Berth Booking App.

[DJE]

Launching soon. It is active on Facebook and seems to be getting a bit of interest. But they are a bit coy about which marinas are on board. I wonder how they intend to fund it.

...... we have an initial trial with five marinas, which is intentional as they are in strategic locations. We are right now in the process of approaching other marinas so it’s far too early to confirm the extent of participation. The three large marina groups have all expressed an interest in the concept but are hesitant to commit further prior to our trial due to various internal reasons, and they want to see the uptake. So we need as many people as possible to sign up with their email addresses and demonstrate that this is for the benefit of the whole boating community.

 

[neilf39]

There are a few already. Can't see why you need to introduce a middleman. What are the benefits to the marina and the sailor? It is simple enough to call a marina or use their own booking system. Are you trying to outsource their whole berthing management scheme or just forwarding a booking I could have made direct anyway?

 

[oldgit]

I really like to hear a human voice saying Yes, we can find you berth Sir, call on CH ** on entry. See you later.
The "Sir" bit is optional.

Feel exactly the same way about booking restuarants as well.

 

[mrming]

The Solent is the area that has problems with berth availability on sunny summer weekends.

As far as I understand it, the issue is that people were booking berths and then not showing up. This led to harbours / marinas not taking bookings as they don’t want the place to be half empty.

Assuming I have that right, how would an app solve the problem?

 

[DJE]

There are a few already. Can't see why you need to introduce a middleman. What are the benefits to the marina and the sailor? It is simple enough to call a marina or use their own booking system. Are you trying to outsource their whole berthing management scheme or just forwarding a booking I could have made direct anyway?

Just to be clear it's not my app and I'm not trying to promote it. I'm just as baffled as you about the benefits but it does seem to be getting a favourable response from some boat owners. I suspect their expectations will not be realised.

 

[DJE]

The Solent is the area that has problems with berth availability on sunny summer weekends.

As far as I understand it, the issue is that people were booking berths and then not showing up. This led to harbours / marinas not taking bookings as they don’t want the place to be half empty.

Assuming I have that right, how would an app solve the problem?

The app has a section specifically to deal with boat owners booking multiple berths on the same day. I see this as part of the problem too.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

There was a long discussion about this on these fora some years ago. The consensus was that such an app was not likely to be useful to the vast majority of us.

 

[[70521]]

as @neilf39 has said other apps are available. I do love ringing ahead and confirming a berth.

I only realised that Amble needed pre-booking while on passage to them and telephoned them. Had a lovely conversation with them and a good laugh about not reading Reads properly. Can see that happening on an app. The welcome at Amble was fantastic and well worth a visit.

 

[dunedin]

I really like to hear a human voice saying Yes, we can find you berth Sir, call on CH ** on entry. See you later.
The "Sir" bit is optional.

Feel exactly the same way about booking restuarants as well.

Each to their own. But I would prefer to look in one place and see where has any spaces rather than try to phone round 6 places, fail to get through and waste a lot of time. Also prefer to know early if everywhere full so can divert to another destination.

Dont try sailing to Norway or the Baltic if you want to phone somebody, or indeed even meet a marina staff member. Most places I went to you pay by card at a pay station and place a sticker on the boat. Berth booking apps seem to be catching on there and working OK.

Clearly pre-payment is essential with any booking app. And whilst in Scandinavia people tend to have more social conscience, in the Uk this wouldn’t stop Mr Rich booking and paying for 3 or 4 berths and failing to turn up - but an AirB&B style rating of the host and the guest might soon sort this out.

 

[V1701]

I think the Navily (anchoring) app folk are also trying to incorporate such functionality but maybe more EU focus? I wouldn't have thought that there'd be that many spaces in that many marinas in that many places that there would be enough profit in it for it to work...

 

[Yealm]

Sounds great in theory if single app for everywhere

Fed up with car parks - why can't they all use the same app !

 

[westhinder]

In the Netherlands there is the Blue Water App, which lets you book a berth and pay for it. As far as I can judge, it works ok

 

[oldgit]

picking up the phone involves some effort, time and commitment , punching the key pad on a phone or ipad does not ?

 

[DJE]

Look out for the motor boats when Yarmouth posts some free berths and they all stop steering and grab their phones to try to book them!

 

[Czech Mate]

Launching soon. It is active on Facebook and seems to be getting a bit of interest. But they are a bit coy about which marinas are on board. I wonder how they intend to fund it.

...... we have an initial trial with five marinas, which is intentional as they are in strategic locations. We are right now in the process of approaching other marinas so it’s far too early to confirm the extent of participation. The three large marina groups have all expressed an interest in the concept but are hesitant to commit further prior to our trial due to various internal reasons, and they want to see the uptake. So we need as many people as possible to sign up with their email addresses and demonstrate that this is for the benefit of the whole boating community.

There are a few already. Can't see why you need to introduce a middleman. What are the benefits to the marina and the sailor? It is simple enough to call a marina or use their own booking system. Are you trying to outsource their whole berthing management scheme or just forwarding a booking I could have made direct anyway?

as @neilf39 has said other apps are available. I do love ringing ahead and confirming a berth.

I only realised that Amble needed pre-booking while on passage to them and telephoned them. Had a lovely conversation with them and a good laugh about not reading Reads properly. Can see that happening on an app. The welcome at Amble was fantastic and well worth a visit.

The app has a section specifically to deal with boat owners booking multiple berths on the same day. I see this as part of the problem too.

This is my app. It does not have a section “specifically to deal with boat owners booking multiple berths on the same day.” the app is not live, nobody has seen it so I’m not sure why you are claiming to know what is has or doesn’t have.

I presume you are referring to my Facebook post which said this…”Hi David. Yes I’ve no doubt that multiple bookings do not improve the situation and it would be easy for the app to not allow them. However, it’s unlikely this would stop the practice and would just force people to do it outside of the app. At least if it’s in the app they will receive a reminder and eventually (on the day) they will need to select which berth they wish to keep or both will cancelled. This will stop the “no shows” when people forget to cancel.”

 

[ashtead]

At lea st the concept of booking is known in the Solent however it seems more randomness out in the Wild West from what I can gather. My gripe is lack of consistency in approach ie some take bookings but cash up front long range bookings,some don’t take bookings,some take bookings for a waiting list,some don’t seem to take them until week before,some won’t take if within a week on berth date. Some seem to answer phones,some seem online only. None of the guides seem to have enough details though on what you actually are likely to encounter in candid terms. The quality of response varies enormously as well on approach . I guess everyone just learns the process by experience. I have always found Lymington marinas most helpful but of course we don’t have experience of our home berth at Haslar which always tries to fit visitors in I think. Ocean village also rate a worthy mention for helpfulness.

 

[Czech Mate]

The problem I have found which seems to be getting worse is that there are very few visitor berths nowadays and you need to spend a lot of time on the phone finding one. Gone are the days where you choose where you want to go, call them, and book in. I would like to see a live list of marinas which have availability for my size boat for my dates. And be able to book instantly. There is no app that does this which is why I’m working on one!

 

[awol]

There is a variety of booking sites for caravan parks - I'm surprised Booking.com or someone hasn't spotted this market to fill empty berths and make a profit.

 

[[70521]]

The problem I have found which seems to be getting worse is that there are very few visitor berths nowadays and you need to spend a lot of time on the phone finding one. Gone are the days where you choose where you want to go, call them, and book in. I would like to see a live list of marinas which have availability for my size boat for my dates. And be able to book instantly. There is no app that does this which is why I’m working on one!

That really depends on your area of operation. It is an issue at the eastern and middle south of England, but in my experience nowhere else.

 

[James_Calvert]

The problem I have found which seems to be getting worse is that there are very few visitor berths nowadays and you need to spend a lot of time on the phone finding one. Gone are the days where you choose where you want to go, call them, and book in. I would like to see a live list of marinas which have availability for my size boat for my dates. And be able to book instantly. There is no app that does this which is why I’m working on one!