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 security are our core values. 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 have partnered up with excellent companies to bring our clients piece of mind. We are the first boating platform to offer a state of the art verification tool – together with our partner deemly (www.deemly.co) we can verify all our platform participants. Swiss bank Credit Suisse supports us in all financial matters and is a trusted partner. At Boataffair, we believe that our clients deserve the best partners in the respective field of work.
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 PayPal. 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 PayPal platform. 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 PayPal). 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.
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 PayPal 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 PayPal 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 48 hours, it will be automatically cancelled.
Please refer to the Terms of Use and paragraph 9 ‘Cancellation Policy’ therein.
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.