The leaves start to turn yellow, the sailing season in Europe is slowly coming to its end. The last crew sets out on its cruise this year, and we start booking yachts for the next season. However, very often I have to deal with the question: “Is it more advantageous to book a yacht now, in advance (first-minute booking), or it is better to wait for the last-minute offers?”.
Which option to choose?
There appears to be no single answer to this question, because each solution has its own advantages and disadvantages, and it also depends on your priorities. I will try to show you how this mechanism works on the example of a typical model. Let's consider the German Bavaria 50 Cruiser (yearbooks from 2005 to 2008) in Croatia. This yacht can accommodate at least 11 crew members, and, as a hypothetical date of the charter, we take the start of the vacations, for example, July 1, 2017 - just as we have dreamed about:)
Yacht charter FIRST MINUTE 2017!
Are you dreaming of sailing adventure? Find out what discounts are available for the first minute booking, and enjoy a comfortable yacht at low price!
See the offer!
At the time of writing this article (08/10/2016), there are 17 yachts that meet the above-mentioned requirements in YACHTIC search engine, and you can see them right HERE. The cheapest option - 2707 euros (“Jana I”), the second one, in its turn, 2777 euros (“Romana”) and so on till the last, the most expensive one (“Fortunal”), for which you have to pay 4004 euros for a week charter if you book it right now.
First Minute vs. Last Minute
In general, the cheapest option, in our case it is “Jana I”, then “Romana” will be booked in the first place. If all the yachts have been booked in relatively short time frame, that client will be a lucky one, who have booked the charter first, i.e. early booking. To be the first is better - easy!
But what happens if not all the yachts are booked, and the date 01.07.2017 is really quickly approaching? Operators who put up their yachts but, unfortunately, did not have a chance to charter them, will start to provide additional discounts, and here the range of last-minute offers appears. It may turn out that the most expensive yacht, that initially have costed 4004 euros, will be offered with a 50% discount, i.e. we will have to pay just 2002 euros for a charter! - and here is our winner .... But be careful! This solution has one really huge disadvantage - it just does not always work, because you may not find any yachts there.
To sum up:
First Minute: you have a wide range of yachts and low prices, however, eventually, the best yachts at the most attractive price will disappear from the offer, so it’s better to hurry up. At the same time, you also have more time to plan a cruise, its route and transfer, or to fill in a crew list.
Taking advantage of last-minute offers, the choice is much smaller, but it turns out to be very attractive. However, you must take into account the fact that it is not always possible to find a yacht you have dreamed about, and in the exact place you want to start your cruise from, you must choose something from what you have left.
So what is more advantageous?
Although I charter yachts every day, it is difficult for me to answer this question, because, eventually, the market itself will deal with this question. And there is no way to predict which yacht will be in higher demand. One thing is for sure: if you do it right now, you will rent a yacht at an optimally low price and exactly the one you want.
With a sailing greeting,
Grzegorz