I did a significant amount of research into whether to rent an RV for a recent trip to Alaska, and if so, from whom to rent. Trip was for a family of three, including a toddler.
After reading horror stories from the other, larger, companies, we almost threw in the towel on getting an RV as it didn't seem worth the hassle - so many details to track, high cost (when factoring in gas & an artifact of having only 3 people vs 6), and from companies who didn't put their customers first.
Fortunately, we found Explore Alaska RV and Meegan and had an incredible trip with a perfect RV to boot.
Many of the other reviews speak to the general experience of renting from Meegan - I'll add color with a few specifics that made our experience unique and great:
1. From the beginning of the booking process through the end of our rental, Meegan was incredibly responsive across three mediums - email, phone AND text. No question too small (or too dumb), ranging from "do I need to bring rubber gloves for dumping the toilets?" (no, Meegan provides them) to "why can't I get the stove to turn on?" (human error on my part - didn't hold down the pilot light switch).
2. Attention to detail - Meegan has optimized every element of the rental experience.
She calls your insurance company a few weeks before you arrive to determine your existing coverage. Moreover, she automatically offers a $1K deductible fully comprehensive insurance plan with the base cost of the rental vs trying to charge separately.
She emails out the rental agreement a week before your rental begins to give you time to review it and ask any questions.
She has the correct number of linens and towels based on the size of your party. Camping chairs to baking sheets to insect repellent are already stocked based on feedback from prior renters. Not to mention 8 pre-stocked rolls of RV toilet paper. USB ports to charge your phone? Check. Auxiliary port audio cords so you can listen to music from your phone? Included.
Our RV looked like new when we started our rental (impressive given that it was 3 years old and had over 50K miles) and I was worried about getting it back to that shape given the minor army of mosquitoes we vanquished with our windshield during our rental. Meegan said we were fine - she spends hours washing and buffing the RV exteriors between rentals to keep them looking new and has special tricks to get caked on bugs off of the hood.
She even provides free pick-ups and drop offs from the airport with flexibility (as other rentals allow) on rental beginning and end times.
Meegan is an avid RV-er - she already has things configured with all the tips and tricks to get a noob like me up and running. These things aren't cheap or easy to provide in Alaska, but for Meegan, it's about delivering a great experience.
3. She works backward from her customers, raising the bar for everyone in the RV rental industry in Alaska.
Customers aren't always right and do make mistakes - RVs are incredibly sophisticated lodging, transportation, and cooking machines and most of us aren't used to driving one on a daily basis.
In reading reviews from the other RV rental companies, what struck me was that the good reviews usually came when a customer didn't have a problem and almost all the bad reviews mentioned problems not with the RV, but more in how the rental company dealt with a customer experiencing a problem, regardless of who was at fault, company or customer.
Meegan is incredible in connecting with her customers in a way that makes them feel human, even when they do make a mistake.
To wit - we were traveling for a week with a toddler through the wilds of Alaska - I wasn't worried that we would run into some unforeseen problem - I was counting on it. Our little one can wield a crayon or chips and salsa as weapons of mass destruction and my mind could only imagine the possibilities of what she might destroy and how much it might cost to repair. When the inevitable problem happened, I didn't want to deal with a company treating me like an adversary or an idiot (aka the Comcast cable approach).
We were fortunate in that our mistakes were limited in scope (I broke a hinge on a coffee maker, miraculously / mysteriously, no problems from the kid!), but Meegan took it in stride when completing the walk through and mentioned that she'd trade out the coffee maker with the one in her office so that the next guest would have a great experience without trying to charge me for my mistake.
It is Meegan's common sense attitude that grounds delivering a great experience with the fact that people will make mistakes and finding a balance that works. While walking through orientation for our rental, Meegan pointed out a few prior renters mistakes which she'd found efficient ways to fix, balancing keeping her fleet of 5 RVs in pristine shape without taking customers to the cleaners for a mistake.
When we return to Alaska, we'll be renting from Explore Alaska RV! read more
