The Moorings, which offers skippered and crewed yacht charters along with its bareboat fleet of sailboats and powerboats, has just introduced a new Price Promise program.

Price Promise guarantees customers that if the cost of their charter goes down at any time prior to 30 days before their departure date, they will receive a reimbursement of "benefits equivalent in value." Those benefits can include yacht upgrades, food and beverages, water sports, and more.

This new program caught my attention because it is a response to something the entire charter industry is experiencing, even with top-end superyachts: a dramatic shift in recent years toward last-minute bookings. More and more clients learned at the height of the global recession that if they waited until the last minute to book, they could negotiate heavily with yacht owners. That trend continues today, with discounts this past summer in the Mediterranean being negotiated at upwards of 40 percent off list prices.

The Moorings says its new program will allow customers to return to booking early, with a guarantee that a better deal isn't going to come along at the last minute. No matter what is advertised, the client will still get the benefit instead of feeling like he overpayed when he booked early.

This type of program would be difficult to emulate with larger yachts, which typically are booked one at a time with individual owners, as opposed to being part of a fleet like the Moorings that specializes in smaller size ranges. However, the mere creation of this program does make clear that last-minute deals are a trend that the entire charter industry is now not only stuck with, but also actively working to reverse.

Stay tuned.

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