American Express
I saw a good number of reputable charter brokers at last week’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. There are too many to name here individually, but suffice to say I ran into them as they tried to do the same thing I was doing: Get onboard as many charter yachts as possible to assess their quality, the crew’s skill level, and more.
What I did not see at the boat show was anyone from American Express–which I was looking for after a press release the company sent out early last week. It explained that anyone with an American Express platinum card can call a number and work with a travel expert to book a private yacht vacation.
This struck me as odd, since I’d never seen an AmEx representative at a boat show, which is a prerequisite for knowing anything at all about yachts in the first place. So I gave AmEx a call to try to understand exactly how they’re doing these yacht bookings.
Their spokeswoman told me that the company has “very seasoned” travel agents helping guests with their yacht charter planning. When I pressed her and asked point-blank whether these travel agents knew anything at all about yacht charter–as most do not–she answered that they book the charters by calling reputable brokers and having the latter do all the legwork.
Now, that’s a good thing in one respect: The company realizes that yacht charter is a unique kind of travel that requires the specialized knowledge of a charter broker, far beyond what a travel agent knows.
But to me, it’s not an ideal setup because you are, by definition, playing a game of “telephone tag” by trying to book this way. You tell the AmEx agent what you want, and she tries to relate it to the charter broker, who has questions for you that then have to go back through the AmEx agent. Something is bound to get lost in the translation, and it very well may be something that makes or breaks your charter yacht vacation.
It’s good to trust brands you know–and American Express is certainly a trustworthy brand–but when it comes to private yacht charter, you need to put your faith in the person who’s doing the actual charter booking, even if their company is a new brand to you. At the very least, I’d ask the AmEx travel agent to give me direct contact with the charter broker, and then I’d run through a few basic questions to make sure the broker is reputable. Better yet, I’d skip AmEx altogether and simply work with a broker who has a proven track record in the yacht charter industry.
Charter is a growing industry, which is no doubt why American Express wants to get involved in it. But my advice is to be careful when working with any company that does not have a strong history in the yachting business, no matter how reliable it has been in other situations.