First, let’s debunk a misconception that might occur when you read the term ‘Rental Business Ideas’ in this article. We are not going to talk about B2C rental ideas where you can create a website, procure supplies, and start renting online. Instead, this article talks about an all-different class of rental business ideas, which deal with P2P rentals, i.e. peer-to-peer eCommerce or P2P rental marketplace.
An idea where you don’t need to procure the supplies by yourself but connect the people with supplies to the people who need them. That’s sharing economy, where people can make money by sharing what’s already there with them. An idea that doesn’t require a change in the existing consumer behaviors but just an upgrade with the near era.
Exactly like Airbnb’s business model. If you have a house, you can list it on Airbnb, and if you want a space to crash on your vacation, you can rent an Airbnb; everything is P2P. In fact, inspiration of these ideas is the Airbnb itself. We will use the same business model, with little adaptations, to port the idea of P2P vacation rentals for making money renting almost anything. Here are the top 5 such sharing economy ideas you can use to build a website like Airbnb for P2P rentals.
1. Niched House Rentals
Before Airbnb, nobody would think of letting a stranger in his or her house. Today, people invite strangers, tourists, and travelers from the entire planet to stay in their homes. Airbnb triggered an all-new kind of consumer behavior that made sharing economy digital and trustworthy.
Obviously, the same as with all businesses, any home rental is not without its own risks and outgoings. Owners need to have finances in place to ensure that they can cover utility bills during periods when the property is not let. Also, you will need to keep on top of all maintenance and repairs that may need doing. For instance, you will need to be prepared to call a plumber if the boiler breaks down, or contact professionals like https://www.pestcontrolexperts.com/local/arizona/ when unwanted pests put in an appearance.
Lucky us, and all thanks to Airbnb’s hard work on its technology stack and business model that instilled trust among the house owners and travelers as well. Consumers have grown accustomed to the new ecosystem and an entrepreneur trying a luck with a similar business idea need not go through the same kind of trouble anymore to make people believe in the idea of the digital sharing economy.
Having said that, home rentals are not limited to vacation houses alone. There is still a massive space in the home rentals to put your dibs on niched ideas. If you can discover an unexplored but potentially rich niche in your target market, you might end-up becoming Airbnb of your niche.
‘Rent Like A Champion’- the venture featured in Shark Tank is one great example to prove the point.
They started an Airbnb-like house rental business, but with a twist. Instead of featuring as a vacation rental platform, which could have been a disaster had they gone eye-to-eye with Airbnb, they found a gap that not even Airbnb had covered back then.
Each year, millions of Americans move across the subcontinent’s college towns to attend different schools and college games. Since these are mostly college towns, it’s not possible to find Airbnbs there. Experimented as a listing an empty apartment on Craigslist and eBay for one such game event, the platform now rents weekend houses in more than 20 college towns across the country.
‘Rent Like A Champion’ and its unique niche is just one example of dozens of unexplored niches in the P2P house rental market. Just look around and you might discover the next big niche. The best part is you don’t need to sketch a business model from scratch, as the basic Airbnb model works like a charm for any kind of niche in the home rentals. If fact, you can set up your entire rental platform on a good Airbnb clone with some minor adaptations.
2. Parking Space Rentals
Yet another niche to look out for is parking space rentals. Just like Airbnb, a platform that connects local homeowners and parking space owners to travelers looking to park their vehicles for some time is worth investing in. Not just long-distance travelers but also the local people can use these parking spaces to avoid tickets.
With real-time search in map-view and on-demand booking, simple geo-navigation to guide the drivers into their booked spaces can construct an intrusive interface. Besides, you can keep scheduled and long-term bookings as well. This will ensure an overall targeting of a unique niche, parts of which are operational in the traditional market too as camper parking sites. With an online alternative, you can attract not just camper parking site owners but anyone who is interested in making a few bucks renting their parking spaces.
3. Storage Space Rentals
Just like home and parking spaces, people look for storage spaces too. Storage space renting has been in the traditional market for a very long time. Dedicated establishments with storage space rentals are not new in America, but an online platform can expand this niche to a much broader prospect. Consequently, not just storage rental businesses but common people with extra space in their homes and garages would also be interested in making some dollars.
You can keep both long-term, short-term, and hourly-based spaces to target a broader section of the market. Right from warehouses to medium storage units, garages, and cloakrooms, there is nothing you can’t list on your online storage rental platform.
4. Event Space Rentals
Events like parties, workshops, weddings, funerals, fairs, gospels, etc. keep happening throughout the year. What’s common in all these events? A space to conduct them. It’s a massive market, and dedicated business that rent community houses, party lawns, and auditoriums, etc. make big bucks around the year. What could be a better way to boost this niche with an online platform?
Again, introducing a P2P model in this segment will accommodate not just professional renting establishments but also any individual with extra space. Anyone eager to make some money renting his or her farmhouse, lawn, or even backyard for an event would also be your target partners. Just like Airbnb, which accommodates tents to palaces, you can fit backyards to large stadiums, right into your business model.
5. Bike and Car Rentals
Online bikes and car rentals are already big in the market. However, most of them are dedicated businesses and do not involve a P2P connection. That means, to make money renting your car, you need to give your car to a rental company for very long terms, almost like forever. That company will rent your car to its customers. This may also involve getting a commercial number plate for your car.
What if you don’t want to give your car to a company? What if you don’t want a commercial license? What if you just want to make some extra bucks from your personal car? That’s where a P2P renting model can help such people. You can build an Airbnb for vehicle rentals where common people can rent their personal vehicles to other common people. Depending on your goals, you can fit both common people and other vehicle rental business on your platform. Besides, you can experiment with long-term, short-term, hourly, and trip-based models too.
How to Build a P2P rental Marketplace like Airbnb?
I am sure that Airbnb did spend a fortune to come up with its unique website and innovative marketplace model. However, you do not have to spend even a fraction of it. You can simply find a good Airbnb clone script to build your P2P rental marketplace. Depending on your niche and some unique requirements, you can customize an Airbnb script with a much lesser cost than doing the same thing from scratch. This concludes that you should always choose an open-source Airbnb Script so that you can always customize it the way you want. So, all the best for your ventures! Keep digging the good ideas.
Author Byline:
Jessica Bruce is a professional blogger, guest writer, Influencer & an eCommerce expert. Currently associated with ShopyGen as a content marketing strategist. She also report on the latest happenings and trends associated with the eCommerce industry.
Follow me on Twitter @Jessicabruc (https://twitter.com/Jessicabruc)
