For boat owners: how to write a listing that gets booked

A guest looking for a boat trip scrolls past dozens of listings. Yours has a photo, a title and a price to earn a click, and then perhaps a minute to earn a booking. You know your boat and your stretch of coast better than anyone. The job of the listing is to get that knowledge across quickly and honestly.

Start with the title

A good title says what the trip is and where it goes. Compare:

• "Boat tour"
• "Half-day private boat trip from Kotor to Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks"

The second one answers three questions before the guest has opened the page: how long, private or shared, and where. Leave out capital letters, exclamation marks and words like "best" or "unforgettable". Guests skip over them, and specifics do the selling.

Photos do most of the work

What to show

• The boat itself, from the outside, in good light. This should usually be the first photo.
• The seating and the shade. Guests want to know where they will sit and whether there is cover from the sun.
• The places you visit, taken on your own trips.
• People enjoying the trip, with their permission. A boat with guests on it looks more inviting than an empty one.

How to shoot

Photograph in the morning or late afternoon, when the light is soft. Hold the phone horizontally, keep the horizon level and wipe the lens first. Tidy the deck: no fuel cans, buckets or coiled hoses in the frame. Six to ten clear photos are better than twenty similar ones.

Use only your own photos. A picture of a different boat, or of a place you do not actually go, is the quickest way to an unhappy guest and a poor review.

Write the description for someone who has never been here

Your guests may not know where Perast is or how long it takes to get to the Blue Cave. Walk them through the trip in order: where you meet, where you go first, how long you stop and what they can do there, and when you are back.

Then cover the practical points clearly:

• What is included: fuel, skipper, drinks, snorkelling gear, fishing equipment.
• What is not included, such as lunch at a restaurant stop or entry tickets.
• What to bring.
• Who the trip suits, and who it does not: small children, people with limited mobility, non-swimmers.

Short paragraphs and plain words work best. If you speak other languages, say which ones.

Promise a little less than you deliver. A guest who expected two swim stops and got three will tell everyone. A guest who expected three and got two will too.

Set a price guests can understand

Decide first whether you charge per person or per boat. Per person suits shared tours with fixed departures. Per boat suits private trips, where a family or a group of friends wants the boat to themselves.

Remember that the price guests see already includes HopABoat's fee, and that on trips paid in cash they hand you the whole amount on arrival. Set your own price with that in mind, and look at what similar trips in your area cost. If your trip is more expensive, the listing should show why: a newer boat, a longer route, a smaller group, lunch included.

Keep your calendar honest

Nothing loses a guest faster than booking a trip that turns out not to be available. Keep departure times and days up to date, and block the dates when the boat is out of the water or already taken.

If you are usually at sea and cannot answer requests quickly, consider instant booking. Guests prefer a confirmation they do not have to wait for. If you choose booking on request, reply as soon as you can: a guest who waits half a day has often booked something else.

Before you submit

Every new listing is reviewed before it is published. You will get through faster if you check the basics yourself:

• The title says what, where and how long.
• The first photo shows your boat clearly.
• The meeting point is exact enough to find without a phone call.
• The maximum number of guests matches what your boat is allowed to carry.
• The cancellation terms are ones you are comfortable with.

After the first bookings

Reviews carry more weight than anything you write yourself. Be on time, be clear about what happens if the weather turns, and at the end of the trip remind guests that a review helps. Then read what they say. If three guests mention the same thing, good or bad, it belongs in your listing.

Not on HopABoat yet? List your boat and start with a draft.