Requests: owners come to you
Instead of hunting listings and messaging everyone, post a Request – for a scooter, a car or a place – and matching owners nearby reach out. Plus one map, direct chat, reviews and up-front prices.
The usual way to rent a scooter or a place in Phuket eats your time: you scroll dozens of listings, message every owner the same thing and wait for replies – and half the options are already taken or never answer. Balm Rentals has a convenient alternative – Requests. Instead of chasing listings, you describe what you need once and the right owners nearby come to you.
Requests: owners come to you
A request is a short description of what you are looking for. For transport: a scooter, motorbike or car, your dates, where to have it delivered, and whether you hold a driving licence. For real estate: an apartment, house or condo, your dates, area and budget. Nearby owners whose listing matches get a push notification, respond and start a chat with you. If nothing matches nearby, the search radius expands. Every request is moderated before it goes live. The net effect: owners come to you and you compare their offers in one chat, instead of messaging dozens of listings yourself.
- Post a Request. For transport, say scooter, motorbike or car, your dates, where to deliver it and whether you have a licence; for a place, say apartment, house or condo, your dates, area and budget.
- Matching owners nearby get a push notification about your request. If there is nothing close, the search radius expands.
- They reply and start a chat with you right in the app – no middlemen.
- You compare their offers and prices in one place and pick – instead of messaging dozens of listings.
Works for both transport and property
Requests work in both categories. Flew in for a couple of weeks and need a scooter at your hotel tomorrow? Describe the model, dates and delivery point – and rentals nearby will respond. Staying for the season and after a condo by the beach? State the property type, area, dates and budget – and owners of matching apartments and houses will message you. The same simple flow covers both your wheels and your roof, so there is no second search method to learn.
| Hunting listings yourself | Posting a Request |
|---|---|
| Message every owner separately and repeat yourself | Describe it once – matching owners reach out to you |
| Scroll the whole map hoping something is free on your dates | Only owners with a match for your dates and area reply |
| Replies scattered across dozens of separate chats | Compare all the offers in one place |
| A separate slog for a scooter and for an apartment | One flow for both transport and property |
Other things that make renting easier
- Everything on one map: transport and property shown together, near you.
- Filter by vertical (transport or real estate) and by type.
- Direct in-app chat with the owner – no middlemen or agents.
- Reviews and ratings from real tourists.
- Prices shown up front – per day, week or month.
- Share any listing with a friend by link.
- The app is on iOS and Android.
FAQ
What is a Request and how does it work?
A Request is a short description of what you want to rent. For transport you give the scooter, motorbike or car, your dates, where to deliver it and whether you have a licence; for a place, the apartment, house or condo, your dates, area and budget. Matching owners nearby get a push notification, reply and start a chat with you. If nothing matches close by, the radius expands. Every request is moderated before it goes live.
Do owners see my exact location?
Owners do not see your live GPS. They see the place you put in the request yourself: the delivery point for transport or the area for a place. That is what decides which nearby owners match and get notified. You agree the exact meeting details yourself in chat, once you choose who to reply to.
Does it work for apartments too, or only transport?
Both. Requests are a cross-vertical feature: you can use them for transport (scooter, motorbike, car) and for real estate (apartment, house, condo). Only what you fill in differs: for transport it is dates, delivery point and licence, for a place it is area, budget and dates. The flow itself is the same.
Is it free?
Yes. The Balm Rentals app is free to download and use: posting a request, getting owners’ responses and chatting with them costs nothing. You only pay for the rental itself – directly to the owner, on the terms you agree. There are no middlemen and no search fee.
Download the app
Updated 2026-07-07