Search. Book. Pay. No Staff in the Loop.
A yacht charter company needed to stop taking bookings by phone and start running them online - with real-time availability, live pricing, and a system their operations team could actually manage. PlushWire built the full platform: customer-facing booking, back-office management, sales tools, and skipper scheduling - all connected and running from one data model.
The Client
A yacht charter company expanding its operations needed to grow bookings without proportionally growing its team. Their business depended on matching customers to the right vessel at the right time - a process that required checking availability, confirming pricing, generating contracts, and coordinating with skippers.
Before the platform was built, every booking moved through the team step by step: phone calls to check availability, emails to confirm pricing, contracts drafted by hand, payments collected separately. The process worked at low volume. It could not scale.
The Problem
Before the platform was built, this is what taking a booking looked like.
- xCustomers had no way to check real-time availability online - every inquiry required a staff response, with no guarantee the vessel was actually available
- xEvery booking was a manual process from start to finish: availability check, pricing, contract drafting, and payment handled separately with no shared record between steps
- xContracts were drafted by hand for every booking - the same information re-entered each time, with no automation and significant room for error
- xSkippers had no visibility into their own schedules: assignments, license requirements, and permit status were managed and communicated manually
- xSales managers had no central tool for catalog management, pricing updates, or customer communication - each required a separate process
- xThe back-office system and customer-facing operations ran in parallel, not in sync: availability and booking status maintained separately with no real-time connection
What We Built
A connected booking platform built around how a charter operation actually runs.
The platform has four role-based portals - visitor, admin, sales manager, and skipper - each designed for a specific part of the operation, all sharing the same data. A booking started by a customer flows directly to operations, contracts, and scheduling without anyone re-entering it.
Customers went from calling to booking independently
Before: every booking required a customer to call or email, staff to check availability, confirm pricing, and follow up. After: customers browse vessels with 360-degree photos, check availability in real time, add services, hire a skipper, and pay - all without staff involvement.
- 360-degree vessel photos and full specification listings so customers could evaluate before booking
- Real-time availability search with filters by vessel characteristics, dates, and add-on services
- Skipper hire, add-on service selection, and payment processed within the same booking flow
Operations moved out of spreadsheets and into a connected system
Before: catalog management, pricing updates, and customer communication each required separate tools and manual effort. After: sales managers and admins work from one portal - vessel listings, pricing rules, contracts, and team oversight all in the same place.
- Sales managers manage vessel catalog, pricing rules, and customer communications from one portal
- Contracts generated automatically from booking data - no manual drafting required
- Admin portal covers content management, user accounts, staff workload, and system monitoring
The whole operation ran off one connected data model
Before: the back-office platform and the booking system maintained separate records - availability, pricing, and booking status kept in sync manually. After: real-time integration connects both systems so a booking made by a customer is immediately reflected in operations.
- Real-time availability sync with the third-party back-office platform - no duplicate entry, no overbooking
- Skippers access their own portal: schedules, assignments, and license and permit documentation in one place
- Payment system integration for end-to-end booking flow from vessel selection to confirmed transaction
- Customer accounts store booking history and preferences for seamless repeat reservations
- All booking data flows automatically to operations - no manual transfer between the visitor portal and the back-office
The Outcome
Customers stopped calling. Staff stopped processing. The operation scaled.
Customers who previously called or emailed to check availability were booking independently. Staff who previously managed every step of a reservation were handling exceptions instead of processing. The company began working with agencies, partnering with other charter operators, and growing its fleet - without a proportional increase in the team behind it.
After the launch
Removing manual handling from the booking process removed the ceiling on how many reservations the team could manage at once. With customers self-serving from search to payment, the company shifted focus from processing bookings to growing the business.
New agency relationships, additional charter partners, and a larger vessel inventory - all added without proportional headcount growth. The same team. More volume.
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