How do yacht managers keep guest preferences between charters?
Yacht managers keep guest preferences between charters by holding one record per guest, in the software you already run, and updating it after every trip. The preference sheet is filled from the questionnaire, the crew's notes and the last charter, and it goes to the chef, the interior crew and the captain before the guests board. Provisioning, expenses and crew documents sit in the same place, so last season's preferences are no longer buried in an email thread.
Updated
How does one preference sheet per guest work?
We build it inside the software your management company already runs; for yacht managers that is Voly. Nothing is replaced, every step below is a rule you set rather than a black box, and anything the rules do not cover goes to a named person with the context already gathered.
Ask once, before the charter
The preference questionnaire goes out to the broker or the guest's contact on a schedule and is chased until it comes back. What comes back is read into one record per guest: food and drink, allergies, cabins, children, activities, and the small things that make a trip.
Carry forward what the crew learned last time
After each charter the crew's notes are added to the guest's record, in whatever form the crew already uses: what was asked for, what was right and what was wrong. The next time that guest charters, the sheet starts from there rather than from a blank questionnaire.
Brief the crew before the guests board
The sheet goes to the chef, the interior crew and the captain in the form each department needs, with the changes since last time marked. One version, so the galley and the interior are not working from different emails.
Turn the sheet into the provisioning list
The provisioning order is drafted from the preferences and the itinerary, then waits for the chef or the purser to check it. Nothing is ordered on the system's say-so: it drafts, and a person approves.
Reconcile the charter's expenses against it
Receipts and spend against the advance provisioning allowance are matched to the order and the itinerary as they arrive, and the differences are flagged. The reconciliation is drafted for the manager to check rather than assembled by hand after the guests have left. Hours to reconcile one charter's expenses is the number the review measures first.
Keep crew and compliance documents current
Certificates and the documents that expire are filed against each crew member, with the dates tracked and the renewals chased before anything lapses. Every access to those files is logged, and sensitive data is kept apart.
Report to the owner in plain language
What happened on the charter, what it cost and what changed are drafted into the owner's report in the form the owner already receives. A person approves it before it leaves the firm, because anything leaving the firm is a person's decision.
What does this replace?
The email and spreadsheet status quo
- Last season's preferences buried in an email thread
- A questionnaire sent late and chased by whoever remembers
- The chef and the interior crew briefed from different versions of the same sheet
- Receipts reconciled against the provisioning order by hand, over days, after the charter
- Crew certificates checked when someone thinks to look
After
- One record per guest, carried from charter to charter and updated after each one
- The questionnaire sent on a schedule and chased until it is back
- One sheet, sent to each department in the form it needs, with the changes marked
- Expenses matched to the order and the itinerary as they arrive, with the differences flagged
- Expiry dates tracked and renewals chased before they lapse
What is the lost preference sheet costing the management company?
The first cost is the guest asked twice. A returning guest who fills in the same questionnaire, or finds the wrong water in the cabin, notices, and so does the owner. The second cost is the hours: a chef provisioning from memory and a thread, a purser matching receipts to an order by hand after the charter, a manager assembling the owner's report from four inboxes. None of these hours appears on a report today, which is why they go unmeasured. The review measures them on your own charters, hours to reconcile one charter's expenses first, before anything is built.
How long does it take to set up?
It starts with a review, about a week, that finds where requests and documents stall and what each fix is worth. A first working version is usually live in two to four weeks: one journey, usually the preference sheet from questionnaire to crew briefing, live in your systems against a written baseline. Provisioning, expenses, crew documents and the owner's report follow once that holds through a real charter.
When is this not worth doing?
- If you manage one yacht with a handful of charters a season, a well-kept sheet and a good chief stewardess are fine, and we will say so
- If your preferences, provisioning and reconciliation are already in one place and already measured, the gain is small
- If you are about to change your management or accounting software, wait until that settles rather than building twice
- If the problem is crew turnover rather than records, a system holds the record but does not hold the crew
- Some things on a charter should not be automated, and the guest's experience is one of them: the system keeps the record, the crew keeps the guest
Frequently asked questions
How do yacht managers keep guest preferences between charters?
By holding one record per guest and updating it after every charter, from the questionnaire, the crew's notes and the last trip. The sheet goes to the chef, the interior crew and the captain before the guests board, and the provisioning list is drafted from it. The record lives in the software the management company already runs, so nothing is replaced.
Does it work with Voly?
Yes. We build on top of the software you already run, and for yacht managers that is Voly. The preference records, the provisioning drafts and the expense reconciliation are built inside what you already use rather than on a new platform you would have to adopt.
Who can see a guest's preferences?
The people on the charter who need them, in the form each needs. Every access is logged, sensitive data is kept apart, and no client is named without consent. Anything sensitive, and anything leaving the firm, is a person's decision rather than the system's.
Does the crew have to fill in another form?
No. The crew's notes are taken in whatever form the crew already uses, a message or a few lines at the end of the charter, and read into the guest's record. The system does the filing and the carrying forward, so the next charter starts from what the crew learned.
How much does it cost?
It starts with a review, about a week, that measures where your preferences, provisioning and reconciliation stall and says what each fix is worth. The build is then scoped and quoted at a fixed price, against acceptance criteria written before it begins. After that we run and extend it monthly, and you can cancel at any time.
Will it replace the purser or the management team?
No. It removes the chasing, the retyping and the matching of receipts by hand, so the purser and the manager spend their time on the charter and the owner. Anything the rules do not cover goes to a named person with the context already gathered.
See where the time is going
Book a private review. On a short call we map where work is getting stuck in your firm and whether there is a system worth building. No pitch, and if there is nothing there worth doing, we will say so.