Boatcation revolutionizes the world of international boat chartering. This boat sharing start-up, based in London, solves a problem faced by boat lovers who have struggled to find affordable, convenient boat charters for planned vacations, or those exciting, spontaneous trips.
With Boatcation, users can find like-minded vacationers to join in chartering a boat for a specific time. In this way, Boatcation brings the “sharing economy” of Airbnb and Uber to the business of boat rentals. The website is expected to pre-launch in June 2021 for immediate summer vacation bookings, and the app is expected to go live later this year.
Founders Amine Hassar and Isabel Meier-Preschany originally set out to address the challenges of boat rentals because they both shared a passion for boats, but had experienced difficulties finding individual boat tours at reasonable prices.
“We both wondered why it was always so expensive to charter a boat, something we had done on vacations for years,” explained Amine.
Renting a boat for a week or even a day is often expensive. Boatcation changes this dynamic by providing a cost-effective platform where users and owners can meet in the middle. Current charter options through Boatcation include 600+ boats spanning 15 countries, with daily prices varying from $300 for a smaller boat and up to $25,000 for an expansive Superyacht.
While there are many non-ownership sharing platforms coming into vogue, none to date have sought to evolve the social interaction, shared responsibilities and values of co-creation inherent to boat sharing.
The founders’ solution was to devise a way to meet people with whom one could share the costs of chartering a boat. They joined with partners from the yachting, finance and technology industries to launch Boatcation. The platform uses proprietary technology to connect interested boat renters from all over the world through matching parameters. The platform will allow for a wide range of different interests and search criteria.
The concept is beneficial to both the consumer and the owner. It’s a win-win deal for consumers who enjoy significant savings mixed with the allure of fun to be had in new found social interactions on the high seas. Boat owners get to efficiently reduce the cost burdens of ownership while enjoying found money revenues from otherwise idle assets.
“For those who don’t want to share a boat, Boatcation offers those seeking more exclusive luxury the freedom of going solo,” added Amine.
Each user creates a profile on the app, similar to one on social media. Based on the location, users can connect with other users who share similar interests and hobbies and are then able to message each other through the app to determine if the match is compatible and whether the users’ respective plans will work out.
Other notable aspects of Boatcation include:
> The platform is free to use for users and boat owners. Boatcation charges the boat owners a transaction fee of 15% on regular charter and 18% on sharing charter.
> Boat owners can list their boats for free. Every boat comes with a skipper, unless the user has a license and prefers to charter it themselves.
> Boatcationcurrently has 600 boats and yachts across the U.S, Middle east, South America and Europe (Italy, Greece, Spain, Monaco, France and beyond)
> Prices vary from $300 for a smaller boat, and up to $25,000 for an expansive Superyacht for a day.