Tips for Getting Your Rental RV Listing in Tip-Top Shape Before Summer Kicks Off

RV Owners

Renting out your rig on RVshare is an excellent way to make your RV work for you. As long as you’re able to market your RV rental well, you’ll be able to make a profit on a rig that would otherwise be sitting in the driveway gathering dust. In fact, some RVshare owners make enough to pay off their RVs, pay for trips for themselves, and in some cases, even suit their day jobs. 

Of course, this kind of success requires that you get the word out about your rig and draw in potential renters. The good news? Our easy-to-use system makes it really easy to create a listing customers will find impossible to ignore

Fortunately for you, if you’ve landed on this article you’ve likely already done just that. That said, simply putting together a great listing isn’t enough. You also need to stay on top of your listing, updating it regularly to ensure it stays relevant and eye-catching as the market evolves. 

Not sure how to go about keeping your RVshare RV rental listing fresh and up to date? Here are our top tips. 

How to Regularly Refresh Your Listing for Optimal Success

In this article we will discuss everything you need to know to maintain an eye-catching rental RV listing that customers are sure to love. Use the tips below and we’re betting you see a few more rentals in the coming months. Keep using the tips to refresh your listing every few months and those rentals will keep on rolling in, helping to keep your business up and running for as long as you’d like to continue renting your RV out. 

Update New RV Amenities or Remove Outdated Ones

Whether you drive a 45-foot Class A diesel pusher or tow a tiny pop-up camper, your RV has features and amenities that are worth spotlighting. Considering that your potential customers don’t know what they’re getting unless you tell them, you definitely want to tell them everything.

We hope that when you first created your RV camper rental listing you took the time to include all of your rig’s amenities, including the ones that might seem obvious. Not every RV has an oven or even a refrigerator, so if yours does, it is worth listing—and if it isn’t already included, you should add it! The same can be said for entertainment systems as well as onboard toilet and shower facilities.

You’ll also want to add any additional RV parts and accessories you may have included in your rental price, such as outdoor patio furniture or adventure gear like kayaks. These types of extras can be major selling points, so if you don’t already include them, consider doing so in the future. Included items can also change frequently based on what you have available, so be sure to refresh your listing any time the included items change so it is as accurate as possible. 

Have you recently given your RV an update? This is the perfect time to refresh your listing. Start by taking a walkthrough of your rig and take note of how the amenities have changed. Remove any outdated features from your listing, list any upgrades you may have added during your renovation, and make sure to take note of any amenities that you may have forgotten to list had you not done the walkthrough. 

Stage Photos to Make Your RV Look Inviting

Along with including an up-to-date, detailed description of why your RV is so awesome, it’s also important to stay on top of including recent, high quality photos of your rig. Get photos of both the inside and the outside of the RV and update those photos regularly to reflect any changes to the rig, as well as the season it’s being rented in.

Snapping some quick cell phone shots of your rental RV is one thing, but it really isn’t enough to create an eye-catching listing. When you take the time to ensure your RV looks homey and approachable, your photos become a glimpse into a future vacation, rather than a simple rundown of a potential rental vehicle. If your current listing includes basic, low-quality cell phone photos, that is something you’ll want to change right away!

So how can you stage the kinds of photos that will make renters fantasize about traveling in your RV rental? Well, it’s important to ensure you take photos with great lighting. We recommend taking your RV photos in full daylight, especially when you’re photographing the interior. Even RVs with many windows can look dim and drab on a cloudy day or during the evening, so take advantage of our natural light source to make your RV look its best.

You’ll also want to include all aspects of your RV rather than just a few glancing overviews. This means taking high quality photos of the kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms/beds, living area, exterior, storage bays, etc. Missing some of these in your current listing? Add them ASAP!

It should go without saying, but before taking either interior or exterior photos, ensure your RV is in showable shape: clean, organized, and without any visible maintenance issues that still need attending to. If your current photos show a dirty or cluttered rig, it’s definitely time for an update.

Well decorated RV

Add Some Flare to the Photos

Clean is important, of course, but even a totally sterile RV will look just that—sterile—without some properly placed decorations and travel trailer accessories. The idea is to make your RV camper rental look not just reliable, but welcoming. These people are looking for a getaway, after all!

Turning your RV into a tiny home can be as simple as a few fun throw pillows, a cozy-looking blanket to curl up under, and maybe some well-placed extras like a guitar or a yummy-looking muffin on a plate.

Think about what you’d want your RV to look like in an Instagram post, and go from there: lived-in, but still clean, comforting, cool, and inviting. If this doesn’t describe your current listing photos, grab some accessories and a camera and get to work. 

Along with making for excellent photos, a well-decorated RV will make your renters feel more at home on the road, which could lead them to recommending your rig to others—or to become repeat customers themselves.

That guitar that makes your RV’s living room look super cool will also make your renter feel like a superstar when she brings it out and serenades the group around the campfire. And hey, no one’s going to be upset if you leave a welcome basket with a few breakfast-sized muffins alongside the coffee maker. (You do have a coffee maker on board, right? That’s non-negotiable.)

Sure, you could decorate your RV once, snap some good photos, and call it good. However, updating your photos once a season to include seasonal decor and accessories might give you a leg up. Consider including holiday throw pillows for the winter months, bright colors and pool floaties in the summer (add these to your list of amenities as well), and fall colors during the autumn.

Get creative and let your love for your little rental shine through in your photos. We promise the extra effort will be rewarded!

Update Pricing by the Season

Speaking of updating each season, another thing you will want to refresh as the seasons change is your RV rental price. Depending on where you live, you may see much higher traffic during one season over another. For most, the higher traffic is seen in the summer months, but if you live far enough south, spring or fall might be more popular camping months. Local events can also affect the demand for rental RVs in your areas. 

Take a look at your rental history as well as a calendar of special events for your area, and then base your pricing on demand. If lots of people are looking to rent during a particular time, charging full price for your rental is totally reasonable. However, once the cold (or extreme heat) shows up, you might find that rentals drop off entirely unless you lower your RV rental prices to entice people to camp during these less popular times.

Include Seasonal Trip Ideas

We also recommend adding some suggestions for nearby getaways to your rental RV listing. In some cases these could be static, as some attractions and activities are fun all year long. That said, if you find yourself listing a lot of outdoor options—and you should, since RVing is all about getting outside—you will likely want to update trip suggestions to reflect the season.

For instance, those who live in Colorado might want to list skiing as a great wintertime trip option, but change that to hiking when the warm season rolls around. Listing trip ideas that are appropriate for the season might just draw your audience in as they daydream about enjoying all that that season has to offer. 

RV set up in campsite

RV Delivery and Instant Book

Once you’ve ensured your RVshare RV rental is putting its best foot forward online by creating an attractive rental ad, it’s time to ensure your renters have convenient, flexible ways to actually finalize the booking. Making booking as smooth and easy as possible will ensure you don’t lose potential renters who may not have the time or energy to wade through a long, drawn-out reservation process.

Luckily, RVshare offers two features in particular that can make or break a potential rental vehicle for campers: Instant Book and the option for RV delivery.

Instant Book

Instant Book grants renters the convenience of solidifying their plans on their own time, without going through the time-consuming back and forth required without this feature. If you’ve ever been embroiled in the exciting but headache-inducing process of your own vacation planning, you know exactly how much of a relief it can be to get your ducks in order when and how you want to.

But don’t worry—even with Instant Book, you retain total control over who gets to rent your RV. You can still communicate with renters before their start date, and you can always cancel the reservation if you’re uncomfortable. There’s even a way to set how much advance notice you need before the rental start period, giving you ample time to decide whether or not the reservation will work for you. 

As an added bonus, Instant Book makes your ad rank more highly in search results, giving you better visibility to potential renters and making adding this feature a no-brainer. If you don’t have the Instant Book option turned on, consider doing so right away. 

RV Delivery

The delivery option can be a critical feature for travel trailer owners, who are often renting their rigs to folks who have no hauling know-how—or a tow-capable vehicle, for that matter. Many campers want to experience the travel trailer camping lifestyle or try out a special trailer like a Casita or an Airstream, but don’t have the equipment and education they need to do the job justice themselves.

When you offer to deliver the rig to their final destination, you’re circumventing one of the biggest reasons would-be renters might eventually decide against their RV vacation: a lack of a properly equipped tow vehicle and knowledge about towing. 

The RV delivery feature might be most beneficial to trailer owners, but that doesn’t mean motorhome owners can’t get some use out of it as well. In some cases, renters cannot pick up due to time constraints. Other times they just aren’t comfortable driving a big rig. No matter their reason for wanting to skip the driving part of their motorhome vacation, RVshare RV rental delivery solves the issue. Therefore, offering RV delivery of your motorhome helps you stand out to these individuals. 

On top of the benefit of standing out from the crowd, adding the RV delivery option to your listing gives you extra peace of mind. You can rest assured knowing ill-equipped individuals with no experience driving a big rig won’t be driving your beloved trailer or motorhome. Many owners find this is incentive enough!

RV Slideouts, RV A/C & More: Maintaining Your Rig

No matter how cute your RV looks in photos or how cozy its decorations and accommodations may be, if it’s not in good working order, it’s not a good rental vehicle. A vehicle that gives renters problems during their carefully planned vacation is sure to receive poor reviews, and a listing with poor reviews sends potential customers running as fast as they came. Besides, who wants to ruin someone else’s getaway? 

This is why RV maintenance is so important.

Setting and keeping up with a regular preventative maintenance schedule is the first step toward ensuring your rig stays in good shape and that you can get ahead of any costly, extensive repairs, such as water damage.

Giving your rig a full cleaning in and out after each rental period (or after personal travel) is also a good way to ensure it stays in ship-shape for as long as possible. You’ll also want to take advantage of the time between rentals to take care of little things that break while the RV is out, so the rig is always working properly for the next renter. 

From RV roof maintenance to travel trailer maintenance issues, we’ve written a lot about how to “DIY” many parts of your RV’s minor repairs, as well as how to find a reliable professional should you need one. Here are some posts to check out:

Now that your listing is in tip-top shape, be sure to share it wherever you can! It can be on social media, out in the wild with a bumper sticker, or via a QR code. Haven’t listed your rig yet? Get started here!

Have more questions about listing RV rentals? Check out these FAQs

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