Sailo Wants to Be Your Airbnb for Yachting This new startup connects boat owners with renters.
By Catherine Clifford •
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Boats are expensive to buy, expensive to store and, unless you're lucky enough to spend your days on the high seas, they often spend most of their time unused. The flip side, though, is that they are a pretty famously good time.
That's where Sailo comes in. The new startup in the peer-to-peer rental space is making it possible to search for available boats and rent them online. It's like Airbnb, the accommodation rental platform, but for boats. Casual boaters can taste life on the water and boat owners make money off of an expensive asset they likely don't use all day every day.
Officially launched in November, Sailo has 150 boats available on it platform in local beach towns in New York (New York City, the Hamptons, Jersey City) and Florida (Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach).
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The sharing economy startup was launched by two recent Columbia Business School graduates, Delphine Braas and Adrian Gradinaru, and Gradinaru's long-time best friend, Magda Marcu. The idea, like so many startup concepts, was born out of a frustrating experience. Gradinaru rented a boat when he was in Greece for spring break and found the process of booking a boat rental cumbersome. Sailo is an attempt to fix that problem.
The online booking system depends on users keeping each other in check, much like Airbnb.
"Sailo's platform provides ratings and reviews to help encourage good behavior. Indeed, building a community of trust is key and we work hard to ensure everyone has the best experience," Braas says.
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If you don't know how to steer a yacht, fret not. Boat rentals come equipped with a licensed captain. And levels of luxury run the gamut: rentals range in price from $350 per day to $17,000 per day.
Have a look at some boats available on Sailo in the images below. (Daydreamers, beware: It might be hard to get back to focusing on work after perusing these snaps.)
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