The initial situation: online charter agencies are springing up like mushrooms. As a result, they are outdoing each other with discounts and sometimes offering charter yachts at cost price just to gain market share.
Of course, it is legitimate for every customer to book where he gets the best price.
The result: The financial situation of these online charter agencies is getting worse and worse. And they have a huge head start, as many customer deposits are made 6 months before the charter begins or even earlier. Real customer advice is no longer available anyway, or has never been. Some skippers with years of experience do not need this advice and book at what they believe to be the best price. ZIZZOO, the "largest online charter agency" in Germany, and myboatrent are already insolvent and more will follow. (See a letter from Yachtpool in the appendix, where a well-known charter agency is asking the charter company to postpone payment because it has no money available). In the worst case scenario, the customers who supposedly got a cheap charter price will now have no yacht when they arrive at the charter base.
These practices harm everyone : first and foremost the customer, then the charterer and finally the agency.
Now the charter companies are fighting back against these practices and are only allowing limited discounts on the most commonly used booking portals such as "Booking Manager" or "Nausys". For customers, this means that they pay the same price everywhere, whether they use an online charter agency or a reputable, well-known, smaller, domestic agency. With the latter, however, they still have the great advantage of professional, competent customer advice and reliable processing.
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