US: Outdoor travel marketplace Outdoorsy has announced the launch of Outdoorsy Stays as it diversifies into offering curated outdoor accommodations, including cabins, A-Frames, tiny homes and yurts.
Initially launching with destinations ready to book in California and searchable by scenery or outdoor activity, Outdoorsy will expand its offering to Colorado and Texas in July, with nationwide Stays coming online later this year.
The announcement comes as Outdoorsy reports first-time visitors accounting for 76 per cent of the bookings on its platform in 2023.
Jeff Cavins, co-founder and CEO of Outdoorsy, said: “As travel trends evolved post-pandemic, we saw interest in the outdoor lodging and accommodations sector continue to surge. We also recognised where these new outdoor travellers were headed.
“People are interested in exploring alternative, comfort-first and nature-second ways of vacationing, which inspired us to launch Stays and welcome new peer-to-peer hosts to our outdoor-focused accommodations marketplace.
He continued: “Today’s consumer has a strong desire to stay outdoors, with options that expand beyond the RV, and we’re incredibly excited to continue catering to their needs by expanding Outdoorsy’s product offerings and building a truly outdoor-focused marketplace.”
In the year ahead, Outdoorsy says that it will continue transforming the outdoor hospitality space by bringing more outdoor destinations online through its ‘Outdoorsy Destination Network’.
Founded in 2015, the company is expanding from its roots as a peer-to-peer RV rental marketplace into a complete outdoor travel marketplace, having previously participated in a $23 million Series C funding round for luxury glamping startup Collective Retreats in June 2021.
Later that month, Outdoorsy raised $120 million in equity and debt financing to drive growth and the expansion of its insurtech business, Roamly.
Eight years after launching, Outdoorsy has now announced that it has surpassed one million trips – or seven million booked travel days – spent outdoors through the platform to date. In October last year, the marketplace exceeded $2 billion in transactions, with its highest-earning host surpassing a reported $4.8 million in booking revenue on Outdoorsy.com.
Jen Young, co-founder and CMO of Outdoorsy, said: “Our team takes enormous pride in these one million trips and the lifelong memories made through our platform — and we are working hard to provide our customers with new ways to create millions more. This milestone is also powerful proof that travellers are prioritising time in the outdoors as 2023 looks to be a record year for us and the travel industry.
“It is also a fulfilment of our mission to restore our relationship with the outdoors and each other,” she added.
To inspire the next one million Outdoorsy experiences, the company has announced partnerships with Backcountry, Merrell, Solo Stove, The Dyrt, shār snacks, and Kuju Coffee to equip travellers as they hit the road and get outdoors this summer. Throughout June, Outdoorsy will be giving away four chances to win $1,000 in Outdoorsy travel credits along with products worth over $2,000 from its partners as part of a ‘One Million Trips and Counting’ campaign.
Ahead of a busy summer season, Outdoorsy unveiled some key findings from its 2023 ‘Summer Travel Trend’ report:
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In the past three years, both Outdoorsy guests and hosts have started to skew younger, with 43 per cent of guests and 52 per cent of hosts falling in the millennial age range.
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As more employers cozy up to the idea of remote work, employees are getting creative with their office views and starting to plan longer road trips in 2023, with the average Outdoorsy trip length hovering around seven days. In 2022, the average trip length was 5.8 days.
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The average cost of an Outdoorsy road trip has increased by 11 per cent between 2021 and 2023 — or a jump of around $100 extra for a six-day trip. The average nightly rate for a hotel room in 2023 is up 54 per cent from 2022.
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Approximately 72 per cent of Outdoorsy guests use the ‘pet-friendly’ search filter when searching for an RV rental.
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Around 70 per cent of Outdoorsy hosts now offer RV delivery for guests — be that to the airport, a driveway or a campground.
In 2022, Outdoorsy also became the inaugural winner of the Best mobile rental accommodation company at the Shortyz Awards in London, organised by ShortTermRentalz.com / International Hospitality Media.
