Boat Rentals
Your pontoons book themselves at 10pm.
Renters decide late at night, on the couch, a week before the lake trip. With Field Guide Marina they see what’s open, pick a boat, add a tube and a cooler, accept your rules and pay. It’s on your calendar before you open the office.
"Call to book."
People plan lake trips at night and on weekends. When the only way to book is a phone call during office hours, the booking goes to whoever answers.
TODAY
- Renters call after hours and book somewhere else
- A paper calendar, and the occasional double booking
- The Fourth of July rents for the same price as a rainy Tuesday
- Booking sites take a cut of every booking
ON FIELD GUIDE MARINA
- Renters book and pay on your website, any hour
- One calendar for the whole fleet, and nothing books twice
- Holiday, weekend and busy-day pricing, with limits you set
- No booking fee, no commission, ever
Five steps from a phone to the dock.
The booking page lives on your own website. Renters see each boat’s open times and prices for the day they pick.
Booking a pontoon, from the renter’s side. 2:26
- Pick a dayYou decide how far ahead, and whether same-day is allowed
- Pick a boatFull day, morning or afternoon, with live prices
- Add extrasTubes, ice, fuel, a damage waiver
- Accept your rulesYour boat rental policy, read and agreed to
- PayThe boat is held for them for 30 minutes
Then a confirmation with a receipt, what to bring and a button to add it to their calendar, and a reminder before their day.
Nobody pays for a boat someone else just took.
While a renter pays, their boat is held for 30 minutes with a countdown on the screen. If the clock runs out, they’re shown other times and boats with their details still filled in. And before any card is charged, the boat is checked one last time. On the busiest Saturday of the summer, nobody gets an awkward refund call.
The busiest Saturday in July
- 9:41pmTwo families want the last pontoon
- 9:42pmThe first to reach payment holds it
- 9:43pmThe second is shown Sunday instead
- 9:47pmOne paid booking, no refunds
The week, a row per boat. Green is confirmed, orange is waiting on payment.
The whole fleet on one calendar.
Click an empty day to add a booking or block a date. Walk-ins, phone bookings and the owner’s nephew all go in the same place, paid by card, cash or your card reader. Closing for winter? Block the dates, and the booking page says so.
Taking a booking over the phone. 2:42
Let busy days earn like busy days.
Set a price for each boat for a full day, a morning or an afternoon. Mark holidays to charge more. Add simple rules for weekends, the height of summer, a nearly full fleet or last-minute bookings, with a floor and a ceiling so no rule goes too far. Every renter keeps the price they booked at.
Discount codes for a sale or a local business, one at a time or 500 at once.
Example rules (you set your own)
- Saturdays and Sundays+15%
- Fourth of July week1.5 times
- Fleet over 80% booked+10%
- Booked 2 days out or less+5%
- Floor and ceilingnever under $250, never over $650
Ready for the morning rush.
- Today’s pickups and this week’s bookings on one screen
- A pickup checklist on every booking: license checked, deposit taken, safety talk given
- A reminder to every renter before their day
- Emails in your own words, with a record of what each renter was sent
- Cancellations refunded by your own rules, straight back to the card
Example refund rules
- 14 days or more beforefull refund
- 7 to 13 days beforehalf back
- Less than 7 daysno refund
- You cancel for weatherfull refund
See what the fleet earned.
What each boat brought in, how full the fleet was, new renters against regulars, your best customers, and where people stopped before paying.
Coming from another booking system? We bring your past and upcoming bookings over, so this summer’s renters don’t notice a thing.
Boat rental reports. 2:58
Boat Rentals pricing
- Up to 5 boats$199/month
- 6 to 12 boats$299/month
Setup $1,500. Your website is included. No booking fees and no commission, however many bookings you take.
Questions owners ask
- Do renters pay a booking fee?
- No. Renters pay your price and nothing more, and we never take a cut of your boat rentals.
- Can we still take bookings by phone?
- Yes. Your staff book walk-ins and phone calls on the same calendar, paid by card, cash or your card reader.
- How do security deposits work?
- Your deposit amount and rules are shown to renters when they book and in their emails, and your staff check it off at pickup, the way most marinas take deposits today. It isn’t charged online.
- Do renters sign a boat rental agreement?
- They read your boat rental policy and agree to it before they can pay, and the version they agreed to is saved with their booking.
- What happens when it storms?
- Cancel the booking and refund it in full, straight back to their card, or move it to another day.
- Can renters cancel or move a booking themselves?
- Not online. They contact you, and your staff move or cancel it in a couple of clicks.
Book a pontoon on our demo marina.
Try the renter’s side yourself, then let us show you the office side on a call.