This is no longer a battle of portals, but a battle for control of the yacht charter market

• 07.04.2026.
• News, Management

The acquisition of Borrow A Boat and its integration into Five Seasons Yachting Group shows that the yacht charter market is no longer changing only through the growth of individual portals, but through the connection of distribution, technology, data and customer relationships. In such a model, the greatest advantage no longer necessarily belongs to the one who has the fleet, but to the one who controls digital access to the market. Selma Ćubara in her new column draws a parallel with the American market and warns that for Croatian yacht charter companies the biggest risk is the loss of autonomy, not just the level of commission.

This is no longer just a market news story

The acquisition in which Borrow A Boat became part of Five Seasons Yachting Group may at first glance look like just another piece of industry news. Another merger. Another change of ownership. But this is not only about ownership. It is about an attempt to bring together distribution, technology, data and the relationship with the customer under one roof. According to YACHT, Sailogy and Borrow A Boat are now being merged within the same group, and Borrow A Boat is entering Sailogy’s digital infrastructure.

That is precisely why this news should not be read as a standard business announcement. This is not a battle of existing portals for a larger market share. This is a battle for who will become the operational layer of the yacht charter market. Who will hold access to inventory. Who will be the first to see prices, availability and discounts. Who will collect leads. Who will track customer behavior. And ultimately, who will decide what will be visible on the market, under what conditions and according to which logic.

Whoever controls the data controls the pace of the market

Once we understand that this is no longer just about visibility on a portal, but about control over the entire sales flow, this acquisition immediately gains greater significance. Sailogy today publicly communicates that it has access to more than 22,000 boats, for which it receives real-time availability, prices and discounts through well-known booking systems. In other words, we are not talking about an ordinary intermediary, but about a player that already has access to what was once scattered among dozens or hundreds of individual companies.

This is the moment when domestic yacht charter companies must ask an uncomfortable question: what actually remains “ours” today if someone else manages demand, data and distribution rules? The boat is yours. The base is yours. The operations, risk and cost are yours. But if someone else controls the digital entry point to the customer, sees the market faster than you and can distribute prices and discounts in real time, then we are no longer talking about an equal relationship. We are talking about a gradual shift of power.

Both Europe and the USA are moving in the same direction

This is not an isolated European case. The same pattern can be seen in the American market. At the end of 2025, Boatsetter and Getmyboat merged into a new connected group, with an open announcement of strengthening the marketplace model, technology and tools for owners and operators. Europe and the USA may not have the same yacht charter model, but the logic is the same: to unify as many layers as possible between the boat and the customer.

On the European side, we see the same direction with other players as well. At the end of 2025, Boataround announced a new investment round to expand its products and services. This is not a merger, but it is the same market impulse: more capital, more technology, more control over the customer experience and their own ecosystem. Some grow through acquisitions, others through capital, but the direction is the same.

Why this matters for everyone in yacht charter industry

This is not only a problem for portals. This is a problem for everyone who depends on yacht charter today.

Companies with their own vessels invest in boats, maintenance, bases and people, and are increasingly at risk of someone else determining how those vessels will be sold, at what price and under what pressure. Having a fleet no longer automatically means having control.

For yacht charter management companies, this is even more dangerous. They are accountable to owners for results, and at the same time they are increasingly drawn into a market logic in which occupancy is rescued by lowering prices. In the short term, this may fill the calendar, but in the long term it erodes fleet value, margins and perhaps most importantly, they lose the trust of the owners.

Even traditional yacht charter agencies are no longer secure. They were once the main sales partners for yacht charter companies, and today they are threatened by a model in which large digital systems do not want them as partners, but as surplus in the chain.

The biggest risk is not commission, but the loss of autonomy

This brings us to a point that the domestic market often does not like to hear. The biggest risk for Croatian yacht charter is not only the level of commission. The biggest risk is the loss of autonomy.

A company that does not have its own strong direct channel, its own data, its own customer base and its own pricing logic will sooner or later find itself in a situation where others set its pace. In a strong season, this can still be hidden. In a weaker season, it becomes immediately visible. At that point, a discount is no longer a sales tool, but a sign of weakness. And when the market senses weakness, space for dumping opens very quickly.

Technology is no longer neutral

A particular problem is that technology can now spread such dumping very quickly. Booking systems openly promote the possibility of displaying the best discounts and 'discounted' weeks in real time. This is useful for sales speed, but at the same time it shows how easily price reductions can spill over across the entire market. In such an environment, the winner is the one who has the most data and manages distribution the fastest, not necessarily the one who has the best service.

The question is no longer whether we need portals

That is why I believe it is high time for Croatian yacht charter to stop having the discussion at the level of “do we need a portal or not". Whether to work with a particular portal or not. That is the wrong question. Portals will exist. API systems will exist. Large players will continue to expand.

The real question is: what must remain under your control if you do not want to end up in someone else's sales logic?

If domestic companies do not build their own direct channel, their own CRM, their own data and their own pricing discipline, then the market will gradually take away not only their margin but also their ability to make decisions. At that point, it will no longer matter who formally owns the fleet. It will matter who controls the market behavior of that fleet.

A final question for Croatian yacht charter

That is precisely why I do not see this acquisition as just another piece of business news. I see it as a warning. While part of the market still thinks this is an ordinary reshuffling among brokers, the big players are doing something much more serious. They are not just selling yacht charter. They are building the system through which yacht charter will increasingly be sold.

And that is the point at which the Croatian sector should also stop and ask itself what it actually wants to preserve: only turnover or also the right to decide on its own pricing, its own customer and its own future.

That is precisely why this is not a question only for an individual yacht charter company, nor only for an agent, nor only for a management company. This is also a question for the profession as a whole. The Association of Croatian Yacht Charter was founded to jointly represent the interests of ALL (!) yacht charter companies, strengthen standards and contribute to the sustainable development of the sector. That is precisely why this is one of the topics on which the domestic industry will sooner or later have to take a clear position.

Not because it can stop market changes. But because it must know what Croatian yacht charter can no longer afford to leave to others.

Because if domestic yacht charter does not agree in time on what it wants to defend, it is very possible that in a few years it will still have fleets, bases and operations, but will have less and less real decision-making power.

 

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