This RV company wants to rent you a rig and plan your trip too

From sleepovers at the Louvre to cuddles in Los Angeles, experiential travel is all the rage, and now another rental platform is getting in on the action – and taking it on the road. 

On 25 June, RV rental company Outdoorsy announced a partnership with booking platform Viator, introducing some 200,000 activities (think: private winery tours and helicopter rides) that users across 14 countries can reserve alongside their rig. “We were immediately attracted to…Viator’s offerings and what they enable Outdoorsy travelers to experience,” says company co-founder Jen Young. “We hope this helps travelers feel like they’re getting the most out of their vacation.”

Now when potential drivers go to the site to plan a trip, they’ll be matched with optional activities –“fun, quick detours,” as VP of product Tyler Quiel calls them – for each stop along the way. “It’s a way to instantly envision what your own adventure and trip could look like,” he said in a statement. “By capturing a renter’s travel route and activity interest up front, Outdoorsy will be able to instantly serve up a range of unique outdoor experience offerings.”

According to a 2018 report from Expedia, 74% of Americans prioritize experiences over products or things, and here in 2019, travelers’ thirst for unique things to do– and post about on Instagram – only seems to be growing. But Outdoorsy’s leadership has been on to the trend from the beginning. “Back in 2014,” Young says, “we interviewed more than 1200 people with the goal of learning why they were motivated to travel. One answer we heard over and over was ‘for the experience.’ Whether that meant gathering around the fire with friends and family or swapping Sunday brunch plans for a whitewater rafting excursion, the RV was their portal to the best outdoor experience opportunities.”