Marinas & Yachting
A marina sells the same pontoon space in several ways: annual contracts, seasonal and monthly lets, nightly visitors and, in some harbours, superyacht berths priced by length and beam. Around those sit the fuel dock, lifting, hard standing, the boatyard and often a waiting list kept in a spreadsheet. In our work with marina operators, the berth plan, the booking system and the accounts rarely agree on what a berth earned in a year. We connect those records, build the reporting and booking tools around them, and measure what changed.
Discuss this with usMarket context
Revenue of the UK leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry grew by 12.5% to an estimated £4.41 billion in 2022-23, and full-time equivalent jobs rose by 6.6% to 38,336.
In 2023, more than 1.4 billion nights were spent in tourist accommodation in EU coastal regions, 6.4% more than in the previous year. Coastal tourism generated €82.0 billion in gross value added in 2022.
Source: European Commission, The EU Blue Economy Report 2025, Coastal tourism
In Croatia, 54.5% of overnight stays in tourist accommodation in 2025 were recorded in July and August, followed by Bulgaria (43.4%) and Greece (41.6%). The EU figure for the two busiest months was 31.1%.
Source: Eurostat, Summer peak: 31% of tourism nights in August and July (7 July 2026)
Business challenges
01
Occupancy counted in berths, priced in metres
Occupancy is often reported as the number of berths let, while the tariff is charged per metre of boat. A short boat in a long berth, or a berth held empty for a returning annual holder, shows as full in one report and as lost revenue in another.
02
Waiting lists that cannot inform price
A waiting list kept in a spreadsheet, without boat dimensions, dates or deposits, cannot show how much demand there is for each berth size. Annual prices are then set by looking at the marina along the coast, and berths are allocated by who asked first.
03
Visitor nights lost between pontoon and office
Visiting boats arrive by radio call, by app or unannounced, and are recorded by staff on the pontoon, in the office or not at all. Without a daily match between arrivals and payments, unbilled nights are found at the end of the season, if they are found.
04
Fuel, yard and storage reported apart
Fuel dock sales, lift-outs, hard standing, winter storage and boatyard work run through separate tills or job systems. The marina cannot see what a berth holder spends across all of them, so the annual contract price ignores the customer's full value.
05
Superyacht and local berths priced from one table
Superyacht berths carry agent commission, provisioning and service requests that local annual berths do not, while local holders bring year-round revenue and yard work. When both are priced from the same tariff sheet, decisions about the berth mix are made without a margin figure for either.
Where the opportunity sits
Revenue per metre of pontoon
Calculating revenue per metre by berth category, contract type and month shows which parts of the marina earn most, how many berth-nights in the season were sold, and what an empty berth held for an annual holder costs.
A waiting list that records demand
A managed waiting list holding boat dimensions, preferred dates and deposits gives evidence for annual pricing and a clear, recorded basis for allocating berths when they become free.
Customer value across berth, fuel and yard
Joining berth contracts to fuel, yard, storage and service records gives revenue per customer across every service, which informs renewal terms and shows which customers carry the most revenue into each renewal.
How we approach it
We start read-only with the berth plan, the marina management or booking system, the visitor arrival records, the fuel dock and boatyard tills and the accounts. We trace a berth through a full year: who held it, on what contract, at what price per metre, how many nights it stood empty and what its holder spent elsewhere in the marina. Findings become a prioritised task list, each item with an owner and an acceptance check, covering berth and visitor reconciliation, revenue-per-metre reporting, waiting-list management and, where enquiries are lost, the website, local search and booking forms. If the client wants us to build, the same team delivers the reporting and booking changes and closes a task only when it has been checked against live bookings and payments. We do not broker berths or yachts, survey vessels, supply fuel or advise on harbour regulation, environmental permits or marine safety. Berth contract terms stay with the client's own lawyers.
How our experience is evidenced
THEFOCUS has worked with businesses in this sector. Client engagements are confidential, and no anonymised record has yet been approved for publication, so this page names no clients and claims no results. LocalBoostHQ, our live service brand for local businesses, covers the website, Google Business Profile and local search work a single marina relies on. FINMETRA is in design and is not offered today.
Questions executives ask
Have you worked with marinas?
Yes. THEFOCUS has worked with businesses in this sector. Client engagements are confidential and no anonymised record has yet been approved for publication, so we do not name clients or publish results. In a first conversation we can describe the kind of work involved without identifying anyone.
Can you work with our existing marina management software?
Usually. We start from the data your berth, booking and till systems already hold and read it through exports or an API where one exists. If a system cannot provide the records the reporting needs, we say so and set out the options, including keeping it and filling the gap another way.
Will you set our berth prices?
No. We build the evidence behind a pricing decision, such as revenue per metre by berth category, waiting-list demand by boat size and the value of berth holders across fuel and yard services. The tariff stays your decision.
Do you broker berths, yachts or fuel?
No. We do not act as a broker or agent, survey vessels, supply fuel or take commission on any sale. Our work covers the commercial, financial and operational data and systems around the marina.
Discuss this with us
A few details help us route your enquiry to the right partner. Fields marked optional can be left blank.