With the right charter broker by your side, the yacht charter experience is effortless and hugely, magnificently enjoyable – right from the moment you start chatting to your broker to the day you step off the yacht with your luggage and wonderful memories of your holiday. Thanks to the proliferation of the internet, there are a multitude of online yacht brokers offering charter services.
But how do you know which yacht charter broker is reputable, and who is experienced? Who should you choose?
There are a few easy ways to assess whether a yacht charter broker is worth your business, and what sets some above the rest. We’ve compiled a quick checklist of questions to use when choosing a charter yacht company.
Is the yacht charter broker a regional specialist?
There is no substitute for local knowledge when it comes to creating spectacular charters. Some of the biggest global yacht brokers have huge international offices, but do not have the real local knowledge or connections required to discover local gems and rich cultural experience that take a charter from being great fun to something truly memorable. Make sure your broker has extensive local knowledge and speaks local languages.
Yacht IN is based in Croatia and charters widely across the Adriatic with a focus on Croatia and Montenegro and the wider Mediterranean. Our brokers have decades of local experience in major yachting hubs like France, Italy, Greece, and our team speaks English, Croatian, German and Italian.
Visit our fleet of yachts available for charter
Does the yacht broker have significant charter experience and positive testimonials?
Experience is everything in the yacht charter industry. A yacht charter brokerage must have a significant history of successful charters behind them, and be able to offer a wide range of references from happy customers. A good indication of a well-run charter operation is repeated charter clients, so ask about those.
The best proof of success is a growing business, so check that the company has an expanding charter fleet over time, as well as expansion into other service offerings, such as yacht sales and charter management.
Yacht IN has been in operation for a decade, with its founders bringing a wealth of industry experience from their careers as a superyacht captain and as a yacht broker. The company has an ever-expanding charter fleet as well as a yacht sales division and a yacht management division, including charter management. Yacht IN has a host of delighted clients (including repeat charterers) and is happy to provide references, such as the examples below.
For the last 3 years I have chartered with YACHT IN and every time they delivered outstanding service. Our broker Barbara is truly honest in her business and her knowledge and expertise were invaluable to us when choosing the boat and crew that would fit our needs. During the charter period, she stayed in the loop and solved our last-minute changes no matter the time of the day it was. I can only say that we are already planning our next charter holiday with her!
Charterer testimonial H.K., 33 m Sunseeker Predator 108
Visit our fleet of yachts available for charter
It was a spectacular trip. Thank you for your help in arranging all things around our holiday, for being one step ahead of everything we needed. We hope to come back one day and we will certainly get in touch with you.
Charterer testimonial Z.P., 28 m Motor Yacht GRACE
Do they have reputable partnerships?
A great way of assessing the ‘legitimacy’ of a company is to see who it partners with. A successful yacht charter company will create strong partnerships with reputable companies – whether that be elite shipyards, yachting associations, or luxury brands associated with the yachting lifestyle.
Yacht IN is proud to be the exclusive dealership for RIBCO maxi-rib tenders for south-east Europe, as well as the exclusive regional partner for the famous Sanlorenzo shipyard, offering aftersales and warranty service in the East Adriatic. Yacht IN also has a wealth of experience in race and regatta management with Wally-class yachts, and is an official YACHTFOLIO subscriber.
Does the charter broker use a MYBA E-contract, and are they a YACHTFOLIO subscriber?
A MYBA charter contract (or its US equivalents) is the benchmark of a reputable, trustworthy yacht charter broker operating in the Mediterranean. Issued by the Worldwide Yachting Association (MYBA), these standard charter contracts stipulate the terms of the charter agreement and protects the rights of both the charterer and the yacht owner.
The YACHTFOLIO database is the most comprehensive and accurate central database of charter yachts in the world, with more than 1800 charter yachts. To become a YACHTFOLIO subscriber, charter companies are thoroughly vetted by MYBA, with the stipulation that they must have been in operation for more than 2 years, have substantial proof of past charter contracts and favourable charter references, and hold Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance coverage of at least EUR 500,000 per claim. Because MYBA has already done its homework on every company that joins, it means you don’t have to.
Yacht IN is an authorised user of the MYBA e-contracts for all its charters above 20m length and is a YACHTFOLIO subscriber.
Does the charter company take a truly personal approach to yacht charter?
We’ve saved the best for last with this one. To match you with your dream charter yacht and tailor a thrilling itinerary, your yacht charter broker must get to know what you want. If you find a yacht company pushing you towards a certain charter yacht without first delving into the make-up of your group and what makes you happy on holiday, then you have the wrong yacht broker. It’s that simple.
At Yacht IN, we take things personally. This service (luxury yacht charter) can’t be done any other way. In order to match you with the right yacht and crew, we’ll ask you the right questions to find out your design tastes, your food tastes, preferred cabin arrangement, and the experiences you value on holiday. Only then do we suggest some yachts.
We then get busy planning itineraries in collaboration with the yacht captain and making sure the yacht is fully stocked with your favourite foods, drinks, and entertainment. But we don’t stop working once the charter starts, far from it. If anything goes wrong, we will be there to fix it, offering solutions 24/7. We work tirelessly in the background to create the incredible experiences you’ll have on land and sea right through your charter– catering to the last-minute itinerary changes, as well as organising activities like tuna fishing, scuba diving, horse riding, truffle hunts, VIP restaurant bookings, helicopter transfers, etc. This is our yacht concierge service and we are proud of the extra level of service it brings.
You’ll know the right broker when you meet them. At Yacht IN, we believe it’s us. No-one will work harder for you, and no-one knows this region better.
Ready to talk to us?
Contact our Yacht Charter Specialist HERE
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