Hello from 360 Yachting ! If you all don't mind if we also comment..... We named ourselves 360 Yachting because 6 years ago, out of 300+ name options, we thought this was catchy and we ran a marketing survey and everyone liked the name. We also provide the full realm of services for our charterers and boat owners, such as management, maintenance, repairs, reporting, education/training/coaching, refits, installations etc.
We did not name the company after the one way optional trips. As a newer company we needed to come up with a promotional service that nobody else really offers and that is our signature $360 one way upgrade. Since the Keys and Exumas are pretty much linear (as apposed to circular) cruising grounds, offering our charterers the inexpensive option of going one direction has proven to be appealing to them. We will also preposition a yacht, such as this one in Marsh Harbor for the same fee. As a delivery skipper, my regular fee basis for such a trip would be 3 to 4 times more expensive, plus the boat owners want to usually be paid for the time the boat is used. So a 24 - 36 hour delivery would normally cost someone up to about $2000 when all things are included such as airfare, provisions, fuel, capt fee, etc. It cost us much more than we bill the customer for this service, so we have to have limitations. We do not pay for dockage while the boat is away from its base marina, so charterers are informed that they will have to pay for any dockage before and after the charter if it picked up or delivered to or from a remote marina. This is explained verbally during the reservation process and in writing on our charter agreements under the prepositioning paragraph.
We also informed this charterer during the reservation process that we normally operate from our base in Eleuthera for sailing the Exumas and that there were other companies in the Abacos. We are not sure why he did not rent from Moorings or Sunsail, but are happy to offer our boat if the prepositioning terms are acceptable to customer. We are guessing that the other companies may have been booked up, as it was Easter Week.
Lastly, it is difficult to service customers at remote locations and we make this as clear as we possibly can and take extra care that our yachts are great operating condition so that service calls are minimized. We also have to be very meticulous in the orientation process, so that any service call costs are assigned to the responsible party. This is really a necessity of the geographic challenges of the region. Simply put it is simpler to sail in the Abacos and BVI because of the Geography. To sail the Bahamas Outislands, Exumas, and other remote open ocean regions, charterers have to have higher qualifications. Moorings writes in its advertising that one does not have to be a seasoned sailor to rent their boats. We advertised and make it clear that you do have to be a seasoned sailor. we use the US Sailing Bareboat Test as an objective qualification for our charterers.
Thank you for the opportunity to post our input. Happy Sailing! 360yachting.com
