This is what busy looks like!

Even though we were told that, until they establish themselves, many charter crews have a slow first year, Rebecca and I began this business with the sincere belief that we would be busy this season. This belief was fueled by our research on the market and the competition, as well as by the positive comments that we received from brokers and our friends in the industry.

When we completed our first charter and received such glowing comments from our guests, we were even more confident, especially considering that we had two additional charters confirmed for the holidays. Then things seemed to stall a bit. We had a couple of holds placed on our calendar which didn’t pan out. There was talk of other bookings but nothing solid. I admit that I started to have a few doubts about just how busy we would be. As it turns out, I should not have been concerned!

Rebecca and I are well into the prep for a last-minute charter booking that we have beginning next week. Immediately following that one, we will have another family joining us. I’ve communicated with both of these groups and I get the feeling that they’re both going to be great charters! As it stands today, we then have a one week break before we really get busy (that break could disappear too). In March we have four back-to-back charters, each with a 24-hour turnaround. That means that we drop off guests at 12:00 PM one day and pick up a new set of guests at 12:00 PM the following day. That is busy and we’re working today to shore up the services and assistance that we’ll need to manage those turnarounds. Fortunately, we have plenty of help!

While the remaining months in the season are not yet quite that busy, we do have some confirmed bookings. I am now very confident that many of the free weeks remaining on our schedule are going to fill up too. Busy is good!