Yesterday was one of those fun days where the sun is shining and skies are blue. Guests have landed in beautiful Croatia and are ready to jump onboard. The only thing they are waiting for is for the yacht to cruise from her base port to where they are. All of a sudden, a voice note. “Jochem, one of the yachts’ engines has gone into limp mode. And we will be delayed”. Of course, slightly stressful, as the guests have paid a lot of money and I of course want to make sure all goes smooth. So. Back to action, what to do? The best thing you can do is providing transparency to your guests and keeping them constantly up to date. Of course, a constant communication between the captain and yourself must be maintained and you have to be on stand-by until the guests are onboard. Luckily the captain was still able to continue cruising, although slower. So there was a slight delay. Upon arrival the captain had also organized for a mechanics team to come onboard and a dinner reservation was made for the guests. Luckily the captain was fantastic and everything was arranged super smoothly, I could not have gone any smoother considering the circumstances. So that was my day yesterday! An almost constant stream of calls and messages. But, that is what we do, managing these situations (especially the client) as best as possible! Now they are enjoying beautiful Croatia, hopping around the islands.

You can have the perfect yacht on paper. Great design, amazing toys, prime location. But if the crew is not right, the whole experience falls apart. The crew is everything. They set the tone, the energy, the service level. They are the ones who turn a nice trip into something guests will actually remember. And from my experience, they are often the reason clients come back. That is why our role does not stop at booking the yacht. We have to manage expectations on both sides. Clear preference sheets. Proper communication to make sure the captain and crew know exactly what kind of guests are coming, what they like, what they expect. The more organized you are, the easier their job becomes. And that matters. Because if the crew feels prepared and supported, they can focus fully on delivering an exceptional experience. If they are not… things can turn very quickly. Yes, it is a professional environment. But it is still people working together under pressure. Happy crew = better charter. Simple as that.

You spend enough time in this industry… and certain things just start to stand out. Calling decks “levels”. Cabins “rooms” or even worse “bedrooms”. It immediately tells me you are not really in it yet. Calling a yacht a “ship”.Or writing “yatch”… that one might be the worst of all. Overusing Ai to the point where everything sounds the same. Clean, but completely empty. Or not using the actual yacht name. Just random made up names and blurring out the image of the yachts name everywhere. That usually comes from people who don’t have direct access and are just pulling from somewhere else. And then the big one. Websites and brochures that only list facts. Length, cabins, guests, year. All important, yes. But tell me something real. What does it feel like onboard? Why this yacht over another? What actually makes it special? Because at the end of the day, we are not selling specs. We are selling an experience.

I was scrolling LinkedIn for 10 minutes the other day. Just casually. And within that short time I came across: 1. A junior marketing role at one of the top brokerages in the industry. 2. A customer success position at a high-end technical supplier that I personally know very well and only works with yachts 50 metres and above. 3. And another company with 3 open roles focused on exclusive travel. Not purely yachts, but Monaco F1, private yacht events, and very out-of-the-box experiences. That’s in 10 minutes. So when people say “it’s impossible to get into this industry”… I don’t agree. The opportunities are there. The difference is knowing where to look, and actually putting yourself forward when you see them. Because most people either don’t look properly… or don’t act when they find something. If you stay consistent with it, things start to open up. And most importantly, having the confidence. That is something the academy will bring you.

That is a question I always ask myself. And it is a BAD in capital letters. The images speak more words then I can type at the moment, it is Friday evening 11pm. A client is just about to send payment internationally to confirm a cabin on a yacht in Monaco (22:33). 2 minutes later I get confirmation that a Baglietto 100 is available for a charter in Mykonos (22:35) and I send it of to the client. At 22:39 I get an enquiry from a business provider for a charter for 70 people in Dubai so I start working that as every minute counts in this game. At 22:57 I get an update on the payment for the cabin Monaco and they want to get confirmation on bank details, love it, doing paperwork at 11 at night. And on top of that at 23:15 I sent of an email after doing a slight redraft of a contract for a yacht in Croatia. But you see, the deals are moving. And that is important. Yet, almost no one will ever see this as this is the side of a being yacht broker that absolutely no one talks about. Working in multiple timezones (Dubai/Greece/Monaco/UK/USA just this evening), the intricacies of international payments, payment links not working, understanding contracts and making sure they protect your client, Yet this is what sets the good ones apart from the rest ;) It's 23:30 now and I feel like it is going to be a long night still! Let's see...