Marina not ready to negotiate

[Nautibusiness]

I work as a broker in a marina that is owned by the same boss as my own (we are part of a small group of companies collectively owned by a family).

I cannot justify the costs of the berths, but I can also see it from the businesses point of view.
The marina froze prices last year, but with the costs of providing the service continually rising it proves impossible to hold them for too long. At the end of the day, they are a business and they need to be profitable to continue offering the service.

It's really tough. There are cheaper places to keep a boat than in the marina I work at, but having visited one just the other day to collect a boat we had sold I can see very much that (in our area at least), to a point, you definitely get what you pay for.

It would be very foolish for the marina to shrug their shoulders and say, "we are full so who cares". The fact is though, currently they are pretty much full, but I can assure anyone who thinks otherwise, as a small business, the marina I work at thought very long and hard before they decided they had little choice but to increase fees.
The entry level "all inclusive" price for a dry berth up to 7m rose from £3,300 in 2012 to £3,500 for this coming year. It is certainly noticeable, but I think they did well to keep it to a minimum.

So, yes I see both sides of the argument.

What did make me laugh was that at the end of last year, one of the marina swinging mooring customers came into the office to ask for a partial refund because he didn't use his boat much!

Tom

 

[dj43]

We have recently moved our boat, took a 6 month winter rate as very good value, but they had no berths other than visitors, when a permanent berth came up we snapped it up for another 12 months, have had excellent service from them including rebate 1st full year, + 2.5% discount for early payment ,along with free nights in their other marina,s ,so for us it paid to move, we are now looking forward to exploring new areas .

 

[lynall]

I work as a broker in a marina that is owned by the same boss as my own (we are part of a small group of companies collectively owned by a family).

I cannot justify the costs of the berths, but I can also see it from the businesses point of view.
The marina froze prices last year, but with the costs of providing the service continually rising it proves impossible to hold them for too long. At the end of the day, they are a business and they need to be profitable to continue offering the service.

It's really tough. There are cheaper places to keep a boat than in the marina I work at, but having visited one just the other day to collect a boat we had sold I can see very much that (in our area at least), to a point, you definitely get what you pay for.

It would be very foolish for the marina to shrug their shoulders and say, "we are full so who cares". The fact is though, currently they are pretty much full, but I can assure anyone who thinks otherwise, as a small business, the marina I work at thought very long and hard before they decided they had little choice but to increase fees.
The entry level "all inclusive" price for a dry berth up to 7m rose from £3,300 in 2012 to £3,500 for this coming year. It is certainly noticeable, but I think they did well to keep it to a minimum.

So, yes I see both sides of the argument.

What did make me laugh was that at the end of last year, one of the marina swinging mooring customers came into the office to ask for a partial refund because he didn't use his boat much!

Tom

Tom
So thats 3.5k for a 7mtr boat, thats a lot of money!
In fact its 3 times what i pay!


Lynall

 

[oGaryo]

Tom
So thats 3.5k for a 7mtr boat, thats a lot of money!
In fact its 3 times what i pay!


Lynall

blue water versus mucky brown stuff, worth every extra penny

 

[Nautibusiness]

Tom
So thats 3.5k for a 7mtr boat, thats a lot of money!
In fact its 3 times what i pay!


Lynall

Lynall

I agree, it's a vast amount of money and I can't justify the cost... hence my opening lines.
But it is the going rate and by no means the dearest locally.

You can take a mooring up the end of the harbour for a darn sight less, but as I also said, you get what you pay for.

The point I was trying to make wasn't about the annual fee (you can have a swinging mooring for less than £900 with our marina if you wish) it was more that the price increase was relatively small overall and that the marina had frozen costs the year before.

 

[timgriffin]

We have recently moved our boat, took a 6 month winter rate as very good value, but they had no berths other than visitors, when a permanent berth came up we snapped it up for another 12 months, have had excellent service from them including rebate 1st full year, + 2.5% discount for early payment ,along with free nights in their other marina,s ,so for us it paid to move, we are now looking forward to exploring new areas .

DJ43
Welome to the Isle of Wight are you at East Cowes Marina .
Cheers
Tim

 

[westernman]

I work as a broker in a marina that is owned by the same boss as my own (we are part of a small group of companies collectively owned by a family).

I cannot justify the costs of the berths, but I can also see it from the businesses point of view.
The marina froze prices last year, but with the costs of providing the service continually rising it proves impossible to hold them for too long. At the end of the day, they are a business and they need to be profitable to continue offering the service.

It's really tough. There are cheaper places to keep a boat than in the marina I work at, but having visited one just the other day to collect a boat we had sold I can see very much that (in our area at least), to a point, you definitely get what you pay for.

It would be very foolish for the marina to shrug their shoulders and say, "we are full so who cares". The fact is though, currently they are pretty much full, but I can assure anyone who thinks otherwise, as a small business, the marina I work at thought very long and hard before they decided they had little choice but to increase fees.
The entry level "all inclusive" price for a dry berth up to 7m rose from £3,300 in 2012 to £3,500 for this coming year. It is certainly noticeable, but I think they did well to keep it to a minimum.

So, yes I see both sides of the argument.

What did make me laugh was that at the end of last year, one of the marina swinging mooring customers came into the office to ask for a partial refund because he didn't use his boat much!

Tom

That is more than I pay for 52ft (well actually 67 ft as I leave the bow sprit sticking out) in the Med.

 

[shetland]

Approaching renewal, we've asked our marina to match an offer (or come somewhere close) from a different marina we've been talking to. At a saving of £1500 pa, we'd have been foolish not to at least ask. We've had a flat no which is disappointing as we have a lovely berth and have always received great service from MDL and so will be sorry to have to leave. We're asking them to drop a fair bit I guess so I can understand their reluctance but at the end of the day, we just can't justify paying that much extra for close access to the Solent which is what it basically boils down to. As I say, it's a shame but needs must.
L

We moved from Port Solent to Gosport Marina dry stack and saved £500 pound on Marina fees plus the saving on the fuel cost to get down the harbour to the Solent, and not having to lock in and out was also a plus.

 

[oGaryo]

We moved from Port Solent to Gosport Marina dry stack and saved £500 pound on Marina fees plus the saving on the fuel cost to get down the harbour to the Solent, and not having to lock in and out was also a plus.

out of interest, how did you find the move from marina berth to dry stack, a retrograde step in most people's opinion that I've spoken to in terms of overall experience, discounting ease of maintenance? how have you found it?

 

[rhino_mac]

The entry level "all inclusive" price for a dry berth up to 7m rose from £3,300 in 2012 to £3,500 for this coming year.

Tom

The problem is Tom, you know who much I paid for my boat, after all you sold it to me

But at 8.2m, the office decided to put my boat into the up to 9m category this year which meant dry berth was a just a shade off £5000 per annum with harbour dues. Previously the marina allowed it into the up to 8m category so my increase was something like £1000 this year over last. I was happy to pay the annual increase you mention they have decided on but not the increase plus the cost of moving into a more expensive category. That's a very significant percentage of the total cost of my boat. I know PB is building a new shower block, but as a dry berth customer am I really likely to ever use that?

PB seems very popular so I'm sure the owners know what they're doing but when I suggested to my colleague he moved his boat to PB so we could meet up for a drink after work and head out together he nearly died at the prices.

 

[shetland]

out of interest, how did you find the move from marina berth to dry stack, a retrograde step in most people's opinion that I've spoken to in terms of overall experience, discounting ease of maintenance? how have you found it?

We were on a dry berth contract, with the boat on it's trailer.
It took the Marina staff 30 minutes to get the boat into the water using a combination of fork lift truck and travel hoist.
The dry stack operation takes 10 minutes start to finish.

 

[n.herring]

Approaching renewal, we've asked our marina to match an offer (or come somewhere close) from a different marina we've been talking to. At a saving of £1500 pa, we'd have been foolish not to at least ask. We've had a flat no which is disappointing as we have a lovely berth and have always received great service from MDL and so will be sorry to have to leave. We're asking them to drop a fair bit I guess so I can understand their reluctance but at the end of the day, we just can't justify paying that much extra for close access to the Solent which is what it basically boils down to. As I say, it's a shame but needs must.
L

Lisa you have not allowed for over nights at HPM when you visit the Ketch, I think you will find it cheaper to stay, Neil

 

[volvopaul]

Approaching renewal, we've asked our marina to match an offer (or come somewhere close) from a different marina we've been talking to. At a saving of £1500 pa, we'd have been foolish not to at least ask. We've had a flat no which is disappointing as we have a lovely berth and have always received great service from MDL and so will be sorry to have to leave. We're asking them to drop a fair bit I guess so I can understand their reluctance but at the end of the day, we just can't justify paying that much extra for close access to the Solent which is what it basically boils down to. As I say, it's a shame but needs must.
L

Lisa can you reveal where your moving to?

 

[lisilou]

Lisa you have not allowed for over nights at HPM when you visit the Ketch, I think you will find it cheaper to stay, Neil

 

[Nautibusiness]

The problem is Tom, you know who much I paid for my boat, after all you sold it to me

But at 8.2m, the office decided to put my boat into the up to 9m category this year which meant dry berth was a just a shade off £5000 per annum with harbour dues. Previously the marina allowed it into the up to 8m category so my increase was something like £1000 this year over last. I was happy to pay the annual increase you mention they have decided on but not the increase plus the cost of moving into a more expensive category. That's a very significant percentage of the total cost of my boat. I know PB is building a new shower block, but as a dry berth customer am I really likely to ever use that?

PB seems very popular so I'm sure the owners know what they're doing but when I suggested to my colleague he moved his boat to PB so we could meet up for a drink after work and head out together he nearly died at the prices.

Hi Richard

As you know, I work for the brokerage business not the marina and so I do sympathise, however the boat has always been 8.2m and the pricing brackets go: up to7, 7 to 8, 8.1 to 9 and so on....
The marina does often do deals to incentivise a new owner into keeping a boat with us for the remainder of the season if it is here when they buy it. It means that we can also try and offer advice, help a little as a new owner learns and so on... But the marina has to have price breaks or how else will the structure work?

Again, I can't justify the cost of boating, but we are by no means the dearest marina in the harbour, however we are in one of the most convenient locations with a tide restriction that (if you stay in the channel!) is only apparent on a planing hull boat for about an hour either side of a big spring tide. No bridge problems, no massive drags up the harbour coming and going....
I am no business genius, but supply and demand in any business is usually how companies set prices - and I don't mean just marinas.

The marina hates to lose clients elsewhere, but they appreciate that not everyone wants to keep a boat here. Quite often those clients return a season or two later when they realise that what is offered is actually superior to many other locations or simply far more convenient. The marina always welcomes those clients back like old friends.

I do think the prices are very expensive across the marine industry, but no charges are ever hidden from anyone who brings their boat to the marina or chooses to keep one with marina.

Again, the prices were frozen for two years, but with costs rising and rising something had to give and the price has only gone up to reflect that.

Best of luck in your new berth, we sincerely hope you continue loving your boat and we look forward to seeing you on the water.

All the best
Tom

 

[lisilou]

Lisa can you reveal where your moving to?

Hiya Paul yeh it'll be Swanwick unless we can negotiate further with HP which we hope we can.
L

 

[Nautibusiness]

Hiya Paul yeh it'll be Swanwick unless we can negotiate further with HP which we hope we can.
L

I don't agree on the marina prices, but HP is always going to be dearer than Swanwick due to the extra +/- hour on the day each time you use the boat.
£1,500 is a big difference for sure though.

 

[lisilou]

Well the decision has been made finally and Swanwick it will be as of 31st March. Berth selected and now we've stopped umming and ahhring, I'm glad we can just look forward to new surroundings (and saving a chunk in the process!). Sad to leave HP though coz we've always found them superb.
L

 

[rhino_mac]

Hi Richard

As you know, I work for the brokerage business not the marina and so I do sympathise, however the boat has always been 8.2m and the pricing brackets go: up to7, 7 to 8, 8.1 to 9 and so on....
The marina does often do deals to incentivise a new owner into keeping a boat with us for the remainder of the season if it is here when they buy it. It means that we can also try and offer advice, help a little as a new owner learns and so on... But the marina has to have price breaks or how else will the structure work?

Again, I can't justify the cost of boating, but we are by no means the dearest marina in the harbour, however we are in one of the most convenient locations with a tide restriction that (if you stay in the channel!) is only apparent on a planing hull boat for about an hour either side of a big spring tide. No bridge problems, no massive drags up the harbour coming and going....
I am no business genius, but supply and demand in any business is usually how companies set prices - and I don't mean just marinas.

The marina hates to lose clients elsewhere, but they appreciate that not everyone wants to keep a boat here. Quite often those clients return a season or two later when they realise that what is offered is actually superior to many other locations or simply far more convenient. The marina always welcomes those clients back like old friends.

I do think the prices are very expensive across the marine industry, but no charges are ever hidden from anyone who brings their boat to the marina or chooses to keep one with marina.

Again, the prices were frozen for two years, but with costs rising and rising something had to give and the price has only gone up to reflect that.

Best of luck in your new berth, we sincerely hope you continue loving your boat and we look forward to seeing you on the water.

All the best
Tom

Thanks Tom, it's not a criticism of the way PB do business. Their tariff is completely transparent.

I'm there until end March anyway so we'll have to see how the new marina goes after that. I'm sure we'll be in for lunch at South Deep etc on a regular basis over the season!

 

[kcrane]

Well the decision has been made finally and Swanwick it will be as of 31st March. Berth selected and now we've stopped umming and ahhring, I'm glad we can just look forward to new surroundings (and saving a chunk in the process!). Sad to leave HP though coz we've always found them superb.
L

Welcome to Swanwick

I'd be surprised if you found the run up and down the river an issue, I quite enjoy pootling up/down, it is quiet once passed Hamble village on the way up.