Why is marina booking so hard?

[pjShap]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Another really bad and noticeable trend is that a lot of good anchorages disappear because either marinas are built there, or fish farms are built, or they are into mooring fields.[/URL]

I've seen private moorings multiply in small anchorages, without any boats on the moorings. An anchorage that used to have room for 3-4 boats now might fit 1.

[Cynara]

Full slips mean money

If you are scheduled to arrive they won't kick out the current resident for you.

[more]

Originally Posted by CaptainGenie

Just got to the Med and Navily being the go-to cruising app for the region I started using it. I like the marina booking concept but hardly any marinas seem to use it or it's restricted to smaller vessels or short notice booking.

Why aren't marinas more open to the concept? In the hotel and accommodation industry just about every establishment knows that they need to be everywhere to get bookings but I guess marinas get full anyway so they don't have to.

It's a shame, not a fan of spending countless hours enquiring and the process marina offices force you to use by filling out forms and giving specific dates is just not how cruisers cruise. We just don't know when we're going to get there!

Do you have tips to gauge availability and rates quickly?

in Croatia working without any problem
https://book.aci-club.hr/

you book pay. if you com or not come who care you pay,marina have € for slip and wait you. (ps sometime online is +- 30€ more expensive)

[Jamme]

Originally Posted by CaptainGenie

Just got to the Med and Navily being the go-to cruising app for the region I started using it. I like the marina booking concept but hardly any marinas seem to use it or it's restricted to smaller vessels or short notice booking.

Why aren't marinas more open to the concept? In the hotel and accommodation industry just about every establishment knows that they need to be everywhere to get bookings but I guess marinas get full anyway so they don't have to.

It's a shame, not a fan of spending countless hours enquiring and the process marina offices force you to use by filling out forms and giving specific dates is just not how cruisers cruise. We just don't know when we're going to get there!

Do you have tips to gauge availability and rates quickly?

I hear you. Having used Dockwa for years on the Long Island Sound (USA), I have been spoiled by how easy it is to inquire and reserve a marina — whether last-minute (good luck with that in our area during peak season) or in advance. Easier for the customers, apparently more efficient for marinas (I seem to recall some statistics on better occupancy rates, but may be wrong). So easy that the issue of ensuring a safe spot for the night has become a non-issue!

On the other hand, when we chartered in Sardinia last summer, getting a transient spot in any marina was almost impossible — we went from “too early to book, call later” type of answers straight to “too late, you should have called earlier”…

First world problems, anyways. I have to agree with other posters too, that different places see marina reservations under a different light (to the point that, in some places, it’s apparently frowned upon), so I guess it’s all part of smiling along with it, and adapting to the circumstances. If it’s not this great spot, it’ll be the next one!

Fair winds to all.