Who can automate charter administration for a yacht manager?

Four kinds of provider automate charter administration for a yacht manager. The vendor of your software, Voly, Scyllastar or Sealogical, onboards and trains you on what it sells. A partner the vendor lists configures it, where there is one. A yacht or charter management company puts its own people on the work. An independent builder, such as Alea Applied AI, builds across the tools you already run and stays to operate it. Or your own team does it.

Updated 25 October 2026

Who does this work, and when does each one fit?

The first four are providers; the fifth is doing it yourself. They overlap, and each starts from a different part of charter administration. What each company says is from its own pages, read on 25 October 2026, and each price is in the currency its page prints.

1. The software vendor's own team

   Voly, Scyllastar and Sealogical each describe their own setup. Voly's page for management companies says its team is on hand at every stage to help with onboarding and training: it handles verification, orders crew cards, sets up your accounts and builds permissions with you, then gives bespoke online training, followed by support from its Client Relationship team, refresher sessions included. The same page says card transactions reconcile automatically, with a receipt attached to every transaction, and Voly's APA page says funds are pre-loaded before guests board, that back-to-back charters are tracked separately and that it generates guest expenditure reports. Neither page prints a price. Scyllastar's home page describes a short call, a personalised walkthrough and full data migration from Excel, DeepBlue, Voly and others, and its page for yacht managers says you are operational within two to four weeks. On 25 October 2026 its pricing page listed one price per yacht by length: 99 euros a month up to twenty metres, 199 for twenty to thirty, 299 for thirty to forty and 399 for forty metres and above, billed annually in advance and excluding VAT, with unlimited users. Sealogical says it sets up every new account, and its FAQ says its team sets up a trial environment with your vessel data and helps your captain and crew onboard. On the same day the FAQ priced it at 320 euros, 280 pounds or 360 dollars per vessel a month, with its Finance add-on, which holds accounting, crew payroll and APA management, priced the same, and its pricing page said billing is monthly in advance, excluding VAT, with no annual lock-in. This route fits when the software already covers what you need and the gap is that nobody has set it up.

2. A partner or consultant the vendor lists

   On the pages we read, none of the three vendors lists an outside consultant or implementation partner. Voly's and Sealogical's pages describe setup and onboarding by their own teams and name no outside firm that does it. Scyllastar's partnership page describes a partnership with Centtrip, which it calls an electronic money institution: once a yacht's Centtrip account is linked, its transactions flow into Scyllastar in real time and card spending appears in the APA tracking module. The page does not say Centtrip sets the software up. This route fits when a vendor can point you to an outside firm that already knows its product, so ask the vendor before you look elsewhere.

3. A yacht or charter management company

   A management company puts its own people on the charter's administration rather than a system. Burgess says its charter management runs from marketing and guest screening to contract negotiation and managing contracts and funds, that it monitors all funds due in and out on every charter, and that an owner dashboard shows income, charter contracts, reports and availability in real time; each owner has a charter manager, a second manager and an assistant. Fraser says it carries out reference checks and due diligence before a booking and takes care of the contract, the payment deadlines and the APA and VAT payments on the owner's behalf, and it lists financial and admin support, onboard charter support and regular reporting among its services. Praxis says that, with the appointed central agent, it manages the yacht's financial arrangements, including appointing the fiscal agents and managing the charter fees, the APA and any VAT requirements, that it monitors vessel and crew certifications, and that it produces reports to the beneficial owner against agreed budgets. None of the three pages prints a fee. This route fits when you want the charter's contracts, funds and reporting handled for you rather than a system to own.

4. An independent builder

   An independent builder builds the workflow across what the management company already runs and operates it afterwards. That is our work. For yacht managers we run charter preference sheets, provisioning and expense reconciliation, crew and compliance documents, and owner reports, inside the software you already use; the system we work inside is Voly. Every action sits behind one of three gates: confirmations, reminders and filing run on their own; replies, quotes and documents are drafted and wait for a person to approve them; payments, anything sensitive and anything leaving the firm are a person's decision. Every access is logged, sensitive data is kept apart, and no client is named without consent. The acceptance criteria are written before any build begins, the number the review measures first is the hours it takes to reconcile one charter's expenses, and anything the rules do not cover goes to a named person with the context already gathered. This route fits when the work falls between the software, the email threads and the crew's notes, and when nobody in the management company owns it.

5. Your own team or the yacht's crew

   Each vendor offers something for doing it yourself. Voly's page for management companies describes bespoke online training and refresher sessions from its Client Relationship team. On 25 October 2026 Scyllastar's pricing page offered thirty days of free use of the full platform, and a refund if you change your mind within thirty days of subscribing, and Sealogical's FAQ offered an unlimited free trial with no credit card required. If the software you pay for already covers what you need and someone ashore or on board has the hours, switching it on is the place to start. It stops fitting when the person doing it is the purser or the chief stewardess, whose hours belong to the guests.

What do we do, and on what terms?

We build and run the system inside the software your management company already uses. It starts with a review, about a week, that finds where requests and documents stall and what each fix is worth. The build is then scoped and quoted at a fixed price, and a first working version is usually live in two to four weeks: one client journey, live in your systems, against a written baseline. The acceptance criteria are written before any build begins: what the system will do, measured how, by when. If it misses, the fix is ours. After that we run and extend it, monthly, and you can cancel at any time.

What should you ask before you sign with anyone?

• What will the system do, measured how, by when? Get that on paper before the work starts: it is what you will hold the provider to. The number we measure first is the hours it takes to reconcile one charter's expenses.
• Who runs it after it goes live, and who answers when it fails in the middle of a charter? Is that written down?
• Is every access to a guest's preferences, the owner's accounts and the crew's records logged, by whom and when, and can you read the log without asking the provider? Sealogical's FAQ, for one, says sensitive actions such as sign-offs, approvals and permission changes are logged with the user and the time; ask every provider what its log records.
• Is sensitive data kept apart from the rest, and who can see it? Voly's page for management companies says it builds permissions with you, so you decide what each crew member sees, and Sealogical's FAQ says guest records are kept separate from crew records; ask every provider the same question.
• Is any guest, charterer or owner named, or any preference passed on, without consent? Which actions run on their own, which draft and wait for a person, and who decides the rest?
• How are the crew's documents handled: passports, contracts, certificates and medical records? Who can open them, where are they held, how long are they kept, and what happens to them when a crew member leaves? Where the UK GDPR applies, the ICO's guidance says the UK GDPR singles out some types of personal data as likely to be more sensitive and gives them extra protection, and it lists data concerning health among them; the ICO says that guidance is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act.
• Where the UK GDPR applies, the ICO's guidance on what a contract between a controller and a processor must include, which it also says is under review, lists the terms it says Article 28(3) requires, among them processing only on the controller's documented instructions, a duty of confidence, appropriate security measures, the use of sub-processors, assisting the controller, what happens to the data when the contract ends, and the processor being able to show the controller that it meets the whole of Article 28. Ask each provider whether it would act as your processor and, if it would, for that contract before you sign.
• How will the provider reach the data in the software you already run, and is that a route the software's vendor allows? Ask to see it in writing, and ask who owns the workflows and the data if you part ways.

When are we the wrong choice?

• If the software you already pay for covers the APA, the expenses and the crew's documents and nobody has set it up, that is a job for the vendor's own team, not a build
• If you want the charter's contracts, funds and reporting handled for you rather than a system to own, a yacht or charter management company is the direct answer
• 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 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

Frequently asked questions

Who can automate charter administration for a yacht manager?

The vendor of your yacht management software, a partner that vendor lists, a yacht or charter management company, an independent builder, or your own team. The vendor sets up and trains you on the product you bought, and a management company puts its own people on the charter's contracts, funds and reporting. An independent builder connects the preference sheet, the provisioning and expenses, the crew's documents and the owner's report into one workflow, inside the software you already use, and runs it.

What do Voly, Scyllastar and Sealogical say about setting you up?

Voly's page for management companies says its team handles verification, orders crew cards, sets up your accounts and builds permissions with you, then gives bespoke online training, with its Client Relationship team on hand afterwards for refresher sessions. Scyllastar's home page describes a short call, a personalised walkthrough and full data migration, and its page for yacht managers says you are operational within two to four weeks. Sealogical says it sets up every new account, and its FAQ says its team sets up a trial environment with your vessel data and helps your captain and crew onboard.

What do their pricing pages print?

On 25 October 2026 Voly's pages for management companies and for APA management printed no price. Scyllastar's pricing page listed one price per yacht by length, from 99 euros a month up to twenty metres to 399 euros a month at forty metres and above, billed annually in advance and excluding VAT. Sealogical's FAQ priced it at 320 euros, 280 pounds or 360 dollars per vessel a month, with its Finance add-on, which holds accounting, crew payroll and APA management, priced the same, and its pricing page said billing is monthly in advance, excluding VAT. Ours starts with a review, about a week, and the build is then quoted at a fixed price.

Do Voly, Scyllastar or Sealogical list consultants?

Not on the pages we read on 25 October 2026. Voly's and Sealogical's pages describe setup and onboarding by their own teams and name no outside firm that does it. Scyllastar's partnership page describes a partnership with Centtrip, which it calls an electronic money institution, under which a yacht's Centtrip transactions flow into Scyllastar in real time; it does not say Centtrip sets the software up.

What does a yacht or charter management company take on?

It puts its own people on the charter's administration. Burgess says it manages contracts and funds and monitors all funds due in and out on every charter; Fraser says it takes care of the contract, the payment deadlines and the APA and VAT payments, with regular reporting; and Praxis says that, with the appointed central agent, it manages the yacht's financial arrangements, including the charter fees, the APA and any VAT requirements. None of the three pages prints a fee.

Who sees a guest's preferences and a crew member's documents?

Ask every provider, and read the answer in the contract. Voly's page for management companies says it builds permissions with you, so you decide what each crew member sees, and Sealogical's FAQ says access is granted per section and that guest records are kept separate from crew records. In what we build, every access is logged, sensitive data is kept apart, no client is named without consent, and anything sensitive is a person's decision.

Sources

Every statement on this page about a named company, a price or a rule was read at its source on 25 October 2026. Prices and policies change: read them again before you rely on them.

• Voly: management companies
• Voly: APA management
• Scyllastar: home
• Scyllastar: software for yacht managers
• Scyllastar: pricing
• Scyllastar: partnership with Centtrip
• Sealogical: home
• Sealogical: who it is for
• Sealogical: pricing
• Sealogical: frequently asked questions
• Burgess: charter management
• Fraser: yacht charter management
• Praxis: yacht management services
• ICO: what is special category data
• ICO: what needs to be included in the contract between a controller and a processor

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.

Book a private review