How much does it cost to charter your yacht? — featuring Yachts For Sale

0:00 how to charter your yacht there are many yacht owners who watch this youtube channel and many future yacht owners too so what are the benefits of putting your yacht on the charter market how much does it cost what are the steps that you need to take to make that happen i wanted to take advantage of the fact

0:16 that i'm at the fort lauderdale office of north robin johnson where there is so many experienced yacht brokers one of which is adam fitzmaurice who is a charter manager with quite a fleet of yachts on his books now adam has been in the industry since 1998 he's worked as crew on yachts and he's one of the

0:36 world's most successful charter managers i can think of nobody better to answer those questions [Music] so adam first of all thanks for taking time out of your busy day to talk with us pleasure the video is about how to charter your yachts but before we talk

1:01 about the how what about the why why should somebody charter their yachts i think there's a lot of benefits for for chartering yachts or chartering out your yacht the first one is is purely a business decision it's to help offset some of your running costs very rarely will it ever cover your

1:19 costs you know there's um there was obviously a lot of expenses having it having a yacht but the charter revenue definitely helps um it can help be reinvested into into the program it can help cover some of your crewing costs so there's lots of benefits for on just purely from a fiscal

1:36 perspective and then from a day-to-day operational perspective i think as well there's a lot of benefits boats like to be used they like to be moved um the doors like opening and the toilets like flushing and the tvs enjoy being turned on and off so i think on that side there's a real benefit too

1:54 yeah i mean if you just leave the yacht there in the dock for potentially seven or eight months of the year it's not really good for the machinery or anything what about the crew do you think crew enjoy being on a charter yacht i mean as x crew myself i loved chartering i mean i am

2:10 i think you get that day-to-day challenge you get to meet new people new families you get to see the vessel being used in a whole different type in a different way different locations that the guests enjoy get to use the toys yourself and really showcase what the vessel can do as opposed to

2:28 when it's in a private mode often it's just you know you know your owner you know the family so you don't necessarily go with all of the toys or do all of the theme nights and i think um crew enjoy it they thrive on that for sure yeah i think it's very very hard work but it's financially

2:45 rewarding isn't it to be working on a charter yet yeah absolutely um you know in the service industry whatever part of the service industry you're in there are there are gratuities there are tips um and that's definitely one part of it i think crew obviously appreciate the gratuities and the tips it is a it is an

3:05 important factor i think for a lot of them it's just the fun it's the fun element yes it's tiring they are long long long days um but i really think that they enjoy it on a multiple on multiple levels great so that's the why let's say that i'm a yacht owner and i've thought about it and i've decided

3:25 yeah i've got a 150 foot yacht i only use it a couple of months of the year maybe i should put it on the charter market what's my first step so i think initially the most important to step step to think about understand is am i able to is this something that the vessel is able to

3:47 to do so obviously previously the vessel probably classified as a private yacht in order to charter you need to move it into a commercial status and there's certain hoops you need to jump through there's some requirements predominantly by insurance and flag state to ensure that the vessel is compliant commercially

4:06 compliant so that's generally the first um the first step and who might help with that i guess captain could be of assistance absolutely i mean the main driving factor for the for the rules that you need to follow is flag state so depending who you're flagged whether that's jamaica marshall islands

4:25 cayman islands saint vincent the grenadines um the first step would be to invite them on board and they'll do what they call it is like a pre uh a pre-survey so they'll come and check on the compliance of the commercial uh commercialness of the yacht how was it built is it in class do you have

4:44 enough life rafts do you have enough life vessels um how's the fixed firefighting equipment safety equipment etcetera and then you got to work through the non-conformities and they can be quite large you know depending where it was built how it was built so that's really the first step

5:00 and then there's a financial evaluation is it worth that investment to bring the vessel up to commercial code beyond that then you get into the really the nitty-gritty of um how to do it and not just how to do it but how to be successful and i think you know once you get over the paperwork

5:20 side then you get into the fun bit and i guess that's when people contact you yeah very much so the second step would be i guess find an atom of the situation hey look we're in the relationship industry um whatever element of yachting you're in it's all about the relationship when we very much look to

5:43 build a rapport with our with our clients you know it's essential that everyone understands successful charter management relies on a successful team and we don't work for e for anyone we work for each other we work together um and i'm a great believer in that relationship between the charter manager

6:02 and the owner and the captain really being very very strong um and understanding where we're all coming from so that that's a huge part of the success can you give me some examples of that of the um understanding where we're coming from so what do we want to achieve you know what are we trying to

6:19 do are we trying to be a very very busy charter yacht and a busy charter yacht can be 10 12 14 weeks up if we're trying to be a very busy charity how are we how are we placed in the market what's our commercial aspirations are we going to be up sitting price wise in the middle we're going to sit at the

6:37 top um are we going to accept any charter are we going to move the vessel around the different islands to different locations um are we going to offer specials and by being very you know having these kind of high commercial aspirations perhaps you need to be less strict on certain

6:55 requirements we're happy to have lots of kids we might be happy to have dogs on occasions with the right security deposit and then the other flip side of the coin is look i love my yacht i'm incredibly proud of my yacht i like the idea of a little bit of charter yeah but i want to be very very

7:13 selective this is huge for us it's probably the most important conversation we can have i mean that's somebody's home it's a floating home but it's still their home it's where their kids play and their grandchildren play and their friends come on so understanding what they want to get out of this this

7:30 process we're again in the relationship game we're looking for longevity of a relationship it's not just one charter and move on so sure and i guess from your owner's perspective they don't want to be constantly having sex to say to you adam i've told you i don't want party animals on my yachts absolutely

7:48 because you already know that because you've got to know the owner very well um yeah and it's also not something that northup and johnson does you know the you know the history the foundation of this company has always been about families and family charters and family experiences now obviously five you know

8:04 a group of five couples who want to charter are as welcome as well but i always think would i want these people staying in my house if i was away and i think we always try and put ourselves in the owner's shoes so we've got step one is to to get the yacht ready for charter it might already

8:22 be ready or maybe there are certain changes need to be made step two find a charter manager who really gets what you're hoping to achieve where do you go well then we get into the marketing side you know we call it a product or a program or a brand because essentially that's what it is we're going into a charter

8:44 market with you know probably 2500 other yachts on the market right now yacht folio i think has somewhere in the region of 1900 vessels listed for charter all around the world just for the benefit of the viewers who may not know what your folio is what is your photo so your folio is the mls the

9:02 multiple listing system for the charter yacht industry and it's where the yacht managers will um load and um list the the different yachts that we have and it shows all the tenders and toys and the pictures the list about the crew it'll show where the vessel is going to be available and also

9:21 the price it's kind of our one stop shop um profile or system that we use in the in our industry so um yeah i mean there's a lot of boats out there so how do you ensure that your vessel sits above and beyond its competition and again it's the marketing so you've got to have a product that you're

9:44 incredibly proud of the owners need to understand that um together with the captain in the charter management we've got to build a buzz a bit of an excitement we've got to have a program under an a and a boat and a crew that we're incredibly proud of and we want to share so it's very very important that

10:03 the product the bare bones of what we're doing is truly seven star now you mentioned they're the crew one thing is getting the the yacht ready for charter and having the flag state on board telling you what changes you need to make if any what about the crew in your experience um how much impact does

10:22 that have on a successful charter crew is the most important element in chartering hands down the crew make the trip i mean the the yacht the platform is an incredible vessel for these great experiences and to see all these amazing places but it's really the crew that make or break the trip dynamic fun

10:42 uh hard working i always think if i was on vacation and i can come out and be and know my children are being entertained and looked after by by some fun crew that the people serving me and around me are enjoying themselves and have a real passion for what they do you know that's it truly is the most

11:05 important element of a successful charter program hands down any investment necessary there for the point of view of the owner entertainment we come back to that word entertainment i think there's lots of great crew out there who provide that entertainment these silly little things

11:20 like themed dinners yeah you know um and barbecues and lots of water sports toys that's the big thing right now is water sports toys um and i think it's really important that owners do understand they do need to make an investment they might not like slides but slides are very very

11:40 popular right now um so whilst it might not be something they're looking to do you've got to think well what would my niece or my nephew or my grandchildren enjoy because they're going to be the people who are going to be chartering it and certainly when you see those uh photographs of the the yacht with a

11:58 inflatable water slide and all of the toys out and often they have the little um floating pontoon there again with the jet skis from a marketing perspective you look at that and you think that i want to be there i want to be on that yacht yeah absolutely i had one of my uh one of my

12:14 owners sent me an email over the weekend he just invested in two new um flight boards which are those kind of electric boards and also a party cabana which is huge inflatable um island that guests can you know float off into to the distance amazing yeah so the process sounds pretty simple really

12:38 once you've got the flag state to tell you what changes if any need to be made you've found a charter manager who gets with the program understands what you're hoping to achieve you've got your crew i guess in the best possible uniforms the best possible crew that you can get i guess

12:53 the chef's very important yeah with that as well and you've got your tenders and toys you're pretty much ready to go but what kind of costs can an owner expect once the charter program starts so really and truly there are no we charge no management costs um a lot of companies will charge for the

13:17 production of videography photography and often can there can be associated costs and how they take that vessel to market here at northup and johnson we're very proud to say we offer all of that in-house i think we have a truly an outstanding in-house in you know photography videography team

13:38 and after that the only real costs are when business is booked i always say to the owners you make money so we make money when you make money so the costs associated really quite simple there is 20 commission and that's paid on the gross charter fee and that's broken with 15 percent goes to the

13:56 booking broker so whoever brings the client and then five percent goes to the central agent the house and beyond that obviously there there are some intrinsic costs you've got to make sure the crew look great you got to make sure you are um keeping up to date with the latest trends toys investing on your avi avit

14:16 system but apart from that you know there are really no day-to-day management costs now you said that um the 20 15 goes to the broker who brings the client to you what's the the strategy here is it important that you try to keep that as in-house as possible so that north rock and johnson

14:35 can maximize the the profits i mean honestly if we don't work in that kind of way it's a little bit of a difficult dance that we play because whilst we work for northup and johnson our focus and our our responsibility is to maximize revenue for the owner and to bring him the best trip possible and the best

14:56 clients and the best repeats so i mean in this company anyway there is no pressure whatsoever to just book with our own team it's really about what's the best for the yacht for the owner um and then you know for the crew as well it's really important that you remember to bring or try and bring as nice

15:15 guests on board as possible and if they come from another let's say a competing brokerage house that's absolutely fine yeah absolutely i mean we have great relationships with brokers in the other houses it's one of the most important i said at the beginning we're in the relationship

15:31 industry and to you know we work very hard to generate and to improve our relationships with the other brokers it's a huge part of our job excellent well thanks very much adam that's giving us a real clear picture on what somebody needs to do if they want to charter their yachts thanks again my pleasure thank you

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