Camping is one of the most fun activities. From pitching a tent, lighting up a campfire, sleeping under a beautiful blanket of stars to feeling amazingly connected to nature, camping does give you a wonderful time.Unfortunately, camping in a wrong spot can make this experience really bitter as there are possibilities that you could be dealing with some horrendous camp facilities.
Well to make sure that you never have an unpleasant night in a tent, there is soon going to be a new app in town called Campr. It is an online social platform that helps users find perfect camping spots and offers unique camping experiences to travelers and hosts. With this app you can now camp with locals all over the world or you can be a host yourself. Also, connecting, booking & paying through Campr will be super safe and simple.
Meet The Power Duo Behind It!
Campr was conceptualized and co-founded by Sebastiaan Schillebeeckx and Wim Vanhorenbeeck.
It all started one year ago when Sebastiaan and Wim started working on Campr as a project in college in Belgium. Post their graduation; the duo started working full time on this app. They applied for the Telenet Idealabs Accelerator which is the biggest and most intensive accelerator in Belgium. Out of 450 teams, Campr was selected to join the accelerator.
Both studied Multimedia Design and are thus proficient with building websites, apps and UI/UX design. The duo is always online, reading a lot of blogs and websites about tech and startups. This gives them the right direction and inspiration to stay motivated.
In addition, Wim is the programming brain who does the entire back end while Sebastiaan is the creative brain who does the design and front end along with marketing and communication.
The X-Factor!
Campr is the Airbnb for camping experience. This unique platform helps you find, book and pay for the coolest places you wish to camp in. Everyone can be a host and everyone can be a camper. That’s not all; this app apart from looking for camping places on budget and location also provides unique experiences to users. For instance, a host can cook for guests or show them around the area. In simple words, with Campr you camp with a local and you live like a local.
On The Problem It Is Solving Beautifully!
One of the main problems with ordinary camping sites is that it is often crowded and equipped with really bad facilities. Further, it is a taxing process to find a private and beautiful camping site that perfectly fits your needs.
Well Campr is here to solve this very problem. It is a web and mobile platform that allows you to find camp places you want. With their mobile app you can practically book a camping expedition from anywhere.
The Driving Force!
Sebastiaan and Wim are both die hard campers. From festivals, wild camping to glamping, they do it all.
“As a final project for school, we had to build a web-platform. We are huge fans of the social sharing economy vibe that is going on right now and as campers we felt there was a place for this idea to become a reality. Because we often stayed at crappy camping, we came up with the idea that you can camp practically everywhere”, says the team.
On Challenges Faced & Competitors
The team was fortunate enough to have the much needed practical support from their accelerators. This helped them get a smooth start. However, since it is their first job, it took them some weeks to find a good vibe to get going as a company.
The biggest hurdle the team foresees is their focus on growth. Nevertheless, they are positive that they have the right enthusiasm, passion and dedication to get through this challenge.
In terms of competition, campinmygarden.com does pose as their direct competitor. However, unlike Campr, they provide only garden camping and lack the variety Campr has to offer. Hipcamp is another potential competitor. It is a US based start-up that helps users find the coolest camp places in national parks in California.
On Expansion Plans & Target Audience
“We are not launched yet. We are launching our web-platform at the end of January and our mobile app in the spring. However, we want to have at least 1000 camping places at the start of summer. We are focusing on Europe and Australia for the first year and after that we want to expand to the US and see what we can do there”, says the team.
Presently, Campr is mainly targeted towards audience that includes campers, social travelers, backpackers and adventurers.
The Monetizing Model!
The team plans to take a percentage cut on all booking fees on camper site. In the future they also wish to charge commission fees on host site. They are also looking into various advertisement options for hosts to highlight their camp place through the Campr channels. Lastly, the team also plans on take a cut on affiliated services like transport companies.
To sum it all up, with Campr you are soon going to have that much needed platform that will allow you to have the best camping experience.
For more details on this app, do make it a point to visit: http://gocampr.com/