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A fully crewed yacht charter is an exciting alternative to a luxury villa. Sebastian Hirst, head of sales for sailing specialist The Moorings, describes how to sell the product.
What is The Moorings?
The company started in the British Virgin Islands in the 1960s, but since 2007 we have been part of Tui. We’re currently up for sale as part of the Travelopia collection of brands but are continuing to operate exactly as normal – from our office in Surbiton, where we have a sales team of 13.
What is a crewed yacht charter exactly?
Our fully crewed charters are perfect for clients who want the adventure and luxury of a private yacht, but with a qualified captain and chef to do all the hard work for you and to tailor the experience for you. Sailing can seem a bit specialist and exclusive but the crewed product is very accessible – you don’t need any sailing knowledge or experience. It’s more like a floating, all-inclusive villa, taking you to new places every day, entirely at your own pace.
What are the boats like?
All our crewed charters are on catamarans, which are more stable than mono-hull boats, so guests are unlikely to experience sea-sickness. Our smallest boats are 15-metre catamarans, which have three guest cabins, all en suite, and sleep up to six people – perfect for a family group. Our biggest catamarans are 18 metres long with five en suite cabins, sleeping up to 10. We constantly update our fleet and all boats are retired after five years.
Where can clients sail?
We sell crewed yacht charters in 15 destinations. The Caribbean is a key region for us – particularly the British Virgin Islands, plus St Lucia, Bahamas, St Maarten, Grenada and Belize. We are also in the Med – Italy, Greece, Turkey and Croatia. And we offer the Seychelles and Thailand.
Surely it’s very expensive?
Price depends largely upon the size of the boat you charter. Our largest catamaran, the 5800 Master, sleeps 10 people and costs from around £15,000 a week. That’s only £1,500pp – including all your meals and drinks. If you compare a crewed yacht charter to island-hopping in the BVIs, for example, we are more affordable, and sailing is the perfect way to explore. You can stop in and use the facilities at Little Dix Bay, Peter Island and Scrub Island and move between them all.
What’s included in the price?
Crewed charter prices include all meals and alcoholic drinks. The chef will cook a set menu each day but will accommodate your preferences as much as possible. The crewed charters also come with snorkelling equipment, kayaks, stand-up paddle boards and fishing gear. We can arrange scuba-diving gear and other activities if you wish. We also include insurance and the insurance excess waiver as part of the price. Tipping is not included and guests might like to tip 10-15% of the charter cost if they’ve had excellent service.
What if a client is not in a large family or group?
We also offer a “Sail Away Staterooms” product in the BVIs, when you can book individual cabins and share the boat with other like-minded couples. It’s a seven-night package and we have four departures throughout the year. From around £3,018pp, based on two sharing, it’s a very affordable way to try the crewed charter concept.
What is your customer demographic?
We’re certainly a higher-end product – we know the average household income for our clients is £75,000. The age range is 40 upwards. Children and families are very welcome, though those aged eight and over are best suited.
How lucrative can it be for travel agents?
We pay 10% commission on the boat charter itself, and because the crewed product includes the services of a captain and chef and all the food and drink, it can be a very lucrative. And agents really don’t have to know much about the product to sell it – our team will ask all the questions and do all the research, so it’s really more of a referral fee for agents. If a standard charter is £15,000, that’s £1,500 in commission just for giving us a call. We can also book flights for you with full Atol protection, although we don’t offer commission on the flights.
What other products does The Moorings sell?
We also sell “bareboat” charters without the crew – that’s for customers who are qualified sailors who just want to hire the boat, and possibly have us fill it with food and drink for them, but nothing more. For customers who are familiar with sailing but might never have chartered their own boat before, we offer “skippered yacht charters” – with a skipper joining you either to get you started for half a day, or perhaps staying onboard for the duration of the charter.
How do you work with the travel trade?
We already have some tour operators that feature The Moorings charters, including ITC Luxury Travel, Turquoise Holidays and Abercrombie & Kent. But agents can also book with us directly and we’ll pay commission direct to the agent. We have a helpful introduction pack, pricing guide and sales manual to help agents understand the product. We think there’s a massive opportunity to work with luxury specialist agents and any agents looking for something a bit different to offer their clients.
