Boataffair is a boutique boat matchmaking company, that connects quality boats with the right person. Our unique platform enables boat owners and boat renters to rendezvous online. Our big promise is a quality experience for both parties.  Private and professional boat owners can list their boats on our online platform free of charge. The boat owners decide on the final rental fee. On our platform, we have a search function which allows boat seekers to look for boats in a given geographical location. Boat owners and boat renters are verified by us and they can talk to each other via our messenger tool on our platform to agree on rental details such as rental departure, time and exact location. Boat renters can pay the boat owners securely via the Boataffair platform.

Trust, reliability and quality are our core values.

Trust among all users is the most important factor in the sharing economy and we achieve that through verified reviews and carefully selected boats.

Reliability is offered through our secure payment system and a very well-engineered website.

Quality is assured by our personal ambition as we have high expectation towards quality and we implement this on our boutique platform.

We pride ourselves on offering our clients a quality experience. We list quality boats only, we engage with all the boat owners we work with and we do everything we can to establish a long-lasting relationship with them. We know our fleet! Swiss bank Credit Suisse supports us in all financial matters and is a trusted partner. Our payment system partner Stripe maskes sure that all your personal details are never stored on our platform and that you have a secure transaction. At Boataffair, we believe that our clients deserve the best partners in the respective field of work and a quality experience.

The two Co-founders Natalya and Adrian met during their MBA at Imperial College London. This programme is particularly known for its innovation and entrepreneurship focus. Both of them caught the start up bug during this course. Adrian led a small company right after the MBA and Natalya was actively involved in two other start ups – shaping and coaching young companies is somewhat in their blood now. As to their fascination with boats - Adrian obtained his boating license at the age of 18 in France. He purchased his first little motorboat in 2010 in the South of France, which he swapped in for a slightly bigger one in 2015. However, Adrian realised he only takes the boat out around 10 times a year. The rest of the time it is stored in the dry dock. This is not good for the engine and the annual costs for storage and maintenance are very high. Furthermore, Adrian noticed that many other boats in the same port are also used very few times a year and many boat owners confirmed that. So, by talking to a lot of boat owners in France the first step to founding Boataffair was really made. Additionally, many of Adrian’s and Natalya’s friends in Switzerland and in the UK told them how they wanted to rent a boat during their holidays but faced such a hassle in the reservation process so that they eventually gave up. The seed was planted then. Natalya has done many sailing courses and loves the sea – it was natural for Natalya and Adrian to found Boataffair together.

Boataffair verifies its market place participants at various stages. Boat owners and boat renters are requested to sign up to the Boataffair platform. Upon this sign up, they identify themselves with their email address and additionally, the boat owners disclose their phone numbers to the boataffair team. As a result, our platform participants will understand better who they are dealing with on the other side of the conversation and will begin to trust them. Another important verification stage is the review process we recommend our participants take part in: Every boat renter gets the opportunity to give the boat owner a review and a rating after a completed rental, and vice versa. Our aim is to increase the transparency and trustworthiness of our Boataffair community.

At Boataffair, we believe in a transparent and trusted community. By enabling our boat owners and boat renters to give each other a review and a rating after a completed rental, we aim to increase the levels of trust on our platform. This will work to the advantage of everybody taking part, as positive reviews will increase a participant’s chances to engage in future transactions.

Please go to the top right hand corner and click on ‘Sign In’. Then, please click on ‘Create a new profile’ and follow the steps.

In general, boats listed on our platform are fully insured for charter and this will include the cover for the renter. In some cases, the renter may want to add a Charter Insurance to be at total peace of mind. As a renter, please read the boat listing carefully and we advise you to inquire with the boat owner if any additional insurance is necessary. Please note, that the responsibility for obtaining adequate insurance lies with the boat owner and the boat renter. For more details, read our Terms of Use.

Please refer to the Terms of Use and paragraph 9 ‘Cancellation Policy’ therein.

On the Boataffair platform it is free of charge for boat owners to list boats and to talk to boat renters via the messenger function. It is free of charge for boat renters to sign up, search listings, book rentals and to message boat owners. Boat renters only pay an owner fee to the boat owner and a service fee to Boataffair when they book a rental through the Boataffair platform. The owner fee and service fee together make up the total rental fee.

The following formula explains the payment components: Rental Fee = Owner Fee + Service Fee (15% of the Owner Fee) Example: The Boat Owner sets the Owner Fee at 1'000 EUR per day for her boat. The Total Rental Fee due by the Renter therefore is EUR 1'150, out of which EUR 1'000 will be paid to the Boat Owner, EUR 150 will be paid to Boataffair.

Step 1. If you are not yet registered on the Boataffair site, we ask you to register and create a profile to add your boat listing. Please go to the top right hand corner and click on ‘Sign In’. Then, please click on ‘Create new profile’ and follow the steps. If you are registered, you will need to log in to your account on Boataffair to add a new boat.

Step 2: Once you are registered and signed in, you will enter your personal dashboard. On your personal dashboard you can manage all your personal information, boats and bookings. At the top you will see the menu. Select ‘Boats’ – click ‘List my Boat’. Please note, we kindly ask you to add your phone number to your personal information for verification purposes prior to listing your boat. Once you added the phone number and click "Save", you will be back to your Personal Dashboard.

Step 3: On your Personal Dashboard, click "List my Boat" button and you will be redirected to the boat listing page. You will be asked to provide information about the boat, its features & specifications, price you wish to charge per day, minimum duration the boat is available for (from half a day, or one day to one week minimum) and the captain option (is it available bareboat, is it only offered with a captain).

Step 4: You also have an option to check the box that the boat is available for ‘urgent’ bookings. This means that if somebody wants a boat within a 24-48-hour period, this boat will be available for that. You can check and uncheck this box at any time, depending on your and your vessels availability

Step 5: Once the form has been filled in – click submit. In case of errors in the form, you will be alerted to the fields marked in red. You can also use "save draft" button on the form if you are not ready to submit it yet and need to continue editing or adding information. 

Step 6: You can use "preview button" in the dashboard under My boats to see how the listing will appear when it goes live. 

Step 7: After the information and photos are successfully added & submitted, the listing will be sent and checked by the dedicated Boataffair team. We want to ensure that we maximise the effect of your listing and therefore review each listing individually.

Step 8: The Boataffair team aims to check and approve listings in under 24 hours or sooner. Should we have some suggestions about how a listing be improved, we will get back to you.

Step 9: If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Boataffair team of advisors, who will be very happy to guide you through the whole process and answer any questions you may have. You can reach us at welcome@boataffair.com anytime.

As a boat owner, on your personal page you have the option to check the box that the boat is available for ‘urgent’ bookings. This means that if somebody wants a boat within a 24-48-hour period, you agree that your boat will be available for that. You can check and uncheck this box at any time, depending on your and your vessels availability

Employees of Boataffair will review every boat that gets listed on our platform. We do this to make sure that all boats comply with Boataffair’s high standards. Every boat listed, therefore, will be of high quality to ensure a smooth experience.

Potential renters have a function to send you a direct message via a button on your boat listing page. You will receive a message along with a notification to your email address about the message awaiting your response. You go to ‘messages’ in your personal page on Boataffair, where you can see all the messages sent to you by potential renters. Potential renters may also send you a message in the booking request – you can respond to the message directly from the booking request form you receive.

Once a booking request has been made, you will be notified via email. We strongly recommend to add ‘additional notification’ method, such a text message to your mobile, to know immediately when the request been made to book your boat.

Once you have reviewed the booking request and you are happy to rent the boat out to that potential renter, you click the button ‘accept booking’. The renter will be notified that their booking will be accepted and they will be asked to pay. The renter then has 48 hours to proceed with payment.

The payment system on the Boataffair platform is powered by Stripe. This is how it works: On the day that the boat renter and the boat owner come to an agreement regarding a rental, the boat renter is requested to pay the full Rental Fee via the Stripe platform - all major credit cards are accepted. The boat owner will be paid the full amount due to them (we call this the Owner Fee) on the day of the booking reservation (via Stripe). Also, on the day of the booking, Boataffair will receive the Service Fee. Please refer to our Terms of Use, Paragraph 8 ‘Payment Policy’ for further details on the payment process. In some cases, and only with Boataffair’s consent, Boataffair will allow the boat renter to make a bank transfer to Boataffair’s bank account – in which case the boat owner will be paid out by Boataffair.

It is the decision of the boat owner to decide what the amount of the security deposit will be. Furthermore, the boat owner decides how this security deposit shall be withheld – this can be by means of a cash payment on the day of the rental (paid by the boat renter to the boat owner) or by means of blocking the respective amount on the boat renter’s credit card. It is up to the boat owner to decide this and it is their responsibility to communicate this information clearly to the boat renters.

The boat owner decides on the rental price of the boat. Also, our messaging function will enable the boat owners to talk to the boat renters directly and it is at the boat owners’ discretion to arrange one-off special prices. Please note, that the final listing of the boat on our website will include Boataffair's 15% comission - this is added to the price the boat owner enters when listing the boat.

Yes! On our platform you gain instant access to an international variety of potential renters. We recommend you upload high-quality pictures of your vessels, a photo of at least one team member and please indicate if you have your own insurance scheme.

Yes, you can contact us directly and we make sure we mention your boat on the home page of our website during a period of time agreed with you. These are arrangements that are made individually.

Step 1: Log into your Boataffair account
Step 2: In your personal dashboard, in the drop-down menu (top right-hand corner) choose “My Experiences”
Step 3: Click the button “Add experience”
Step 4: List your experience. In the experience listing, you can add the main image. If you want to add more images, please send them to nzubova@boataffair.com Make sure to mark the photos to indicate to what experience you want them added (applicable if you have more than one experience) and we will add them for you

Step 5: Inside the experience listing form you can click save experience or tick “publish” straight away and your experience will appear on the boat listing. You can edit your experience at any time. 

Every experience is linked to one or more boats you offer it with. Every experience has a “message the owner button” to encourage clients to start a conversation. 

It is assumed that petrol is normally not included in the total Rental Fee and the boat owner will typically expect you to pay for your own petrol. However, we recommend that the boat renters read the boat listing carefully and ask the boat owner anything via our messenger tool if something is not clear.

Yes. This will always depend on the individual boat and the boat owner. Some boat owners will give the renter the option to rent the boat with a captain or without one. Note that if you rent a boat without a captain on board, as a boat renter you must be in possession of a legally valid license to operate the boat that you are renting. Some boat owners will allow renters to rent out their boat with a captain on board only. We recommend the renters ask the boat owners via our messenger function if anything is unclear.

Once a boat renter is signed up to the Boataffair platform, you can talk directly to boat owners via our messenger tool. Feel free to ask the boat owners any questions you have around the boat and the rental.

When the boat owner confirms your request, you will be asked to pay for your rental online via our Stripe system or via bank transfer. Once this payment is successfully made you will receive a notification by email from Boataffair confirming the rental booking. Under My Bookings on your personal page you will find all the relevant details of your trip, ie. boat information, date, departure location and (if any available) instructions from the boat owner.

Via our messenger function the boat renter can talk to the boat owner online. After a boat rental is confirmed you can exchange emails or phone numbers and agree on the details of the handover like the exact time and location.

Employees of Boataffair or a close partner in our network will review every boat that gets listed on our platform. We do this to make sure that all boats comply with Boataffair’s high standards. Every boat listed, therefore, will be of high quality to ensure a smooth experience.

Our listed yachts will carry full insurance cover for the boat. In some cases, it may be necessary to add an insurance cover for the renter for the rental duration. Please read the boat listing carefully and we advise you to inquire with the boat owner if any additional insurance is necessary. Please note, that the responsibility for obtaining adequate insurance lies with the boat owner and the boat renter. For more details, read our Terms of Use.

You pay the total Rental Fee on the day of your reservation. Therefore, when the boat owner confirms your request, you will be asked to pay for your rental online via our Stripe system or, only with consent by Boataffair, via bank transfer. Payment has to be made within 48 hours of your booking being accepted by the owner. If the payment has not been made within 72 hours, it will be automatically cancelled.

Please refer to the Terms of Use and paragraph 9 ‘Cancellation Policy’ therein.

As a boat owner, we invite you to join our unique community, where you can exchange your boat with other boat owners. With you on board or not. At the same time or different times. You are in control of the process! 

Our goal is to connect fellow boat owners worldwide. Try out other boats in different locations without the rental cost. Welcome other boaters as guests aboard your boat. Simply put: We want your boat to enable you to make even more out of it. With Boataffair, you can try out fantastic boats of high quality without the rental cost.

No. This is the whole idea behind our Boat Swapping scheme. Members of our Boat Swapping community can try out other boats free of charge. We purposefully built this community of trust where you can go out on boats in a different location to yours without having to commit to the cost of renting a boat.

• Experience new boats in new countries, and get to know new people. Make like-minded friends, and discover new amazing boating locations through the eyes of the locals. Authentic experiences which you will not find in any guide book.

• Host guests on your boat in exchange, and show them what makes your boating location so exceptional. Be the creator of an authentic experience yourself.

• No rental cost. No hassle finding a boat to rent. No bureaucracy. Just enjoy!

• We put quality above all things: We are a Swiss company founded by husband and wife who are passionate boaters. We understand you and value you. We only offer true Swiss quality on our boutique platform. 

How to swap your boat in few easy steps 

Step 1: Sign up for FREE and get UNLIMITED number of boat swaps. We will have to introduce a small annual membership fee to help us support the platform operations. But at the moment this is totally free for you to join and try it out for yourself! 

Step 2: Tell us what you have. List your boat including boat specifications, a short description to showcase its best features and few photos to attract swaps. 

Step 3: Once your personal profile and boat listing are set up you can browse other boats available for swapping in a dedicated search page. See what you like? Use our in-built messenger to start conversations with other boat swappers. 

Step 4: Agreed on the swap? Easy to use booking form will allow you to quickly and securely to confirm your swap. 

Of course! As a boat owner, you can choose to only rent out your boat on our boutique platform, to only swap it with others or you can do both! At Boataffair, we have one simple goal: We want you to make more out of your boat! We are the first global platform to offer boat owners to rent out and swap their boats with our innovative product.

Yes. There is more than one way to swap boats. You can swap your boat directly with the other boat owner. Or you can swap your boat at different time intervals. You can even host your guests when they come to you. Therefore, you can go to them and they come to you at differnet points in time. This is entirely up to the boat owners on how they plan a boat swap.

You decide! You can welcome guests on board with you as the host. That way you can show off your favourite boating spot and make new friends. This can be a fantastic networking opportunity too. Or, you can let the guests enjoy your boat without you on board, if you are comfortable. We leave this up to you, the boat owners!

Via our in-built messenger tool, you may contact all the members of the Boat Swapping community directly. Ask them anything and sort out all the details of your Boat Swap. You can either send a message by clicking a button on the right-hand side of the boat listing (Send message to owner) or you can send in a proposed swapping request and add a message to the request. Your messages will be found in the "Messages folder" in your dashboard. Messages sent within a swapping request form will be displayed directly within a form. 

Yes. The boat listing is free of charge.

Once you have agreed with the other boat owner about the dates and all other practical arrangements regarding the swap, you click "Accept" button on the swapping form. 

Of course. While we hate to see you leave, please get in touch with us on welcome@boataffair.com and let us know if you no longer wish to be part of Boataffair. All your data will be deleted in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Please also refer to our Privacy Policy here

Your email address, your telephone number and your full name are not visible for visitors of the Boataffair website and is not shared with third parties. 
We screen every boat and boat owner before their boat is made live on our website. We make sure that every boat listing adheres to our Boataffair quality criteria. Abusing material is not tolerated and will not make it to our live site.
Furthermore, we worked hard with PwC Switzerland to get compliant with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and have taken a lot of time to write out our Privacy Policy, please see here https://boataffair.com/articles/privacy_policy. We want to build a trusted community where the participants feel safe.

We encourage you to ask the boat owner you are swapping with about their boat insurance. If after that conversation you feel like you would take out extra cover, feel free to contact our insurance partner via our insurance page 

Yes. And we encourage this. It is our aim to build a safe community of like-minded individuals. Tell the community about your experience with a boat owner and give them a fair rating! Ratings and reviews have been proven to increase trust on a marketplace and we encourage you to build this trust with us.

Answer

You go to their boat and they come to yours. You decide if you want to swap your boats at the same time or not.  You decide if you want to swap your boat with you or without you on board and for how long.

No, not at all. While direct swap is strictly between the two, same boat owners, the swap doesn’t have to happen simultaneously. Not simultaneous means that you can go visit a boat owner and they can come and visit you on a later date!

You can do unlimited boat swaps per year!

You can start a direct swap by completing a simple swapping from on the right-hand side of the boat listing. You select your proposed dates, a number of people and you can add a message to the other boat owner. We encourage you to exchange messages with another boat owner to discuss options for a swap (would they like to come to your boat and when, will they be on board or not, will you be on board or not). All the messages within the form will be seen by both you and another owner, directly in the swapping form. You can reject the form at any time if an agreement has not been reached. 

Once you have exchanged messages and reached an agreement about your boat swap, you simply click "accept" button and the other boat owner will need to do the same. The boat swap will be then confirmed. 

If for some reason, after having chatted with another boat owner you cannot reach an agreement, you simply click "Reject" button and the swapping form will no longer be valid.  

We encourage you to contact the boat owner as soon as possible if you have to cancel. If you can’t reach an agreement with the boat owner, please do let us know via Jessica@boataffair.com. We are always here to help!