Being a fleet operator is usually more complicated than it looks. Especially if you really care and you want to do your best. Most of you say: “I would like to have your job! You are travelling all the time, you are by the sea and you have so many yachts!” Let’s see for a minute how much this is true, guys.
Yes, we travel a lot. During winter we usually work more to promote our business and that includes travelling, planning, long working hours in front of the screen, and even longer hours at expos. I will not lie to you: we also have lots of fun. We have some crazy cool parties as well. But what we all work towards at the end of the day is to bring innovations, new ideas and cooler offers to our guests. We put our minds together, we compete and we really bargain to get the best price. What the best price is – that is a subject for some future article.
We return back to the boatyards by early spring and start working on maintenance, making changes, cleaning, replacing parts, etc. And then? Then you arrive and we try to make your holiday as fantastic as possible. Some of you get back with huge smiles, while others return a bit unsatisfied. But that is the thing – you cannot make everyone happy.
As a fleet operator there is one thing that I have realized during all these years at work. No one can offer you the best vacation. You have to do it for yourselves. The people who get the best out of their vacations are the optimistic ones. The ones who are determined to have a fantastic time during their 7, 10 or 14 days (usually) are the ones who, no matter what, will make it happen. Those people are the reason we do this. Their smiles and the warmth in their eyes are things that no money can buy, and their warm “thank you” is the only thing that pulls us through the season. Because, let me tell you something, we are overexposed to misery and the lack of good will. We need you to help us keep doing what we want to do best – to offer you a memorable vacation in Greece! And be there for you, with you.
So, you want to change your job and become a fleet operator? Go for it, get ready for weird calls, ego show-offs, a lack of skill in people who claim they have them, waking up in the middle of the night because your client is disturbed by the loud music from bars (don’t ask!), but these and many more things throughout 6 months of the season will never make you change your job because there is always someone who does or says something that makes us forget all the difficult and unbelievably stupid and tiring moments. People like that make us strengthen our firm belief that, even if there is only one beautiful person to work with, we need to work harder and offer more because they are damn worth it!
Yacht charter is not about the boats. It is about the people and the moments!