Is DOCKWA taking over your Marina Management and online presence?
- Thread starter jssailem
- Start date
It looks like they charge 15% on transient reservations. I can’t find anything about their fees for yearly contracts. Also, marinas probably aren’t in a position to give away money for nothing, so presumably the fees they pay Dockwa replace some existing costs that they were paying other software companies or managers.
Same, plus our marina (privately owned, and not using Dockwa) asks to be named as “Additional Insured” on our policy.
So much easier to find a marina on the Dockwa app, click to book it, get an email confirmation, and have payment and paperwork automatically handled.
I’ll throw in that at one Marina on the ICW I needed to show I had car insurance to use their loaner car. Of course I didn’t have the document although I make a practice of keeping such docs on my phone. So DOCKWA maybe could have helped me there. I walked.
I wonder if we have entered (drifted?) into a new era of boating where the majority of boaters will expect a nice place to tie up, and a curated short-cruise-away dock with luxury amenities to match? And presumably, have the budget for this, This will slowly leave behind active sailors and owners of "performance cruisers" under about 45 feet length.
New boats in all the ads seem to be racing oriented hulls or 50' long very wide party boats. They sail adequately on a 12 knot day, tho, So there's that!
From reading my sailing mags from the UK, they are also seeing large companies buy up marinas and offer boaters (full page full-bleed color) ads -- showing luxury docks to journey to within a few hours of each marina -- all covered by one $$$ monthly fee. So convenient.
What with condo's replacing so many older marina's, there will be fewer and fewer (albeit expensive and fancy) places to park a boat. I kinda wonder where this will end.
Meanwhile, we are kinda like little sailing frogs posting little croaking noises back n forth on the 'net about how our water temperature seems to be .... rising...! ? Oh My.
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,918
My understanding is Dockwa is a tiered service, a marina contracts for different levels of support. Their website lists the various services they have. At least on the East Coast the value is in the advertising and one-stop shopping. Going to Annapolis, search for marinas in Annapolis and get a list where you can find the locations, services, and cost for each marina. Pick one you like and submit a reservation request. Two years ago I was looking for a slip during the boat show in Annapolis. I used Dockwa to waitlist at multiple marinas and accepted and then cancelled a series of reservations until I ended up in a marina in Eastport within walking distance of the show. Managing that by phone would have been a pain for both me and the many marinas I had contacted. The software took care of all the reservations and cancellations.
The RV world is experiencing the same consolidation of operators as the marina world is. My marina which is embedded in an RV Park is owned by a Canadian private equity company and managed by a company specializing in running RV parks.
Sorry but you are mistaken. A local restaurateur has purchased about 6 marinas in the charleston area in the last few years and manages one or two others. Granted they are not the big three in the harbor. The ones he ownes are: Sea Breeze, dolphin cove, st johns, bohicket, ownes or manages ripley light and iop
I’ve been holding off on posting because I believe the horse has already left the barn. My biometrics are recorded by several devices and either report to a medical doctor or health service. They know how many heartbeats per minute, balance/walking issues, exercise activity, and where I‘ve been. Both our vehicles register how often we shop, which restaurants we frequent, and how likely we are to travel. The big box stores and Amazon know our shopping preferences, what ads we should see, and even how many in the family depending on where some on-line presents have been sent. They know the whole family.
We had used Dockwa when we travelled but not to the extent that you have described. I can relate to them being a necessary element for any marina trying to cope with transient travelers and minimal staffing. You could possibly try having multiple identities, but that can get confusing. But sometimes that’s my best weapon, acting confused.
I got thinking after watching the evening news that I should unsubscribe to their service. I’m sure I won’t use them once our boat is sold.
We had used Dockwa when we travelled but not to the extent that you have described. I can relate to them being a necessary element for any marina trying to cope with transient travelers and minimal staffing. You could possibly try having multiple identities, but that can get confusing. But sometimes that’s my best weapon, acting confused.
I got thinking after watching the evening news that I should unsubscribe to their service. I’m sure I won’t use them once our boat is sold.
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We put use dockwa at our club to manage transient reservations. Before that all transients paid cash. Who knows how much of that was pocketed by launch drivers, there was no way to really track it and we did catch one driver stealing. Today we are strictly credit card no more theft. As a cruiser, I like it, easy to make a reservation and the only data stored is my boat name and size.