In the world of the sharing economy some companies have come out trying to shake up the yachting industry but in our view all of them have not really cracked the fundamentals that would really enable them to do so.
A lot of the companies we have seen that position themselves towards the Airbnb of boating have done a very good job in listing boats and trying to simplify the booking process for renting a boat. One of the few issues we have seen is that very few of them have truly understood that boating is not the process of renting an asset but rather that of delivering an experience.
In the the difference between renting out assets (boats/yachts) and delivering and experience lays the recent success of companies like The Yacht Week which in truth haven’t revolutionised the market but have identified a target and have made a great job at delivering to a specific 20-somthing target market that essentially requires a alcohol-loaded boating experience.
UPyacht has caught our attention because of its unique membership model which isn’t a share of ownership on a specific boat which would inevitably come with liability and maintenance costs, but simply credit to enjoy boating experiences or boat-time to do whatever one decides to do. Membership makes very much sense in this business because, let’s face it, going on a yacht by yourself isn’t much fun unless you are solo-sailor doing The Race. So here they come with a fresh new concept and from what we have seen a solid set-up.
We have looked into their founding membership offer (agreement and T&C) which seems to be a limited offer that does make a lot of sense to us: In brief a one-time fee of £15000 gives you access to £5000 per year for 3 years worth of yachting with vessels ranging from 30 to 75feet (9-21 meters), their charter rate are published and this level of membership gives you 20% off of their listed price (including the high season) giving customers the possibility to choose their itinerary, share it with other members and friends. All their Yacht are skippered and experiences are from what we see orientated to a wide variety of customers, ultimately it makes sense for a family or even a company to purchase this kind of memberships where the credit can be used for a family holidays on a sailing catamaran or a wakeboarding weekend for the youngsters.
For more information go to Upyacht.com and let us have your comment if you book a holiday with them.
