Online-Charter-“Blinded by the low price”

YACHT-POOL committed to the interests of the agencies   ­
This article is a translation of an article originally published on the YACHT website on November 10, 2025.
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Online-Charter    ­
“Blinded by the low price”

The dream of a charter vacation can quickly turn into a nightmare if you end up with an unreliable charter agency.  

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With “45% early bird” discounts, the Slovakian online charter agency Boataround is currently enticing sailors to book early. However, there are an increasing number of cases in which customers have had to worry about their boats and their advance payments.

Topics in this article

• Final payment transferred from the agency to the fleet operator one hour before departure.
• Charter crew fobbed off with smaller catamaran on site.
• Agency only responds to massive pressure from customers.
• Events reminiscent of major charter bankruptcy two years ago.
• Charter fleet operators want to defend themselves against discount war.
• One provider had already terminated its cooperation with Boataround.
• Charter insurer Yacht-Pool refuses policies for dubious companies.
• Charter agency is apparently heavily indebted.

Marcus Neumüller wanted to spend another week on the water with three friends in mid-October. Back in August, he had found a one-year-old 40-foot Beneteau near Athens online; it was priced at €2,600, including SUP. “You can’t go wrong with that,” thought the Austrian, who lives south of Steyr. He booked directly and transferred the full charter amount on August 24 after receiving the reservation confirmation.

Six weeks later, just one day before his departure, he received disturbing news out of the blue. A fellow sailor who had already arrived had learned from the fleet operator in Alimos that he would not be handing over the boat. The reason: Boataround, the online agency through which Neumüller had booked, had failed to pay the final installment of 1,200 euros, even though it was long overdue. This was apparently common practice, as the head of the charter base noted: “We often have trouble with them.”    ­
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Final installment transferred from the agency to the fleet operator one hour before departure    ­
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What followed for Marcus Neumüller and his crew member was a race against time, accompanied by frustration, anger, and the worry that they would have to pay the final installment again in order to get the charter yacht. He contacted Boataround by email, phone, and via the fleet operator, demanding that they fulfill their contractual obligation immediately. The pressure had an effect. In the afternoon, the Slovakian online agency finally transferred the outstanding amount – just one hour before the final deadline expired.

“No one needs that kind of stress!” says the doctor in retrospect. After his recent experience, he will “definitely not book with Boataround again.” There are plenty of other agencies that are known for their quality and are also certified. “We were simply blinded by the low price.”

Neumüller and his crew were still lucky. Other Boataround customers have been hit harder recently: sometimes the yachts that had been booked and confirmed were not available at all, sometimes the agency failed to make payments or refunds for months, and sometimes the discounts advertised on the homepage did not even come close to the discounts actually offered.    ­
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Charter crew is fobbed off with a smaller catamaran on site    ­
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Nico Gast from Neuenhagen near Berlin experienced a whole cascade of unpleasant surprises. He had booked and paid for a 14-meter catamaran through Boataround for a trip in September. Because it was not available at the desired time, he was offered a competing model of the same size as a replacement. Gast paid the last two charter installments in July and August and arrived on September 27 “full of anticipation.”

But he and his crew were also denied the replacement boat because, as in the case of Marcus Neumüller, the last installment had not been forwarded. The base manager then canceled the contract and chartered the 46-foot catamaran elsewhere.

As a replacement, Boataround only offered a much smaller 40-foot catamaran, which was not due to be available until the following day and was also around 350 kilometers away. Faced with no other option, Nico Gast agreed to the exchange, rented a car, and set off with his crew.    ­
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Agency responds only after massive pressure from customers    ­
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He was not credited for the additional costs for the car and the lost sailing day. Boataround even failed to reimburse the difference in the charter price of €906 for weeks. It was only when the guest set a deadline of the end of October and threatened to file for bankruptcy if this was not met that the agency responded.

On Trustpilot, a leading customer satisfaction portal, the company, founded in 2016, continues to enjoy a good rating. With 4.5 out of 5 possible stars, Boataround itself advertises its service. The most recent reviews, strikingly often submitted anonymously, are all outstanding. However, anyone who takes the trouble to look at the one-star ratings will find dozens of scathing reviews, with a significant increase since August.    ­
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Events reminiscent of major charter bankruptcy two years ago    ­
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The events are reminiscent of the final phase of another online agency that started with tens of millions in investor funds and high expectations: Zizoo. The start-up company, headquartered in Vienna and managed in Berlin, retained charter fees from customers for months in 2023 before the fraud was uncovered at the beginning of last year and insolvency proceedings were initiated at both locations.

Zizoo had also set out to monopolize the fragmented charter boat brokerage market, which is still dominated by many family-owned businesses today – similar to how Booking.com dominates the global travel market. With an easy-to-use website, aggressive marketing, and high discounts, they wanted to undermine traditional agencies and fleet operators. But they burned through money faster than they gained market share.    ­
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The Zizoo case:    ­
• Prosecutor’s office investigates Zizoo managing director
• Online agency Zizoo defrauds customers of their money.
• Insolvency proceedings opened
• Insolvent agency sold. What customers should do now
• How to save your money
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There is now growing concern in the industry that Boataround could face similar difficulties. At the boat show in Biograd at the end of October, representatives of several charter companies met to jointly oppose the discount strategy, which is eroding their already slim profit margins. Although many of them cooperate with the online agency to improve their fleet utilization, they are all aware that negative experiences such as those of Marcus Neumüller or Nico Gast can also damage their own reputation.    ­
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Charter fleet operators want to defend themselves against discount wars    ­

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Some are already considering ending their cooperation with Boataround altogether. This is because the Slovaks have recently been very inventive when it comes to undercutting list prices. Before the early bird discounts that are now being promoted, they advertised so-called “secret deals” of up to 50 percent – an offer where the customer could only specify the type of boat, the area and the duration of the trip, but had no guarantee as to which boat they would actually get in the end and from which base – a kind of blind date with a boat.

Resistance to this form of marketing quickly formed because fleet operators felt they were being played off against each other. Customers also reported some problematic experiences. The bargains have now disappeared from the website. Specific search engine hits that still exist no longer lead to the “secret deal,” but only to the homepage.    ­
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One provider had already discontinued its collaboration with Boataround.    ­

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Simone Morelli, head of North Sardinia Sail, has long felt that the Slovaks’ discount battle has gone too far. He decided at the beginning of the year to end the collaboration altogether. In January, he wrote to his remaining marketing partners: “No more discount sales!” He described Boataround’s business model as “unscrupulous, questionable, and exclusively discount-driven.” He also criticized the fact that some providers are highlighted by the online agency as “valued partners” without customers being able to understand the criteria on which this distinction is based.

Morelli’s tough stance could set a precedent. Numerous charter companies are already discussing how they can curb the price war with a kind of voluntary commitment. They are considering setting a limit for agencies on what constitutes uncoordinated discounts. It would be a small revolution.

Friedrich Schöchl, head of the insurer Yacht-Pool, is involved in the discussions. He has been campaigning for years for greater transparency and reliability in the charter market. To this end, he has established the recognized “Checked & Trusted” seal of quality, which not only evaluates customer satisfaction but also checks the balance sheet figures of agencies and fleet operators. It is only awarded for one year at a time in order to take current developments into account.    ­
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Charter insurer Yacht-Pool rejects policies for dubious companies    ­
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Schöchl told YACHT magazine: “Online agencies such as Boataround, backed by venture capitalists from outside the industry, sometimes have financial circumstances that would never stand up to a credit check based on the criteria of the Yacht Pool seal.” Schöchl even refuses to broker charter insurance for some companies in order to avoid being associated with their business practices.

According to the industry expert, it is particularly problematic when advance payments from charter customers are used to finance ongoing business operations. “This may work in the short term. However, the advances are only entrusted to the agencies on a fiduciary basis. At the latest when they fail to meet their obligation to forward the payments on time, this constitutes a misuse of funds – with far-reaching consequences for charter customers.”    ­
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The Myrentboat case:    ­
• Company rips off customers
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Is Boataround misusing the deposits as bridge financing? Or are the numerous incidents of the past few months merely due to negligence and system errors? It is not possible to make a definitive assessment at this time. On Trustpilot, the Slovaks usually respond to critical comments by simply stating that they always strive to provide the best customer service and that refunds are already being processed. So, is everything okay?    ­
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Charter agency apparently heavily in debt    ­
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In fact, the balance sheets of Boataround.com a.s., registered as a joint-stock company, give cause for skepticism. According to figures from Finstat, the leading online platform for financial information about Slovak companies, the charter agency is heavily indebted. By the end of 2023, it had accumulated around €5.8 million in liabilities and even owes money to the state for unpaid social security contributions.

In the 2023 financial year alone, Boataround reported a loss of €1.07 million. More recent figures are not available. The management board has not yet published a balance sheet for 2024 and ignored the last submission deadline in September. The company has remained silent on why this is the case. Boataround also failed to respond to repeated inquiries from YACHT about the latest developments.
Against this backdrop, Friedrich Schöchl from Yacht-Pool recommends that charter customers thoroughly question supposedly unbeatable early bird rates. “Anyone booking today is sometimes advancing thousands of euros in good faith for more than half a year. That’s a risk that any reasonable person should think twice about.”    ­    ­    ­