‘Our operations became more reliable with Recras’

Rental company

Actief Twente is a rental company of bikes, scooters, electric vehicles and canoes. ‘Basically anything with vehicles. With these, we then provide all kinds of active programmes,’ Robert-Jan explains. ‘Even programmes that are not vehicle-related. In fact, we buy many of these activities from other parties. And we then combine these with our vehicles.’

Gigantically laborious

‘Previously, we used Google calendar. However, there was no vehicle management in that, so we had to add up by heart how many vehicles we still had available. Because we were a lot smaller back then, we had that reasonably under control, but of course it was enormously laborious. At the time, Recras itself was still an outdoor company and had developed its own programme with which it managed bookings.’

Trying out

‘We were one of the first companies allowed to try out the software. Basically, however, it was a programme for getaway companies. But we are, of course, a vehicle rental company. That made us a bit of an oddity. Nevertheless, we were able to work with it quite well. The combination of inventory management and planning made it a lot better than the Google calendar right from the start.’

A lot of set-up work

‘But from the beginning, it was a lot of setting-up work. However, we did get stuck on certain things. For instance, if we rent out scooters for a two-hour tour, we do need a certain run-out time, because such a group is never back within two hours. However, the programme does immediately release the equipment at the end of the booking. For this, we have come up with a workaround ourselves, together with Recras.’

Multifunctional

When Actief Twente started about 15 years ago, it was almost the only company in the region that rented vehicles. Nowadays, there are many more excursion companies that also rent out vehicles and Recras is now able to deal with them perfectly. ‘We use the programme here for stock management, personnel planning, planning activities and as an internal communication platform,’ Robbert-Jan lists.

Many functionalities

You integrate it into your entire business process. By the way, there are quite a few functionalities we don’t use, because it takes a lot from you to set that up properly. You have to have a lot of in-house knowledge to implement something new. And we have that knowledge in-house, but in the high season we just don’t really have the time for it. That’s why we usually turn it into a project in the winter to put such a new functionality into use. Recras thinks along with us in this, by the way. Their helpdesk is always available.’

More parties

Although Recras itself contacted the bicycle and vehicle rental company at the time, Robert-Jan also looked around for other management software. ‘More parties have entered the market in recent years, and it’s always good to compare. Not because I miss anything at Recras, mind you,’ Robert-Jan hastens to say. But with those other parties I always get stuck, because you can’t set much yourself. And with Recras you can. Your operations become more reliable because of the software, and they are always easy to reach. If something goes wrong somewhere, you just can’t wait two or three days for a solution. You never have to with Recras. They handle it well and quickly. Therefore, I would definitely recommend them to others.”