Bookings for charters and tours, done properly.
Fixed departures with a hard seat count, deposits taken ahead, and weather cancellations that refund a whole boat at once.
A charter business sells seats on a departure that leaves whether the boat is full or not. A half-day sail takes ten, a sunset cruise takes twelve, a full-day offshore trip takes six, and a private charter is the whole boat sold to one party. Departures are dates, not a rolling diary, and the seat count is fixed by the vessel and the license. Weather cancels a whole departure at once, and every passenger needs a refund and a message in the same hour. account42 holds the seat count, takes deposits on your own account, and refunds a departure in one step.
A week at Northline Charters.
This is the booking widget, not a picture of it. Take a seat and watch the count move and the confirmation text arrive.
Every session carries its own price, seat count and rules, so a course, a drop-in and a free session sit in the same timetable.
Book a departure
This week
Tue 9:00 am
Half-day coastal sail
4 hours · $120 · drop-in
4 seats leftThu 2:00 pm
Sunset cruise
2 hours · $75 · drop-in
1 seat leftSat 7:00 am
Full-day offshore
9 hours · $260 · deposit $80
FullSun 10:00 am
Harbor tour
90 min · $35 · drop-in
9 seats left
How a charter business uses account42.
- Set up the schedule
- Add each departure with its date, time and seat count. The coastal sail on Tuesday and Saturday takes ten, the sunset cruise on Thursday twelve, the offshore day six. Seasonal runs repeat as a weekly pattern until the last date you set. A private charter is a departure with one seat priced as the whole boat.
- Take bookings and payments
- Passengers book from your website, in their own language if they are visiting, and pay in your currency on your own Stripe or PayPal account. A family of four takes four seats in one checkout. A deposit is taken at booking and the balance on the dock, or the full fare up front, whichever you set per departure.
- Handle changes and waitlists
- When the forecast turns, cancel the departure. The refund rule runs against every booking on it, with a message to each passenger on the channels they gave you. A cancellation by one passenger frees the seat for the waitlist, offered with a time limit so the boat still leaves full.
The parts that are hard to get right.
The boat holds what the boat holds
The seat count you publish is the seat count you sail with.
Under the hood
Every hold and booking is a single database transaction, so the last berth cannot be sold twice while two people are checking out.
Weather cancels the whole departure
Call it off once and everyone booked is refunded and told.
Under the hood
Canceling a session applies your refund rule to every booking on it at once, rather than one customer at a time.
Departures are dates, not a rolling diary
A departure happens at a fixed time whether or not it is full.
Under the hood
Sessions are stored against a real timezone, so a schedule stays correct across daylight saving changes.
Works where you are : your currency, timezone and language, on your own Stripe or PayPal account.
Questions people ask about booking for charters and tours
- Can I take a deposit and the balance later?
- Yes. Price the departure as the deposit and take the balance on the day, or charge in full at booking.
- What happens if I cancel for weather?
- Cancel the session and your refund rule runs against every booking on it, with a notification on each customer's channels.
- Can I sell a whole boat as a private charter?
- Yes. Create the departure with a seat count of one and price it as the whole boat.
- Can I sell a departure in more than one currency?
- No. Prices are set and settled in your own currency. The booking page shows in twelve languages, so a visiting passenger reads it in theirs and pays in yours.
- How do I handle a minimum number of passengers?
- Publish the departure with its full seat count and watch the numbers in the dashboard. If a departure does not reach your minimum, cancel it and the refund rule runs against every booking at once.
- Can I take bookings from a tourist office or hotel?
- Yes. Give them your booking link. A booking made on a guest's behalf carries the contact details you require, and the confirmation goes to those, so the passenger hears from you directly.
Related
- Wineries and breweriesFixed tasting times with a real seat count, vineyard tours with a deposit, private groups booked as one, and club members pouring for free.
- RetreatsMulti-day retreats sold as one purchase, with a place count set by beds, a deposit up front, and a cancellation window that means something.
- PhotographersMini-session days sold as one-seat slots at fixed times, headshot slots with a deposit up front, and a canceled slot offered to the waitlist.
Every feature above is on every plan. See what account42 does and how it works, from install to the first booking.
Take bookings for your charter business this week.
Fourteen days free. No card, no call, no implementation project.