3 min read
Lofoten Wild by Senja Wild: Self-service SUP rental alongside guided kayak tours in Lofoten
Tim Vanhoutteghem is the founder of Senja Wild, a small outdoor company offering high-quality kayak and outdoor courses, trips and expeditions on the island of Senja in Northern Norway – crystal-blue water, big mountains, fjords and islands. In 2025 he started a second chapter further south: Lofoten Wild, a new base for kayaking, outdoor guiding and coaching in Lofoten. Alongside the guided tours, the new basecamp offers self-service SUP rental, powered by Rentalbuddy’s booking system and a digital lock.
A new basecamp in Lofoten – and a simple way to add rentals
Setting up a new business in a new place is a lot of work. As Tim put it during the spring:
You know how it goes – setting up a new business, time runs away from you getting everything ready for the season.
The plan for Lofoten was to build out a new basecamp during May, run guided kayak tours, and open SUP bookings from June. Guided tours are the core of the business, but they also mean the guide is out on the water most of the day. That is exactly where a self-service rental fits in: guests can rent a SUP and head out without anyone needing to be at the base.
Starting small: SUPs first, one lock for several boards
Tim didn’t want to start with a big fleet or a complicated setup. From the first email, the idea was clear:
We would start out having some SUPs for rent first. The way I would build it out, I thought about one lock for a few SUPs.
That works well with Rentalbuddy. A handful of boards can share one digital lock on a SUP box or rack, and the booking system handles availability, payment and access codes. By mid-June the kayak tours were running and the SUP rental box was about to open:
We are now running our kayak tours, and the SUP rental box will be ready by the weekend.
How self-service SUP rental works with Rentalbuddy
The flow for a guest at Lofoten Wild is the same as for other Rentalbuddy operators:
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Book online – the guest picks a SUP and a time slot directly on the website. Availability is shown in real time.
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Pay instantly – payment is handled in the booking system.
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Get a code and instructions – after payment, the guest gets step-by-step instructions by email, and the email’s button opens their booking page, where the unique code for the digital lock shows shortly before the start.
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Unlock, paddle, return – the guest opens the box, takes a board, enjoys Lofoten from the water and locks up again afterwards.
Tim sees everything in the Rentalbuddy admin panel – bookings, payments and who has access – whether he is at the basecamp or out guiding a tour.
Guided kayak tours and self-service SUP rental side by side
For a guide-led company, self-service rentals are not a replacement for guided tours – they are a complement. Courses, trips and expeditions stay personal and guided, while the SUP rental runs on its own in the background. That means more paddling for visitors, and more time for Tim to focus on the guests in front of him.
…focusing on growing what we got going on in Lofoten.
Want to see how other paddling businesses do it? Read how Arkipelagkajak blends guided tours and courses with self-service rentals, and how Side Cut Sports runs unmanned SUP rentals.
Getting started with self-service SUP rental: three steps
Setting up Rentalbuddy for Lofoten Wild came down to three steps: create a Rentalbuddy account, connect a Stripe account for payments, and connect a digital lock. After that, it is a matter of adding the SUPs to the system, setting prices and times, and placing the booking button on the website and QR code on the location.
Want to add self-service rentals to your outdoor business?
If you run guided tours, courses or an outdoor centre and want to offer kayaks, SUPs or other equipment on a self-service basis, Rentalbuddy makes it easy to start small – even with one lock and a few boards.
