Svjedočanstva

My name is Daniel Korth. Together with Markus Söfje, I am a managing director and founder of the charter agency Auszeit-yachtcharter. Besides the agency business, we operate our own yachts in the Baltic sea and Croatia. In the operation and maintenance of our Croatian yachts, we have been successfully working with Croatia Yachting as a partner for 5 years now!

I have sailed in many areas in Europe and after a short break, I’ve been going back to Croatia regularly. Last year only, I’ve been in Croatia for about 5 times, though not always for sailing. Commitment and friendliness of Croatians is something that always makes me happy.

Markus and I got our first Hanse yacht in the Baltic sea, and after that, we wanted to continue the investment by creating our fleet in Croatia. The most important thing for us was to find a reliable partner, who has experience with Hanse yachts because we cannot be in Croatia all the time. Combining business with pleasure, we sailed in Croatia and also explored different charter operators and their approach to charter clients.

The first thing we realized that the yachts operated by Croatia Yachting were well equipped and in excellent condition. So, we decided to contact them. Already during the first conversations, we had a good feeling. We were directly offered the contacts of other owners to get the information about the process and the quality of Charter Management from the owners’ perspective.

Of course, we had some concerns, the biggest ones being:

• Is the partner reliable in terms of maintenance and care of the boats?
• How clear and fair is the accounting regarding the maintenance and repair of the boats?
• How does the payment work?
• How is the utilization of the boats?
• What do I have to consider regarding Croatian VAT?

All these questions were answered in advance and we were not disappointed in the aftermath.

The utilization of the boats – booked charter weeks, corresponds to the forecasts in the Charter Management Program, and often there are even more charter weeks. Also, Croatia Yachting has given us a lot of support in refunding the VAT.

The Charter Management program process with Croatia Yachting is very professional. We had support in all areas and steps during the process, From the configuration and the order of the boats up to the charter management, everything runs as discussed in advance. Small problems or questions are solved or answered directly.

It’s important to us as owners to be able to use our yachts regularly, and this is very simple. At the beginning of the charter season, we inform Croatia Yachting about the weeks we would like to use. Then, the boats are blocked for this period, so they are not offered for booking to charterers. All we have to do to make that happen is to fill in a pre-designed form. Also, if there are some gaps in the bookings of the yachts, it’s possible to make your last-minute owner booking at any time!

We are very satisfied with this program as the booking results and the condition of our yachts fully meet our expectations. That is why we are planning our 4th Hanse yacht with Croatia Yachting. The forecasted booking weeks are reached every year so far. The sailors who are designated to take care of our yachts do a very good job. Plus, they are always available for us as owners, listen to our wishes and changes, while all of the technical issues are taken care of immediately.

Also, the cash flow is very clearly displayed in the Nausys booking database. We always have control over the revenue and it’s quite simple for us to prepare a monthly invoice of the achieved charter revenues. The Charter Management forecasts predict the maintenance costs accurately and all the guarantee and deposit claims are handled by Croatia Yachting, so we don’t have any complications to deal with.

Our sailing team also participates and competes at the Hanse Cup Adriatic regatta that takes place each year! The slogan of the event says it all - 3 days of sailing and fun! Every year it is great to meet teams from all over the world at the Hanse Cup and to sail against each other without taking the whole thing too seriously. It is a nice event for sailors with regatta experience as well as for regatta beginners. There is nothing more beautiful than to exchange beer and wine with the other sailors after a race day at the jetty and to talk and laugh about the exciting and funny events of the day.

In conclusion, from my point of view, the Charter Management program by Croatia Yachting is very interesting for both investors and private owners. As a private owner, you can finance the boat with the charter income despite weeks of ownership. As an investor, it is quite possible to generate income with the yachts. As always, the most important thing in life is the right partner! We can only recommend Croatia Yachting as a reliable partner from our experience in the last years.

My name is Jozsef Devenyi, friends call me Joe and I am an electrical engineer, founder, co-owner and CEO of Anico Kft HU. My company is in the radio communication business, but I am also a founder, co-owner and CEO of Happy Sailor d.o.o., used for our charter business in Croatia. Before investing in charter management, I used to charter sailing boats in Croatia at least once a year, for family vacations, usually through a Hungarian agent and we often attended regattas held by Hungarian organizers, along with our friends. In Spring of 2018 I was attending the so called “Golden shackle Regatta” with my friends and Murter Hramina was our base marina.

One evening, we were checking the Internet for boat shows in Croatia and realized that there was an upcoming show in Split on the following weekend. When the regatta has finished, we went to Split. There we met Igor from Croatia Yachting. We were very impressed with Hanse yachts and the professionalism of Croatia Yachting staff during the show. We made a quick calculation and found out that if we purchase a new boat with leasing and leave it in the Croatia Yachting charter fleet, would be a better option than buying 10-year-old boat just for personal use. Of course, I had a few concerns about the entire process, such as finding a partner for financial leasing. Hungarian banks did not finance boats that are based in Croatia and Croatian banks did not finance Hungarian companies. The suggested solution was to establish a Croatian company we had professional support from the Croatia Yachting team and their affiliates through the entire process. The business and taxation environment in Croatia is little bit different than in Hungary so it was greatly appreciated that Croatia Yachting provided an attorney and an accounting company to establish our company and run it.

I would say that the cooperation Croatia Yachting, the attorney and the accountant was very smooth. They all speak very good English and were very helpful and cooperative. We use approximately 3-4 owners’ weeks a year, usually one week in, or close to high season, during June or September and sometimes in August for a family vacation and other weeks during low season in April, May or October with our friends who also love to sail. On top of that, if there is a vacant week left during the charter season, we make sure to use it for ourselves. Bear in mind that, when owners use their own boats registered for charter, they have to pay some VAT. It is same in Hungary, so we fully understand.

If I disregard the current pandemic, I am very satisfied with the booking results. In a normal charter season, we reach 24-26 booked weeks, including the owners’ weeks. Hopefully, the pandemic will be behind us soon or at least decreased and we can all get back to our lives and business as normal. I am also very satisfied with the maintenance standards for my boats. If I happen to have some questions about the incoming invoices, related to the maintenance and I ask for an explanation, Croatia Yachting is quick to respond.

Even though 2020 charter season was shorter, the full maintenance still had to be done to keep the boats in top shape, so the maintenance costs remained almost the same as in the full charter season. We have even decided to add some extra features to make our boats even more attractive for charter. These were Webasto heating for pre and after season, radar, cockpit grill, stern thruster and unlimited sailing area registration.

The transparency of the cash flow and maintenance costs are great. Having access to NauSYS, an online booking platform, makes everything transparent for us and it is easy to track everything.

Based on my experience with the charter management program, I would recommend Croatia Yachting as reliable partner and for those who are thinking about a new boat and the charter management program, I would suggest bigger boats, above 50ft. There is less competition in the category above 50 feet and the annual overall outcome could be more appealing to those who are aiming for higher return on investment.