posted on March 9, 2022
Features and improvements to boost host efficiency
Whether you’re adding another car to your portfolio, or just getting started hosting on Turo, as a busy entrepreneur, you need the best tools to run your business more effectively. We’re dedicated to creating a platform that empowers you to run your business efficiently, so you can focus on what matters — delivering delightful customer experiences, keeping track of your performance, and achieving your business goals. This year, we’re making big investments across the Turo platform to continue making our advanced hosting platform for car sharing even better.
Improvements will be rolling out all year, but in the next few months, we’re laser-focused on a big foundational change to the app. This will unlock opportunities for brand new, host-facing features in the future and improvements to existing features that will help make using Turo easier and more efficient for busy hosts. Read on to learn more about what’s in store for the Turo app in the coming months.
Elevating hosting with host-first navigation
Currently, the Turo platform has one shared interface for hosts and guests. However, these two sides of our community of course have very different desires and goals. Hosts need effective tools to help them manage their listings and trips — especially when they host multiple vehicles — as well as the ability to communicate quickly and easily with guests, and track the status of any claims.
To better support the unique needs of both sides of the marketplace, we’re soon going to separate the platform into two sides, with different modes for hosts and guests. It’ll be easy to switch between the two sides, and as a host, you’ll be able to more easily access useful tools and settings. Plus, this new navigation will lay the groundwork for new hosting tools and features.
Modernizing messaging
We’re excited to bring key improvements to Turo messaging, making it easier for you to communicate with your guests and be more efficient as you scale your operations. These messaging improvements will include:
- Scheduled messages – Soon you’ll be able to create message templates and schedule them to send automatically, triggered by trip events. This will be a big time saver. Easily customize your messages with variables like your guest’s name or their reservation dates. You’ll be able to automatically send your guests pick-up instructions before their trip starts or a friendly reminder about refueling before their trip ends. You’ll also be able to schedule messages for certain situations, like airport delivery, to help make pick-up as smooth as possible.
- Photos in messages – Our host community has asked for this feature for a while, so later this year, you and your guests will be able to include photos in messages, making it easier to show guests exactly where your car is parked, any need-to-knows about your car, or where to find the lockbox.
Improving visibility into the claims process
Damage to hosts’ vehicles is rare, but when accidents do happen, it’s important for hosts to have more visibility into the claims process, so they can focus on running their business, instead of emailing their claims associate for updates. Soon, hosts will be able to easily track the issues they’re resolving directly with their guests as well as the damage claims the claims team is managing, right from the Turo app. Hosts won’t have to reach out to the claims team for an update because they’ll be able to see where a claim is in the process right in the app.
Investing in new business management and pricing tools
We’re working to improve hosts’ business management and pricing tools, making it easier for you to have a firm handle on how your Turo business is doing and to make informed, data-driven decisions.
As you tackle your taxes, be sure to check out your new year-end earnings summary and tax information page, through the “More” menu in the Turo app. Later this year, you’ll have access to more tailored pricing insights based on similar vehicles in your area and years of booking data, to help you confidently choose a competitive price for your vehicles. Because the travel industry is seasonal and demand for vehicles fluctuates throughout the year, savvy hosts know to thoughtfully adjust their prices for the slower seasons compared with the summer boom.
Additionally, in the coming months, you’ll have more access to data on trending prices to help you better understand how much similar vehicles in your areas are getting booked for.
Compiling more accurate vehicle information
We’re investing in a major overhaul of our US and Canada vehicle info, partnering with best-in-class data providers and rebuilding our catalog infrastructure from the ground up to help ensure that all the vehicles shared on Turo are accurately classified — from trims and styles to industry-standard categories — and valued.
This refresh will give you better pricing recommendations and make it easier for your guests to find the right vehicle for them. Newer models will be available to list sooner than they are currently. And more accurate data will lead to more accurate models and algorithms, which will lead to better matching between hosts and guests which will be good news for hosts financially.
Boosting app usability with dark mode
Many hosts and guests prefer using dark mode on their devices in low-light settings because it emits less “blue light” for better sleep hygiene and can potentially help reduce eye strain. To make the Turo app more usable, especially for the many hosts who use the app every day, we’ll soon be launching dark mode support in the Turo app. Feel free to put your phone in dark mode to check it out after this feature goes live.
We hope you’re as excited about these new tools and feature improvements as we are! We’ll let you know as we start rolling out each of them in the months ahead.
Praveen Subramani
Praveen is an electric vehicle enthusiast and Senior Director of Product Management at Turo, where he leads a team of product managers, designers, engineers, and researchers to create products for hosts.
