Is BabyQuip Rental Worth Using? I Tried it to Find Out

If you’re a traveling parent, you may have heard of BabyQuip through the grapevine. It’s like the Airbnb of baby gear, allowing parents to rent out the strollers, cribs, SNOOs, and other baby items to traveling families.

On paper it sounds great. Not having to buy travel versions of your baby items, lugging them all the way from home, or paying checked luggage fees sounds ideal, doesn’t it?

So far I’ve tested out BabyQuip three separate times. This has been my experience:

What Is BabyQuip?

BabyQuip functions similarly to Airbnb in that you are renting baby gear from individuals in many locations around the US. You begin by inputting the address where you’ll be staying, then a list populates of available providers in the area along with their respective delivery fees.

First I type in a specific product I want to rent. If you have an infant who is used to sleeping in the SNOO, for example, start there. Most providers have plenty of other gear as well, including high chairs, steamers, baby baths, strollers, toys, and baby gates – all things that are often too bulky to travel with. Some will even deliver diapers and wipes!

In this example, I’ve searched for the Grand Californian hotel near Disneyland and checked the box for the Uppababy Minu stroller and a crib, and this provider pops up first for the random dates I selected, along with their reviews:

It’s easy to use and navigate, and you can choose to have the items delivered to your hotel, the airport, or vacation rental, or some renters will allow you to pick up the items yourself to save on the delivery fee.

For those who are successful on the platform, BabyQuip can also be a nice side hustle for parents and grandparents.

Is BabyQuip Worth Using?

Initially BabyQuip offered me a coupon (and I have one for you, too. Use code TRAVELMUSE20 for $20 off) so that I could try the service. I then used my own money to rent two additional times.

I love the convenience of BabyQuip. I was traveling solo with my toddler the first time I used it and it simplified things so much to be able to carry all of my luggage on my own by eliminating the need to tote along our travel crib and travel high chair. It also saved me $60 in checked baggage fees.

That said, depending on the length of your trip, BabyQuip rentals can get pricey. If you’re taking multiple trips with your baby into toddlerhood, it would be cheaper to buy your own Guava Lotus crib, travel stroller, and travel high chair, even if it means paying to check a bag.

BabyQuip is less about saving money and more about saving sanity, in my experience.

And if you need bulky items that you can’t travel with, like a SNOO, baby bath, sterilizer, baby food maker, pool gate, or perhaps you don’t own an all-terrain stroller or a baby hiking backpack, it can be a great resource. Providers will often have slightly discounted travel packages that include a crib, high chair, stroller, and toys.

My Experience with BabyQuip

My first rental with BabyQuip was for an 8-day trip to visit my mom in California. I rented a crib and a high chair for $217 including a $50 delivery fee. For reference, my Guava Lotus trave crib cost $230 on a Black Friday sale and the Hiccapop I usually travel with cost me $40, so this was more about convenience than being thrifty.

My provider was in touch immediately, offering to deliver the crib the day before and pick it up the day after the rental period for no extra charge, which worked great for me.

My second rental was the following week in Sedona. I rented a crib, high chair, and hiking backpack carrier for $313 with a $35 delivery fee. The hosts were in touch the week before and the morning of, resulting in a smooth delivery.

My provider even got in touch a few days later after some rainy days, offering to bring some toys over for free. It was such a sweet gesture.

Everything was clean that I received. The hiking backpack carrier had been freshly steamed, and although the high chair had one broken part, it didn’t affect the functionality, so all was well.

My third rental went less smoothly. I rented a stroller locally so that I could test it out and review it for this blog, paying $100 total for the rental and delivery that was meant to start in 2 days’ time. However the day the rental was supposed to start, I got an email saying it had been canceled?!

Had I not rented enough gear for it to be worth it for the provider? Had she run into a family emergency and could no longer rent to me? Did she only want rentals with a much longer lead time? Did she no longer have the item and forgot to update her profile? Unfortunately, I didn’t have any way to review the provider, who otherwise had glowing reviews, since the rental never happened, but it appears that there’s no recourse for last minute cancellations from providers, which makes me nervous.

On their website it states, “It doesn’t happen often, but if a Quality Provider needs to cancel at the last minute, we’ll do our best to help you find someone new.”

However I never had any reach out or attempt to help me find a different provider.

Thankfully I didn’t really, truly need the stroller since I was just reviewing it for the blog, but the other providers in my area were so much pricier that it made more sense for me to just buy it secondhand.

My Final Thoughts on BabyQuip

Apart from my one last minute cancellation, which is probably an anomaly, I think this service can be great for traveling parents.

Is it worth it for every trip? It depends. If you travel often and are willing to travel with extra luggage, it would be financially advantageous to just get your own travel crib and high chair, however if you’re just taking one or two trips while your child is young enough to need these things or you physically can’t travel with what you’ll need, it makes a lot of sense.

The Pros:

• Easy to use
• Gear is clean
• Most providers are good, and are parents just like you.
• Super convenient

The Cons:

• Pricey
• Might have to opt for brands you’re not familiar with.

The only other fault I can find is that not every provider will have all the specific items you’re used to using. We had to watch a few YouTube videos in order to figure out how to adjust the baby carrier and high chair we rented since they’re not the brands we use at home, so that made things a little more complicated. Ultimately we didn’t love the carrier we rented and it would have been easier and more comfortable to use ours from home.

However if you have plenty of pontential providers, like near Disneyland or other major tourist areas, this would be less of an issue.

Overall I love the idea of BabyQuip. I think it’s great they’re empowering parents and grandparents to have an extra source of income by using the baby gear they already have for rentals. Parents don’t have to waste money on cheap throwaway travel items and providers can hold onto their baby items and give them a much longer life.

I was grateful for the convenience of the service when I used it, and while an added expense for our trip, it made getting there much simpler. My experiences were mostly positive, and I’d recommend BabyQuip overall. Ready to try it yourself? Use code TRAVELMUSE20 for $20 off!

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