DRIVE: SaaS platform as a revolution in tourism rentals
Patrick de Wit, owner of Drive Software Solutions, was a successful hospitality entrepreneur in Mallorca. He came back to the Netherlands with the plan to further expand Spyder Wheelz, his e-chopper business. But things turned out unexpectedly: a buyer made him an offer he couldn't refuse and he sold his company.
That left him with his hands free to deal with a long-felt frustration: the lack of a really good rental platform for tourist vehicles and activities. Like his e-choppers, but also bicycles, canoes and complete packages.
“Then you'll soon end up in the software”
“The idea of Spyder Wheelz was to invest in e-choppers and then share the turnover with the rental parks, hotel labels and activity providers,” says Patrick. “But the software we needed for that wasn't there. We tried to work with the software that was there, but it was very laborious. And if a landlord, for example, canceled, we only knew that when it was too late to rent out the chopper to someone else. So then it stood there for a whole day, without delivering anything. Reverse billing was usually not an option either, so making the right distribution of turnover was a manual process. If you have 1,500 e-choppers in dozens of locations in 7 countries, that's just too much work.”
“The software we needed was simply not there.”
Linking different systems also provided uncertainty about exactly what was rented out. Because what one person calls a “scooter” is an “e-chopper” for another, and where a rental company sees a “fat bike”, a receptionist might just be a “bike”. There was also a lot of noise in the billing process: invoices that were incorrect, administration that was only added later, rentals that were not charged incorrectly or not at all, mileage that was not registered... It all led to more confusion, no less.
“And sometimes,” says Patrick. “The money also just disappeared. Inexplicable...” Now that he had his hands free, he decided to build a solution to these problems. “And well,” he notes. “Then you'll soon end up in the software.”
Radically better rental, reservation and payment
Patrick asked us to create a rental, reservation and payment system that did accommodate the complexity of the tourism business. An application that allows each organization to set up how and what they want to rent out, for all their locations. Major holiday park chains have dozens of locations in multiple countries. There are scooters, bicycles, canoes and other things that are rented out at all these locations, often combined with a lunch or coffee package.
“The process improves radically if you remove the administration from the desk staff.”
Drive's idea was to radically improve this process by removing administrative tasks from the employees on site. To the end customer, the tenant, Drive wants to offer a much better experience. It was also important that the organization was able to regulate how the rate and commission structure worked itself. There are many possible forms of cooperation in this industry that all require a different organization of the cash flow. For example, a holiday park rents its own bicycles, but supplements them with inventory from others on busy days or in case of special requests. At the checkout, very complex cash flows then arise.
“Existing solutions needed a lot of additions,” says Patrick. “Ticketing systems are not enough, because renting is different from selling tickets because availability and rentability play a major role. The weather, charging electric vehicles and calculating how much a vehicle can still drive all play a role and make it more complex. But also multi-tennancy, multi-location, reverse billing and processing cancellations had to be much better than in the software that was available.”
Eelco Schäffer, Product Owner at Drive, summarizes: “We wanted to make the entire product management smarter. Take into account preparation time, charging, opening hours and commissions, arrange all cash flows and payments, and make it easy to set up your organization with offices, opening hours and time blocks.”
Concept, architecture and product design
We went to work in mid-August 2021. The cooperation went well and the atmosphere was pleasant and constructive from the start. Patrick: “As an entrepreneur, I know well which way I want to go, but I don't speak the IT guy's language. Nevertheless, I had the feeling that I could tell my story at Blis Digital and that they came up with a well-founded answer at all levels. Together with Eelco, they have come up with a good process, plus an architecture where we can quickly change or add things later.”
“I don't speak the IT guy's language, but at Blis Digital, I was able to tell my story.”
We started the project by developing the concept and setting up a design for the backend and frontend of the app. That started with competition research, customer interviews and a design sprint, in which we made choices in the field of architecture and drew up the backlog. Because we got in so early in the process, we had the opportunity to think strategically from the start and be a partner in developing the platform. Our development team, consisting of 5 developers and testers, a UX expert and a business analyst, created the entire platform. As a technical foundation, we chose ASP.NET Core, Azure with VueJS as the front end because it guarantees a scalable, flexible and secure solution.
Together, ensure the right focus
As Product Owner, Eelco interacted with the development team. He himself says: “I monitored the priorities, but I was happy to let the team advise me and we did everything in consultation. For example, when we used the function for timeslots built, the designers at Blis Digital came up with a better set-up and architecture for it. This made it easier to manage capacity and work with daily prices. It's a big platform, so we were building quite a lot of features at the same time. Together, we made sure that there was focus in the sprints and that we were all doing the same thing.”
“I was happy to get advice from the Blis Digital team.”
During the project, the functional requirements occasionally changed. Patrick: “Our wishes grew wider and bigger during the project. Blis' approach was flexible enough to make that possible.”
Eelco: “What Blis did well was clearly outline what should be included in the application. They incorporated that into an infographic so that everyone could see what we were going to make. Only then did they start working with the code.”
Integrations, data, and dashboards for a complete platform
Of course, a platform like this doesn't work without dashboards and integrations. So in Power BI, we created dashboards to show the best-running products, the least booked timeslots, opening hours and most common rental periods. Email features come from an integration with SendGrid. In addition, Drive is linked to external data sources and partner financial applications. Integrations with the RDW, weather data and repair and maintenance providers are on the roadmap. The Drive frontend can be integrated into any website, allowing a campsite or holiday park to offer online rentals without having to do any technical work themselves. It is also more pleasant and organized for the tenant, because they can arrange everything via one site.
“A modern platform doesn't work without integrating dashboards, email, payment systems, and external data sources.”
“We don't have our own scooters anymore, so we're just a software provider now. We are dealing with many different products, different owners, different interests and price agreements. But with Drive, we're bringing all that complexity back to one shopping basket. A customer can order all products at the same time — for example, if part of the family wants an e-chopper, but one person wants to bring a child. Then you can also book a bike with a child seat. This then comes from another provider and is paid differently, but the customer does not notice that. Because the availability is correct and it is all paid and delivered at the same time.”
A market with huge opportunities
With Drive, it is possible to set commission rates and distributions per location. To do this, the platform includes an advanced system of roles and rights. All payments are made via Pay and can be processed daily. So not at the end of the month, like on other platforms. The handling of traffic fines, discount codes and charging time for electric vehicles is also provided. Thanks to real-time inventory management, tenants and landlords can always see what is really available. This prevents disappointment and confusion and, in general, Drive will drastically improve the turnover, margins and cash flow from rentals for many companies.
“Drive is a modern, flexible, multi-tennant and scalable platform in a market with huge opportunities.”
One of the latest additions, possibly due to the flexible set-up, was the reseller module: the VVV and other local resellers can offer rentals and earn commissions without complicated operations, capacity management or financial administration. This gives landlords a new source of turnover, while the complexity and costs of their operation remain the same.
A unique value proposition in a market with huge opportunities. Because all major tourism organizations are looking for a solution to their rental challenges. Drive will give them a way to solve all their rental concerns at once, and increase sales, with a modern, flexible, multi-tennant platform that scales with their operations.
In October 2023, the platform was ready to go live. Drive is the first software product that truly facilitates the tourist rental process and removes its complexity from the operator, user and customer. For us, it was a great opportunity to be at the cradle of a platform that will really change its market. And to work with the enthusiastic, experienced people at Drive.
Want to know more about the platform we created for DRIVE? Or do you want to know what we can do for you?
