Two relative newcomers to luxury travel have joined forces to better promote megayacht charter to a wider audience. OceanScape Yachts has partnered with the Canada-based online travel marketplace Demeure to offer yacht charter to its 350,000 members.
Demeure was established in 2009. It ran a two-year pilot program before going live with its full platform in August 2013. Demeure targets high-end travelers by partnering with luxury properties worldwide, particularly ones with under-utilized bookings. These properties, including villas, are represented by agents possessing strong local knowledge and equally strong customer service. To date, Demeure has more than 2,300 properties in its database, all of which are vetted. Demeure likens the vacations to “curated experiences.” OceanScape Yachts’ founder, Todd Beechey, was attracted to Demeure’s alternative approach to travel, and its customer base.
OceanScape Yachts shares a similar business model to Demeure. Beechey founded the company after discovering yacht charter quite by accident. About a decade ago, he and his wife were on a cruise-ship vacation and were walking around the marina in Atlantis in The Bahamas. They were admiring the yachts and megayachts docked there and learned that some were available for charter. When Beechey and his wife returned home, they began reading articles online and in magazines to learn more about yacht-charter vacations. After getting some friends interested, too, they traveled to the Yacht & Brokerage Show to look at some yachts with a few brokers. The Beecheys ended up booking a charter in the Bahamas aboard Hooter Patrol IV, a 97-footer (29.57-meter). Todd Beechey says it was one of the best experiences of their lives. Yet, he and his wife couldn’t understand how most charter yachts were booked only four to six weeks per year. Nor could they understand why more people didn’t know about the vacation experience. Thus OceanScape Yachts was established in 2012. The goal is to help yacht owners obtain more bookings and get word out to vacationers who otherwise don’t know about yacht charter.
OceanScape Yachts is a membership-based program. The initial fee is $1,695, with a subsequent annual fee of $1,495 after the first year is up. As a member, you can review the various megayachts for charter and land-based vacations. You also get a personal marketplace advisor. He or she customizes your megayacht charter or land trip.
Alternately, there’s a Family and Friends membership level. Under this, you designate up to three relatives or friends as OceanScape Yachts members, besides yourself. Those three people get the same access to the full OceanScape Yachts offerings. The initial fee for the Family and Friends program is $4,250. The subsequent annual fee is $3,750.
Recognizing that some people may not wish to be members right away, OceanScape Yachts offers the OceanScape Associate Member program. With this, you can book a yacht charter without the upfront fee, though there is a six-percent fee added to the charter cost.
Whether you choose to be a full or associate member, OceanScape Yachts allows you to book as many megayacht charters and/or land vacations as you wish, as long as the yachts and properties are available.
So far one megayacht is in the OceanScape Yachts fleet. Pictured here, she’s Seafarer, a 101-foot (30.8-meter) Hargrave motoryacht. Beechey is also actively seeking more megayachts with proven charter records to join the OceanScape Yachts fleet. His company works with both broker-represented yachts and independently managed ones. Beechey believes his company’s approach is particularly beneficial for so-called smaller megayachts. There are more yachts in the 100- to 150-foot range than in the upper size ranges, for example. This in turn means more of them can have unused weeks of availability.
Chapman Yachting
What a captivating and enchanting read! This blog post on yacht travel has ignited a sense of wanderlust and adventure within me.