The Airbnb of boats: This app lets you cruise to a boat rental on your phone
For water-lovers interested in renting jet skis, pontoon boats, fishing charters and yachts, the GetMyBoat app is available in Alberta.
Launched in 2013 in San Francisco, the boat rental app has expanded across North America -- with significant growth in Canada in 2020.
Through the app, renters can choose their water experience and location. An inquiry is then sent directly to the boat owner who responds with availability and pricing. Bookings and payments are done online.
“With an app you are going to see lots of price transparency, lots of different options. Sometimes you travel to a marina and they tell you they have one pontoon and its going to be a $1,000,” said GetMyBoat marketing manager Val Streif.
Josh Frick, a local boat owner, uses the GetMyBoat app to rent his wake-surf boat which can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000.
“We’ve rented our boat out probably six or seven times now through GetMyBoat and it’s worked quite well,” said Frick.
His boat is rented with a captain who launches and drives the boat. Frick’s boat is supplied with water-sport equipment such as tubes and wakeboards and rents for $300 an hour. The minimum to rent the boat is three hours. Boat owners set their own prices for rentals and a service fee of 8.5 per cent is included in the fee.
He says the app allows for him to break-even on his boat costs while providing summer fun for a family or group of friends.
“Other people may not get the opportunity to own a boat like this so we will rent it to them at a reduced cost of actual cost to run a boat,” he said.
More on the boat rentals can be found online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire' are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Two killed after collision with truck on Hwy. 417 near Limoges, Ont.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
‘We made them safer and more fun’: Here’s what’s new about e-scooters
Electric scooters (e-scooters) have been gaining popularity in the capital and this season comes with some changes and updates.
Houston braces for flooding to worsen in wake of storms
High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing hundreds of people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Canadian Auger-Aliassime reaches first Masters final in Madrid with another walkover
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to his first ATP Masters final, and he hasn't had to play all that much tennis to do it.
Drew Carey is never quitting 'The Price Is Right'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
The UN warns Sudan's warring parties that Darfur risks starvation and death if aid isn't allowed in
The United Nations food agency warned Sudan's warring parties Friday that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don't allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.