Boatfolk bought by Premier Marinas

[Lucky Duck]

Just received an email on this.

Will be interesting to see if the two 'groups' become a single entity as far as berth holders are concerned (e.g. reciprocal berthing)

 

[ithet]

Source, link?

 

[sfellows]

Just received an email stating Boatfolk have been acquired by Premier Marinas. Not sure this a good thing….

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I'm a Premier berthholder so read this from that viewpoint.

It’s a good move for berthholders, it adds a whole load of new destinations to the 42-free-nights cruising areas including the IOW of course, and Premier bought Universal a few years ago and it’s all the better as a result. Might see some much needed investment at Deacon's by matching it with Swanwick.

Don’t know what will happen to berthing fees but I doubt that BF were way out of line.

Premier is owned by the Wellcome Trust, so your berthing fees are funding potentially life changing research.

And my own experience as a Premier berthholder for the last 9 years has been pretty positive, a few niggles of course but resolved. All IMHO of course.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Text of the email from Premier:

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I’m delighted to confirm that following a formal sale process, ownership of Boatfolk has been transferred to Premier Marinas. The acquisition has been funded by our long-term investor, Wellcome, who has owned Premier Marinas since 2015.

In Boatfolk, we see a fantastic portfolio of marinas in great locations, along with a customer ethos that resonates with our own. Boatfolk will continue largely unchanged in the short term, with our focus on delivering first-class service.

My team will also be working with our new colleagues to align the businesses and unlock the benefits of being part of our wider group for you. I look forward to sharing the details of our plans with you over the coming months.
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Yours sincerely,​

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Pete Bradshaw
Chief Executive​

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[Blueboatman]

As a former Premier berth holder I have only positive things to say about them, their staff and the visiting arrangements between other marinas within the group.
Very very handy when “any port in a storm” weather pops up!

The Wellcome Trust is fascinating, possibly unique. And very good at what it does
Client Challenge 2016 FT article , should be free access, hope not considered a current affair thinghy.

 

[Moderator]

Threads merged.

 

[ithet]

Thanks SF for posting that. Relevant to me as been looking at berthing options between Premier and Boatfolk with one of the issues that was affecting my choice was usefulness of group visitor nights. This should now not be a factor.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I'm a Premier berthholder so read this from that viewpoint.

It’s a good move for berthholders, it adds a whole load of new destinations to the 42-free-nights cruising areas including the IOW of course, and Premier bought Universal a few years ago and it’s all the better as a result. Might see some much needed investment at Deacon's by matching it with Swanwick.

Don’t know what will happen to berthing fees but I doubt that BF were way out of line.

Premier is owned by the Wellcome Trust, so your berthing fees are funding potentially life changing research.

And my own experience as a Premier berthholder for the last 9 years has been pretty positive, a few niggles of course but resolved. All IMHO of course.

The boatfolk offering is 300 days with a limit of 30 days in any one marina.

If they do become one entity then, for example, I can't see East Cowes being particularly happy with half the berth holders in the Hamble, etc now wanting their reciprocal berthing. Perhaps the same to a lesser extent at Weymouth/Portland.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Thanks SF for posting that. Relevant to me as been looking at berthing options between Premier and Boatfolk with one of the issues that was affecting my choice was usefulness of group visitor nights. This should now not be a factor.

Well, to be clear there's no statement yet on what is happening to the visitor night offer.

 

[Boater21]

Just received an email on this.

Will be interesting to see if the two 'groups' become a single entity as far as berth holders are concerned (e.g. reciprocal berthing)

Really bad news for those of us who currently enjoy the "boatfolk" great customer service, helpful staff and friendly attitudes to boat owners.

 

[Rotordude]

Just received an email on this.

Will be interesting to see if the two 'groups' become a single entity as far as berth holders are concerned (e.g. reciprocal berthing)

Text of the email from Premier:

I've found that Boatfolk had a rather better attitude to the their customers than Premier (something that generally flows from above)...I feel sorry for the team at Boatfolk about the experience some of the leadership and management style at Premier.

 

[ImpImp]

The boatfolk offering is 300 days with a limit of 30 days in any one marina.

If they do become one entity then, for example, I can't see East Cowes being particularly happy with half the berth holders in the Hamble, etc now wanting their reciprocal berthing. Perhaps the same to a lesser extent at Weymouth/Portland.

They'll probably do what MDL did when I was with them, when you book/ask for a mooring the first question is "Are you on 'Freedom Berthing" and if the answer is yes then they are suddenly full.

 

[Boater21]

When I was a Premier berth holder a few years ago, in my last year I never managed to get a visitor berth. Brighton had silted up and was too shallow for me, Chichester had no space, Gosport had silted up, Swanwick was always full, Falmouth was always full, Noss was full and Eastbourne smelled of stale cooking oil. Lack of investment and poor management attitudes IMHO.

 

[lustyd]

We purposefully left Premier as they were terrible. The staff were on their phones walking around rather than checking boats, no permanent berth assigned, nothing in the way of service.
Biatfolk were quite the opposite. We had a name plate on our assigned berth. Staff would check boats and retie lines where required, there was an annual bertholder party with open bar, the staff were genuinely friendly and interested in boating.
This is terrible news. Boatfolk were the last of the good marina chains. It does explain why Bangor were repainting everything blue this summer though!

 

[Seven Spades]

This is a dissaster and frankly is what the old Monopolies and Mergers Commission was there for to ensure that mergers were not against the publis cis=terest. What we are seeing is the creation of a duopoly. I wish the RYA would take this up and try to get it blocked.

 

[wonkywinch]

They'll probably do what MDL did when I was with them, when you book/ask for a mooring the first question is "Are you on 'Freedom Berthing" and if the answer is yes then they are suddenly full.

And they still do this when you have their replacement product, the Cruising Bundle. I always book, get confirmation then wave the bumdle at them when they ask for payment.

It costs 300 points (£300 worth) for 14 nights. If you let MDL know your home berth is vacant they will credit you with £3 (yep, a measly £3) for each night they rent it out (at £55+ per night).

Except if you use your Cruising Bundle to stay at another MDL marina at any time whilst you're away, even just one night with MDL then the offer is void.

Home berth costs equiv £27/nt plus the cost of Cruising Bundle night £21 means MDL earning £48 night from me whilst I'm away staying in one of their marinas plus say £55 from the visitor (say worse case another MDL customer at £21) total £69-£103 yet won't cough up the £3 reward.

To make matters worse, they let our berth for some time, longer than we used our Cruising Bumdle for (just 2 nights in Brixham, 3 nights in Torquay during 3 weeks away). They refuse to pay for the nights sublet when we weren't in MDL locations because we stayed with MDL for some of our time away.

I escalated this as a formal complaint but 6 weeks later MDL HQ haven't even had the courtesy to reply to me despite being reminded by home marina staff.

They like to refer to their small print which I believe was written in the "Freedom Berthing" days.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I bought two cruising bundles during last year's SIBS and Christmas offers last year.

Apparently they had some kind of system issue which meant any purchased as part of the SIBS ones were never set up properly so I had lots of 'fun' getting the invoices cancelled. Even now I seem to have been charged for two non-existent stays.

£3 is £3 more than I have every been give as credit for my home berth being empty!

 

[Boater21]

On the issue of communication, I gather Premier have yet to inform berth holders in Chichester Marina anything about the fire which destroyed and sank two boats and damaged several others earlier this month. They have declined to comment or provide information.

This is really bad news and I am so sorry for the lovely people at Boatfolk who have taken such good care of us, been so kind and generous to us and made our boating life so enjoyable. Many have been there for a lot of years, have given their best for the company as Boatfolk, and Dean and Reddyhoff before them, has always attracted the best in the industry.

 

[Kwik Decision]

Really bad news for those of us who currently enjoy the "boatfolk" great customer service, helpful staff and friendly attitudes to boat owners.

We've been at universal marina over 10 yrs and hence became premier customers about 3 yrs ago. We get great customer service, helpful staff and friendly attitudes here. The majority of the staff, particularly the excellent lifting and yard team, were kept on by premier, so there wasn't much change day to day.

We've also been able to get good use of the visitor nights, staying at Brighton, Chichester, Noss and Falmouth. I think having a smaller, relatively shallow draft boat helps, as we can often be squeezed in where larger boats will be turned away.