Smart Match is a powerful sales lead generator that connects you with Guests searching for a similar, available RV in your area who have not yet found one. You can find and manage this feature in the Host Dashboard > Bookings > Smart Match.
How Smart Match Works
Smart Match automatically looks at a Guest’s initial RV rental request and attempts to match their trip with Hosts who have similar, available options in their search area. The goal is to connect Guests with an RV that fits their needs—fast.
Recent feature updates have improved the matching accuracy:
- Vehicle Type Groupings: Bid requests are now more strictly aligned with the initial search. For example, if the initial booking was for a Class B, bid requests will only be created for similar vehicle types (e.g., Class B, Camper Van, Class C).
- Trip Suitability Filters: Rule-based filters from the Guest's initial search, such as pet-friendliness and Guest count, are now respected when creating bid requests.
- Price Alignment: To ensure more suitable leads, we will no longer send bid requests for listings that greatly exceed the initial booking’s total price.
- Delivery Within Reach: You'll only see delivery matches where the destination is within your delivery range.
With these updates, Hosts should expect to see fewer, though much more qualified bid requests.
Benefits and Tips for Hosts
Smart Match is enabled on your listing by default, as it helps new Hosts gain their first few bookings to build up reviews when you’re just getting started on Outdoorsy.
- Receive a Lead: You’ll receive a quick summary of a prospective Guest’s trip. From there, you can either send a quote or message. Be sure to introduce yourself to the Guest and explain why your rig is a great fit for their trip.
- Maximize Leads: Even with our improved matching, you may still get matches that don’t immediately seem to fit. You can choose “not interested,” or you can message the potential Guest to see if your rig might be a good fit. Not every Guest knows exactly what they want, and Smart Match gives you an opportunity to snag a sale.
- Great Source of Revenue: We know from our data that Smart Match is a great source of revenue. Think of it as all the leads with none of the marketing work!
- Control the Feature: You can always toggle this feature off in your Dashboard if you don’t want to receive any matches, but we encourage all Hosts to utilize these leads to help their business.
Note: Not replying to a Smart Match will never hurt your response rate. Smart Match was formerly known as INSTAmatch.