TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands New Boatyball reservation system

As I mentioned in several posts I predicted boatyball would at some point offer priority to charter companies willing to pay to get their customers to get a leg up on getting a reservation. I knew this was were the money would be for boatyball. Looks like that is happening in the fall. Boatyball will soon announce which companies you need to charter with to get special priority for a mooring. It’s all very sad.
George
Edit:Looks like the plan is to require you book your boat through boatyball with a few select charter companies. If you make the booking through them you get priority. If you own your boat or book directly through the charter company you are screwed.

Where are you getting this information from?

Where did you get that info from?

Of course that’s why the started with the 7am reservation , they knew everyone would bitch about it and then they could Satisfy the people complaining by “giving” them a 24/7 reservation system and then from there on go to the charter companies and cement a deal.
But most people here are sheep and they’ll Bow down to them and kiss the ring on their finger

Thank you very much for your interest in the 24hr advanced reservation program with BoatyBall.

The advanced reservation program has been our number one requested feature to add to BoatyBall since we launched the program last Christmas. We have developed the ability to offer 24hr reservations to boaters and our plan is to have it up and running by November of this year.

BoatyBall will be working with a few charter companies to initially pilot this program to ensure that it has a minimal impact on the boater’s experience in the BVI. We will be able to offer advanced reservations to boaters that book their next trip through BoatyBall Bookings. We will be going live with this feature on our website later this week.

We plan on keeping the number of advanced reservations offered limited to ensure that all boaters in the BVI have a positive experience. We will be sending out more information on BoatyBall Bookings and special promotions in the upcoming weeks. Cheers, The BoatyBall Team

BB is hear to stay. Once North Sound and Sopers are fully up it won't be as big of a deal. Then only noobs will pay $10 more for BB. Until then there are plenty of work arounds - like the big sharpy thing hanging off the front of the boat.

So boaty ball wants to control the moorings and the charters boats. It’s out of hand

So we can add every charter broker to the list of people being screwed by BB?

At least it's now crystal clear to everyone that the only people benefiting from Boatyball...are the people at Boatyball.

Basically, book with Boaty ball and get preferential advanced moorings.

If they say otherwise don't believe them.

Do you Remeber the promise to bring in fcfs boatyball so that you can pay by cc?

How about telling us they are bringing new balls to the bvi? What new balls, they only converted fcfs balls to boatyball.

Do you remember the promise not to raise rates from $35 per night. How long did that last? How high will rates go?

I have lost track of how many promises were broken, misleading deceptive etc. Can someone enlighten me?

Screw all the private boat owners, all the charter brokers(crewed or otherwise) , all of the tourists that don't play into their game, all of the charter companies that are not on their preferred list all of the owners of the boats in the fleets not selected etc.

I prognosticed early on that giving a foreign entity control of the moorings will have all kinds of bad consequences.

How can foreigners control who can have advance reservations, who cannot, who can use the balls in a mooring field etc. Nobody especially a foreigner should have control.

Boaty ball will claim that they are do not need a work permit to work in the bvi, but I doubt that's correct. They must come here to meet with the ball owners and supervise the installation of the balls.

Boatyball should not have been able to get a foothold.

If they are able to convert more balls, then eventually they will control the BVI cruising ground. Amazingly, not as large investors in anything. Not as citizens and not as belongers. Boat owners have more skin in the game.

George, are you pausing your plans to put another boat down here? I would not be surprised if you did.

This entire boatyball has been fiasco is and has been outrageous.

Boatyball does not solve any problems for cruisers, it only adds new ones.

The old fcfs system was fine and consistent with prudent seamanship.

It's horrible for the BVI in so many ways.

Doesn’t this sound and mirror:
“If you like your Doctor and Health Care provider you can keep it”

"We will be able to offer advanced reservations to boaters that book their next trip through BoatyBall Bookings."

This is not good.

I hope The Moorings aren't one of the charter company's that are getting involved with this mooring ball scam. What I am really saying,,, we have been doing business with The Moorings for over 35 years and I would hate to see that relationship come to an end because of this mooring ball scam.

Calvin

I never understood the economics of BoatyBall Inc - seemed like a lot of effort for a modest amount of money. Now we see them going after the big pot of money , a cut of the whole charter's cost.

What economics?
A website that you call into and pay with a credit card, They have a captive audience and the the owners of the mooring balls and Moore Secure do the physical work for a fee and the gravy goes to BB for just owning the website.

The whole thing was absurd before...but surely this is a step too far?

What if an airline would only fly you to the BVI if you booked your yacht charter with their holiday company?

...I think the answer is that the government would step in / that airline wouldn't last very long. But it would, for say 6 months or a year cause a lot of grief for everyone involved including the customers...

The sheer arrogance of Boatyball is breathtaking!

I can say 100% that we will not ever give a $ to these clowns. If it means anchoring, fine. We did so in several locations this year as a result of them and we saved cash and perhaps had an even better time. If it means we look elsewhere in the Caribbean or further afield for our future charters...then fine!


EDITED BY CAROL HILL--Totally offensive and inappropriate comments at the end removed.

BB are very sneaky. They should have been forthcoming up front.

BB harms the frequent visitors.

This thread is done. I will not allow threats against another business.