and activities.
As holidays are diversifying, and themselves further expanding into the ever growing sharing economy, Goboony are bringing motorhomes to the table with the aim of facilitating a new breed of holidaymaker, and a new means of income for owners.
