Picture this: you’re in a motorhome, on the road. It’s the adventure of a lifetime, the fresh air filling your lungs and making your soul sing as the kilometres disappear under your tyres.
There’s just one problem: you’re going to need a place to park your motorhome at night – and no-one seems willing to let you do that. But fret no more – at least as the denizens behind Auckland-based tech startup Campable tell it.
Campable is an app that allows motorhome travellers to stay with local landowners and businesses on their own land. The whole thing is pretty simple: motorhome travellers (known as “guests”) use the Campable app to browse through sites, make bookings, and complete payments, while those who list their property on Campable (“hosts”) can use the Campable website to list their property and organise bookings. In other words, think Airbnb, but for motorhomes.
“We kept hearing from travellers who wanted more localized experiences, and locals who were excited about inviting motorhome travellers onto their land,” says Warwick Beauchamp, Campable’s co-founder and executive director. “It became very apparent we needed to invent a new app to connect travellers with amazing hosts and experiences.”
With hosts throughout Aotearoa, Campable allows the owners of private property to share their space and lifestyle with travellers while earning additional income. It also encourages landowners to preserve and restore their land, by putting financial value on protecting the environment.
“Our aim is to connect people with the outdoors, locals and authentic experiences,” says Campable co-founder and technical director Brody Nelson. “Some people have never spent time in New Zealand’s outdoors, away from cities, so when they do – that’s when they realise what it’s all about. I think a great way to create life-long engagement with the environment is to introduce people to these unique sites and experiences. If Campable can do that for people, then I think we’ll have succeeded.”
And Campable doesn’t just have places to stay out in the countryside, either – currently, it has more than 200 motorhome sites available at Auckland’s Alexandra Park raceway for the British and Irish Lions rugby tour.