It is still too early to say whether such deep discounts will be offered en masse during the upcoming Caribbean season, as only a few early offers have come to my attention thus far. They include price breaks aboard the 115-foot Crescent motoryacht Kapalua and the 254-foot motoryacht Samar. Those discounts have followed the traditional pattern seen this summer, with either a straight percentage discount or an extra day onboard for free.

Which is why I am so intrigued to receive a new announcement from management house Edmiston and Company regarding the 169-foot Alloy sailing yacht Mondango (that’s Mondango‘s main salon in the photograph at right). The yacht’s owner, instead of offering a traditional discount this winter in the Caribbean, has instead decided to include the crew’s gratuities in the yacht’s lowest weekly base rate of €185,000.

Since clients regularly tip charter yacht crew anywhere from 5 percent to 15 percent of the yacht’s base rate, this offer amounts to a savings for the charter client of €9,250 to €27,750.

Could this be the first in what will become a new trend in charter yacht discount offers? I’m certainly staying tuned. I can see why yacht owners and management companies would prefer this type of discount, for sure: It helps to retain the value of the yacht’s regular base rate for when the global recession ends.

One of the brokers asked a question during another speaker’s talk that day, a question that left me shaking my head in amazement. “Why should we use social media at all?” she said. “Doesn’t it denigrate luxury brands?”

That attitude continues to amaze me. In my opinion, it’s like saying, “Why should we use e-mail to promote yacht charter? Isn’t e-mail full of spam?” Social media—like e-mail, blogs, magazines, snail mail, the Pony Express, and town criers way back in the day—is simply a form of communication. It’s a channel through which a message can be delivered. Yes, some people use it to spew nonsense into the world, but savvy businesspeople are now using social media to connect with serious clients, including those in upper financial demographics.

The most recent example from the world of luxury yacht charter is Shannon Webster, who owns Florida-based Shannon Webster Yacht Charters. (That’s Webster in the photograph above.) On August 13, she uploaded a post to her company’s Facebook page: “New England is booking very quickly as the summer is coming to a close. There are very few available larger motor yachts that have an open calendar. Many owners are using their boats at the end of August, causing further lack of inventory. Northern Lights, the 132′ Westship, and Sovereign, the 120′ Broward, still have open time on their charter books. Inquire today before they are gone!”

Less than a week later, Webster announced a 10-day booking as a direct result: “It pays to use Social Media. Just booked Northern Lights yesterday for 9 nights, only 4 days after posting her availability in New England on my FaceBook wall.”

Northern Lights is a charter yacht with a top weekly base rate of $90,000. If securing a 10-day booking from a Facebook post equals “denigration” of its brand, then I’ll eat my keyboard.

Kudos to Webster for her smart use of social media, and to the fruit it has borne for her company. I hope that charter brokers who fear and avoid social media (and the Web in general) will learn from the example that Webster is setting.

Editor’s Note: Shannon Webster is a sponsor of CharterWave, where this blog originates.

“Clients like the feeling of luxury between their fingertips,” one broker told me in a tone that attempted outright gravitas. “That simply cannot be replicated in a digital format.”

I was reminded of that conversation yesterday, when I uploaded this interview with charter broker Sherry Yates of Yates Yachts, who is shown in the photograph at right. She’s running an entire charter-booking operation not only without printed brochures, but also without new paper of any kind.

“Yates Yachts is a green company,” she told me, explaining how she learned the importance of the environment while living aboard her own boat in the Caribbean for 10 years. “In addition to supporting yachts that advertise their efforts at sustaining our planet—recycling, reusable water bottles for guests, wind and solar energy, and the like—all of my correspondence is done electronically. That includes inquiry replies, yacht brochures, and charter agreements. Any paper I do generate is recycled.”

Yates is so serious about “going green” that her office is heated by solar power, and the radio she listens to is powered by wind.

“I know brokers who send out hundreds of packets and brochures, and they all get thrown away,” she said. “I am trying to limit what I put into the environment.”

“Going green” is becoming a trend in the charter industry, for sure. Large management companies regularly tout their efforts to operate in a carbon-neutral fashion. The retail-booking agency Boatbookings offers a button on its website that lets you purchase carbon credits at the time you book your charter, for an instant offset. New motoryachts generate hot water from heat exchangers on the generator and main engine, as opposed to using a traditionally separate, electricity-guzzling water heater. New sailing yachts work with firms like the CarbonNeutral Company to offset the emissions from charter vacations. Even smaller yachts that are several years old are going green by installing water chillers that let them replace plastic water bottles with reusable, refillable water bottles for guests. That’s no small shakes: Akasha‘s crew told me that they previously would go through about 22 cases of bottled water during each charter week. With 24 bottles per case, the refillable bottles are saving the landfill from more than 500 empty plastic bottles per week.

I am encouraged every time I hear of another yacht like these, or about a broker like Yates who is striving to lead by example. They are proving every day that yacht charter remains one of the most forward-thinking vacation options when it comes to environmental stewardship. My hat is off to them, and I hope you will support them with your charter business.

Editor’s Note: Boatbookings is a sponsor of CharterWave, where this blog originates.

I believe that marketing claim is accurate, although it appears to me that the new site is very similar to Fraser’s existing website as opposed to being an entirely new online construction. When I click on the tabs that usually take me to a listing of charter yachts, for example, I get the same results in the same format–albeit with everything but the yachts’ names appearing in the Russian language.

“A company that puts its clients first should at least be able to speak to them in their own language,” Hein Velema, Fraser’s CEO, said in a news release. “Our clients from Russia have yachts under construction, under management and for sale and charter; we’re now in an even better position to meet their needs.”

Fraser has offered its charter brochures in Russian for several years. The company also has a number of Russian-speaking brokers and staff.

The Maltese archipelago consists of three islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino and lies virtually at the centre of the Mediterranean, with Malta 93km south of Sicily and 288km north of Africa. Malta is the largest island; the cultural, commercial and administrative centre, and throughout the ages has been at the centre of maritime activity in the Mediterranean. Gozo is the second largest island and is more rural, characterised by fishing, tourism, crafts and agriculture. Comino is largely uninhabited.

Since gaining independence in 1964 Malta has continued to be at the forefront of maritime activity. The Freeport, yachting, cruise liners and ship registration are amongst the activities that have grown substantially in the past few decades. With the proposed development of additional marinas, a new cruise liner terminal and the expansion of the Freeport, the future of maritime Malta looks set to expand. It would not be unreasonable to say that this is a future built on an ancient and solid tradition. When the islands were taken over by the British, the latter found a population attuned to a life bound to the sea as well as an infrastructure that complemented the requirements for their powerful navy. Not only were seamen employed with the Royal navy but rope makers, carpenters and sail makers made their skills available to the naval establishment on the island. The British developed and expanded the maritime services and structures that had been started by the Order of St John as well as establishing new ones such as the dry-docks and the massive breakwater at the mouth of the harbour. However it was not just the British that took advantage of the island’s strategic position. The locals invested in ships and trade and were also quick to exploit opportunities when these presented themselves.

There is one company that has been a recent mainstay of the Maltese marine sector. Founded in 1976 by Roland Darmanin Kissaun, S&D Yachts has a company motto “to deliver a top quality service with key focus on reliability’ and has gained an international reputation for being Malta’s leading yacht agent, broker and charter management company. Visiting yachtsmen have come to rely on the unrivalled service delivered by the experienced and dedicated staff whose customer service is second to none.

As the yachting sector worldwide has expanded, not only in the size of yachts being built today, but increasingly in the quantity and professional management, S&D Yachts has evolved in line with the industry, both on the island and with networks further afield. Organisational growth and restructuring as well as upgrading the operational facilities has ensured that S&D stays on top of the game and they now employ over 30 personnel in two centrally located premises in Malta to ensure delivery of an efficient service.

The company structure is divided into six distinct departments in order to service all aspects of a yachts requirements: Agency, Brokerage and Charter, Corporate Services, Yacht Repair Services, Chandlery and Product Distribution and Tunisia Yacht Services. Through these departments the company can offer a myriad of services making S&D Yachts a true one-stop shop for yachtsmen visiting Malta.

In order to extend the company services further, S&D Yachts networks with similar companies throughout the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

One of the mainstay activities of S&D Yachts is the brokerage and sales of new and used craft. Whether a sailing or a motor yacht, fibreglass, steel or wood, their comprehensive database of new and second-hand yachts includes a few interesting proposals worth considering, and working with a network of cooperating brokers they are able to find the ideal craft anywhere in the world to suit customer needs. S&D Yachts are also distributors for Dufour Yachts and Cranchi Yachts.

And if you would like to sail around the Maltese islands S&D Yachts also offers a full range of crewed luxury yachts for charter in some of the world’s most beautiful destinations. The company also provide a wide range of professional services. For instance, prospective boat owners could benefit from advantageous rates of EU VAT paid through Malta Yacht Leasing system, typically ranging from 6 per cent to 9 per cent effective tax rate. This facility is available for both new and used craft purchase. In addition Registration of Yachts under the Malta Flag is a simple and straightforward operation, and S&D Yachts can guide you through the process.

If you are visiting Malta, whatever your yachting requirements may be, feel free to drop into the offices of S&D. If you would like some more information prior to arrival, visit the S&D website.

Edtor’s Note:  For more information and charter listings, visit the Yachtworldcharters.com Mediterranean page.

I know the spring charter yacht shows in the Virgin Islands are generally smaller than the fall shows, but this year apparently was even smaller than usual.

There were two shows, one on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the other on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Last year at the spring shows, there were 14 boats in St. Thomas and 22 boats in Tortola. This year, there was only one charter boat in St. Thomas and about a dozen boats at Tortola.

Why the huge drop-off?

I think it’s just another indication of how hard hit the area has been economically. The Virgin Islands are not like the Mediterranean, where the boats are a lot bigger and the boat owners have deep financial resources. They can complain about charter dropping off there because of the economy, but the yachts can often still stay above water financially. That’s just not the case with a lot of Virgin Islands boats. They’re smaller with thinner profit margins. When the charters don’t come, there just isn’t as much of a financial cushion.

Is there no charter business at all in the Virgin Islands right now?

I wouldn’t say that. Some very good charter boats were not in the shows this month because they had charter bookings on the same dates. In years past, they might have passed up those bookings to put themselves in front of brokers at the show for future marketing, but this year, the boats are choosing the bird in the hand.

How was the turnout of brokers?

That was interesting, too. It was a low-key boat show, mostly just local brokers from the islands, which usually is not the case. There usually are at least some brokers who come from the States and other off-island locations. And that, actually, could have played into the number of boats that attended. From the point of view of the boats, it costs dockage fees to enter the shows. If the brokers are all local and already know your boats, why spend the money to be in the show?

All across the Mediterranean right now, I’m hearing that charter is a buyer’s market. Yacht owners are negotiating rates, offering extra days onboard, and in general giving more than they used to give in order to secure charter bookings. Is that happening in the Virgin Islands, too?

It’s not, and it’s a real problem.

Potential clients are calling and saying that they want a really good deal because it’s a buyer’s market, but as I said before, this market is not like the Mediterranean, where the boats are bigger and the profit margins allow for negotiations and wiggle room. In the Virgin Islands, we’re now at the end of our second year of economic downturn.The boats that remain available for charter are good boats operating as economically as they can. There’s not really any place for these owners to go, to offer a lower price. The owners get to the point where the charter will make them zero dollars. People don’t like to work for free. And you can’t blame them.

Now, from the client’s point of view, the problem is real as well. The recession has shaken out of the industry the clients who were really stretched thin financially, and most people are saying there’s at least another year left before things will start to get better. I don’t think it’s all gloom and doom, but the middle class funded the moderate Virgin Islands charter boats. That’s who the charter clients have always been. I’m not sure how soon they’ll come back, if ever.

Of the boats that were at the shows, did you sense good maintenance and attitudes toward charter?

I did. There were some very nice, good-looking boats. I felt like what I saw looked great.

One example is the 76-foot sailing catamaran King’s Ransom. I just love that boat. The crew are very nice and enthusiastic, and the boat always looks great. That crew will always get my clients whatever they need.

I also liked the 62-foot sailing catamaran Catsy, which used to be in the Sunreef Yachts fleet but now has new ownership. The crew that used to be aboard the 58-foot sailing catamaran Bliss are now on Catsy, and they’re great. Plus, it’s a good, nice, very spacious, comfortable boat.

There also was an interesting powerboat, a completely refitted 1994 Broward that’s 120 feet long—which is big for the Virgin Islands. The boat is called Freedom, and it’s part of the Flagship fleet, being run and part owned by a man named George Custer who ran charter boats here in the islands a long time ago. What I liked about this boat is that he’s doing an all-inclusive rate, which is hard to find on powerboats, let alone one that big. Freedom can take eight guests, and the all-inclusive weekly rate is $55,000. So it’s not a cheap vacation, but it’s a good value for a 120-footer.

I feel like I should wish you good luck going into the rest of the year.

Like I said, I don’t think it’s all gloom and doom. We are starting to get inquiries now for Christmas and New Year’s, and the shows were good timing in terms of assessing the current condition of the boats and seeing which crew have changed. There are still great boats available for charter in the Virgin Islands, that’s for sure.

To learn more about chartering yachts in the Virgin Islands, visit the YachtWorldCharters Caribbean destinations page.

Editor’s Note: Regency Vacations is a sponsor of CharterWave, where this blog originates.

Day One of the Genoa Charter Yacht Show has drawn to a close, with the onboard dinners finishing up as the clock here in Italy ticks past midnight. I’m just back from seven courses including a fantastic mango-coconut soup aboard the newly renovated 114-foot motoryacht 5 Fishes (more on her in the weeks to come), and am digesting not just my midnight meal but also the various bits of news that I was able to unearth here on the docks today.

In general, the brokers I spoke with all confirmed what I’ve been reporting for the past few months, that this year is better than last year for the crewed yacht charter industry, with some calling last year “catastrophic” and implying that just about anything would be an improvement. Phones are once again ringing and bookings are being made, but a good 80 percent of the brokers I interviewed today said that finalizing deals is more challenging than ever. Price negotiations continue to be common in all size ranges of charter yachts, and deals appear to be coming together closer to actual charter dates than in advance.

I did hear from two different yacht captains that they each had either serious inquiries or confirmed bookings for four- to five-week charters (single charters of at least a month), indicating that regular charter clients may be returning to the market after taking last summer off at the height of the global recession. I only heard this twice, which could just be a coincidence, but it struck me as noteworthy given how hard it has been for many boats to book even single weeks of charter in recent months.

The other news of interest on the docks here in Italy was about Greece, where the annual charter yacht show in Poros just ended. To a person, brokers who flew to Genoa from Poros all told me that they were highly impressed with the quality of the yachts they saw, with some brokers saying outright that after many years of improvement, some yachts in the Greek market are now on par with some of the finer yachts in the far more developed Western Mediterranean charter market.

However, that good news out of Greece was tempered by substantial confusion about the country’s continuing economic problems and what they will mean for charter rates this summer.

You may recall this blog post that I wrote in mid-March after multiple, reputable brokers in the Greek market confirmed that the government was going to raise the VAT (tax) that charter clients are obligated to pay. Today, I ran into Marie Molls, the Athens-based broker for Burgess Yachts, who told me that her company believes that information is inaccurate.

Molls, who is the Burgess authority on the Greek market, says that no new VAT will apply to charter clients, but that instead a new tax will apply to the owners of yachts that stay in Greek waters more than 60 days. “We are supposed to have these things in writing this month,” she told me, literally as news was flashing across my Blackberry about the European Union preparing a multibillion-euro bailout for the Greek economy, an obvious sign of continuing questions and concern.

I’ll continue trying to get to the bottom of that issue, which, according to all brokers I’ve consulted, can mean an expense of thousands of euro beyond what guests and owners are currently required to pay.

To view charter listings near Genoa, visit the Yachtworldcharters.com Mediterranean page.

You’ve been chartering sailing yachts at regattas for 15 years now. Are you always with the same people?
Our group varies depending on whoever has the time and wants to invest in the vacation, but it’s basically the same core group. Some years, we’ve had 25 people on a big boat. This year, we were 12 people on a smaller boat.

Does one person charter the yacht and bring everyone else as guests, or do you all chip in for the yacht’s weekly base rate?
We get a group together and collectively charter the boat, which is something that any group of charter clients can do if they want to split the bill for a charter boat for a week. An event like the Heineken Regatta is three days long, so you can go cruising for four days and then race for three days during a week-long charter. It’s really a nice vacation for anybody looking for a little more adventure.

What about people who have little or no racing experience?
You don’t have to be full-on racing people to do this type of charter. In events like the Heineken Regatta, there is a cruising class. It is different from racing class. There’s enough racing to keep everybody entertained and active, but you don’t have to overdo it.

For instance, it can be one race a day as opposed to two or three. And the race days themselves aren’t going to crush you. During the Heineken Regatta this year, our second day of racing didn’t start until 1:45 in the afternoon. We lounged around all morning, raced, and then went out to enjoy a party at night. It’s a nice combination of racing activity and leisure.

The owners of true racing sailboats don’t always make them available for regattas because of liability concerns and other issues. Do you find it difficult to match regatta charter clients with appropriate yachts?

Usually, it’s not an issue if you’re considering cruising class. The wear and tear on the boat is really limited compared to what goes on in racing class. You’re not overloading the boat with people, and the races are only about two hours a day, so you’re not putting a whole lot of pressure on the boat. It’s not too far off from just cruising, so more owners would consider cruising class racing for charters.

Are there certain charter yachts that you regularly recommend for regatta charters?
Obviously, I have to recommend Safara (shown in the photograph at right). She was fantastic for our charter last weekend. She’s part of our fleet at Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters, and, actually, she is still available for Antigua Sailing Week in April and the Newport to Bermuda Race in June.
I also recommend the 100-foot Swan sailing yacht Virago, which my group has chartered for regatta racing in the past. That owner and crew are eager to do racing charters. We’ve also had a lot of racing charters on the 62-foot Swan sailing yacht Eden.
You mentioned the Newport to Bermuda Race and Antigua Sailing Week. In addition to those, and to the Heineken Regatta where you competed, what are the best regatta charter opportunities each year?
The BVI Spring Regatta is in late March or early April. Also at the end of March is the International Rolex Regatta in St. Thomas. In August, there’s the New York Yacht Club Cruise, where you race from port to port in Maine. In the Mediterranean, there is Les Voiles de St. Tropez, which takes place in late September or early October.

Can any charter broker help a client book a regatta charter, or is special knowledge required?
In general, the boat that’s best for any charter group really depends on the regatta format and how the group plans to use the boat, so you need a broker who knows about racing as well as chartering.

Last weekend’s win at the Heineken Regatta seems proof positive that you fit that description.
I’ve been racing my entire life. I arrange a lot of racing charters, and I’ve done all the regattas myself. So yes, it’s nice for the client to be able to work with a broker who knows the logistics of how things are going to work every day.

Having done it myself, I have a very good idea of how to put these charters together. My personal group has won eight or nine times over the years, and a lot of that has to do with the boat that was chosen for the event. I can help people make the most of their regatta charters, too.

For additional information, contact Carolyn Titus through the Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters website.

I’m just back from the Miami International Boat Show, where traffic on the docks was a bit light to my eye but reportedly composed of serious shoppers as opposed to tire kickers. I’d like to put what I heard about the charter market into broad context for you first, before diving into details farther below.

Leading mid-range and large-yacht builders such as U.S.-based Sea Ray and British-based Sunseeker told me that they were selling enough new boats to consider the show “good for the current economic climate.” That’s a heck of a lot better than their tune at this time last year, when sales were all but nonexistent.

The brokerage market, too, seemed to have an air of hope in Miami. I spoke with the captain of a 112-foot Westport who told me that his motoryacht was now the least-expensive for sale in its class and getting serious offers from potential buyers. That, to him, indicated that the brokerage market has hit bottom and may be starting to turn around. His sense jived with my conversations with multiple sales brokers, who argued that now is the time to snap up the best remaining deals, as the brokerage market is poised to begin a slow but likely rebound.

With all that said, the sense that I got from the half-dozen charter fleet managers I met in Miami is that the charter industry, too, may be experiencing cautious optimism for the first time in nearly 18 months. The market for crewed charter appears to still be mixed according to many specifics that I heard, but in general, charter brokers’ phones are ringing again.

I was told that a good number of the charter inquiries coming right now are for the Bahamas during next month’s Spring Break and the Easter holiday in April. In years past, those dates would have been booked months ago and current calls would be for “last-minute” charters during the summer in the Mediterranean, but, as the managers put it, at least the calls are coming.

In terms of pricing, every charter fleet manager I spoke with confirmed for me that price negotiations are the order of the day, and that perhaps as many as two-thirds of the charters being booked today are coming at negotiated price reductions, extra days aboard, or some combination of the two. Some yacht owners are refusing to negotiate their prices at all (and some are still finding clients who book boats at full price), but the yacht owners who are willing to negotiate appear to be giving at least 10 percent to 15 percent off published weekly base rates.

Other charter yacht owners are giving more, but as quietly as possible. Charter fleet managers at several companies told me about cases where discounts were given as high as 40 percent to 50 percent off published base rates, but qualified their statements by saying the circumstances were particular to the specific yachts and clients involved. In at least one case, the charter client was required to sign a confidentiality contract in order to receive the sizable discount.

What does all this mean for the upcoming high season in the Western Mediterranean? It’s hard to say. I’m keeping my ear to the ground.

Stay tuned.

As luck would have it, Landry and I had chatted just a few days before the FYBA announcement. Among the things we discussed is the evolving role of retail charter brokers as the global recession continues to upend long-established yacht-booking practices.

By her estimation, what was once a seller’s market is now a buyer’s market, and charter brokers need to know not only about the best yachts and crew, but also about how to negotiate prices effectively.

“There have always been clients who wanted to negotiate rates, but it was not something you could do on a charter of less than three weeks,” she told me. “Yacht owners would not do it. Now, they’ll negotiate on a weeklong charter or less.

“A good broker has to have different skills now, in terms of being able to effectively negotiate. I need to have a feeling for what a week aboard a boat is actually worth. The clients are determining the boat’s worth, with the broker negotiating on their behalf, as opposed to the owners setting the price.”

Interesting stuff from a longtime charter broker who, as the FYBA award shows, is at the top of her game.

The full text of my interview with Landry is available here. And of course, my warmest congratulations to her on winning the FYBA award.

Editor’s Note: Kim Kavin is an award-winning writer, editor and photographer who specializes in marine travel. She is the author of six books including Dream Cruises: The Insider’s Guide to Private Yacht Vacations, is editor of the online yacht vacation magazine www.CharterWave.com, and writes the blog at www.BrokerageBoss.com.