Sharon Bahmer is an expert at booking charters in the Americas, from Alaska to Brazil. She's also a member of FYBA and CYBA. E-mail Sharon
Shannon Webster is a longtime AYCA member. She books yachts worldwide from 80 to 400 feet long. Email Shannon
Trina Howes has 10 years of experience in the charter industry finding great pleasure in creating the best yachting vacations possible. E-mail Trina
Beverly Parsons has been chartering since 1969. She is a licensed, bonded broker and a founding member of the professional groups AYCA and CYBA International. Contact Beverly.
Nicole Caulfield is licensed, bonded, and a longtime member of FYBA and AYCA. She brings a unique perspective as a broker, having worked aboard yachts for nearly 10 years. Email Nicole
Ed Hamilton has worked in every part of the charter industry over the last 37 years and heads one of the largest, most respected charter brokerages.
| Gratuities—Part II |
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What is an appropriate gratuity for your charter yacht crew? The answer—after much debate and discussion—appears to be 5 to 15 percent of the yacht's weekly base rateDate posted: March 2010Nearly three years ago, we posted this article on CharterWave about crew gratuities becoming an increasingly worrisome issue in the charter industry. Some brokers were telling clients that they didn’t have to leave any gratuity at all, while others were insisting that a 15-percent gratuity was the minimum that any yacht’s crew expected. Charter brokers at various companies were issuing wildly different recommendations that left many clients confused. Now, the industry appears to have accepted the MYBA Guidelines Tipping Policy as an across-the-board standard. Issued in mid-2008 by the international brokers’ association, the MYBA guidelines state that 5 to 15 percent is a customary gratuity scale. The guidelines have increasingly been printed on yacht marketing materials and as of this writing seem to be the norm as opposed to the exception. MYBA’s issuing the scale marked the first time in the history of the yacht charter industry that such a guideline had been put into print, widely accepted, and internationally circulated. It also marked the first time that charter yacht managers were able to go to captains, ask whether they supported a specific gratuity range, and then clearly say as much to retail charter brokers. “The guidelines are a very reluctant response by MYBA to continued demands to suggest some kind of scale,” said association President Neil Cheston, a sales broker with Camper & Nicholsons International. “The MYBA tipping guidelines are between 5 and 15 percent depending on the level of satisfaction the charterer feels toward the crew. The range is considered normal, suitable, and appropriate, and it does not in any way preclude a very generous gesture.” Thus, if you are a yacht charter client trying to figure out how much to tip, you can simply ask your reputable charter broker if the yacht he has suggested supports the MYBA Tipping Guidelines. If the answer is yes, then you know the crew are expecting a 5- to 15-percent gratuity based on the level of service they provide. New Questions Raised Interestingly, while the MYBA guidelines have solved some confusion, they also have led to a discussion about whether a percentage is appropriate as a charter crew gratuity at all. Like a lightning rod focuses energy, the guidelines have focused conversations on pure numbers as opposed to personal factions—and an alternate idea of “per-diem” crew gratuities has begun to emerge. “If you look at it as a per-diem,” Cheston says, “suddenly the client can put the percentage into perspective. Ten to 20 percent of a weekly rate might be $600 or $700 per crew member, per day, on larger yachts. The client might feel that is excessive.” Well-respected brokers from varying cultures, where tipping is handled differently, generally agree with this line of thinking. Mark Elliott, an American who served as captain aboard the 170-foot charter yacht Nadine before becoming a top sales and charter broker with International Yacht Collection, tells clients that MYBA’s top-end suggestion—15 percent—is actually a customary average for yachts charging $100,000 per week or less. “I was a charter captain,” he says. “I worked from dawn till midnight. I wanted to be rewarded according to my efforts. I didn’t feel 15 percent was unusual.” On yachts with weekly rates higher than $100,000, though, Elliott says a 15-percent gratuity can be “crazy money.” With those bookings, he suggests a per-diem bonus for each crew member, say $200 or €200 per day. “If the owner is onboard and the workday is eight hours, on charter the typical day is 16 to 18 hours,” Elliott says. “That’s what the $200 extra per day pays for. The crew are working an extra shift.” Sarah Piggin, a British native who was a stewardess aboard the 246-foot charter yacht Leander before becoming a MYBA Board member and senior charter broker with YPI Group in Antibes, shares similar opinions. “From my experience working on yachts for 10 years, if we received an average of 10 percent in gratuities over the season, we were happy. That was the 1990s,” Piggin says. “Now, at Yachting Partners, we follow the MYBA guidelines of 5 to 15 percent, which we think are fair. “But personally, having worked on the smaller, older yachts and right up to what, at the time, was the biggest and most expensive yacht for charter, I feel that it might be right to look at a gratuity figure, per head, regardless of the price of the yacht,” she says. “If you are working on a small yacht that isn’t at the top end of the market, you’re still expected to give top-level service. You may have less support and therefore be working longer hours. The charter rate may be at the lower end of the scale, and that penalizes the crew with a gratuity based on a percentage of the charter rate.” Bottom Line for Clients The upshot: Right now, tipping 5 to 15 percent seems to be the most common practice in the charter yacht industry, and the MYBA guidelines offer clients a specific way to ask about the crew’s expectations in advance of any charter.—Kim Kavin |