Our sister company The Moorings celebrated 50 years in business in 2019. Clearly not a record by any standards but having been a part of the Moorings for over forty years I couldn’t help but reflect why many other competitorscame and went.
New ones seem to pop up every year, while others disappear from the landscape…maybe I should sayseascape.
The 50th Celebration was held last fall and I was privileged to be invited to be part of the gathering. TonyRainold, one of the founders of the Moorings whom I worked with closely in those early years, was alsopart of the celebration. I asked Tony why he thought The Moorings succeeded in a tough industrywhere others had failed. He did not ponder the thought at all. He said; “We always tried to do things right by ourcustomers.”
That has been a hallmark of The Moorings way of doing business. It was then and it is now. TheMoorings was a very close held private company for many years. She was sold to a French consortium inthe late 1980’s. Then bought by the management team and a small private equity in the mid 1990’s,about ten years later it was united with what back then was one of its fiercest competitors, Sunsail. Thiswas by way of acquisition by First Choice Holiday, a British Travel Group. Then merged with the tourismbranch of TUI AG to form TUI Travel PLC. Its “Specialist” Group, renamed “Travelopia”(www.travelopia.com) was sold to KKR (www.kkr.com) in May 2017, arguably one of the world’s largestand most powerful private equity group.
Through all those changes, one thing remained the same. Do things right! The Moorings along withSunsail have remained the leaders in the industry during all those sometimes challenging times.That brings me to the point of what is going on today. Potential charterers and yacht buyers areunderstandably concerned. Travel restrictions makes it impossible to go on holiday even if one wantedto take the risk. Charter yacht buyers don’t want to make a commitment, albeit not for the short termbut five years or more.
It is important to remind them even during the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, The Moorings did thingsright. We never missed a payment due an owner. Most recently the hurricanes IRMA and DORIAN,devastated the Caribbean and Bahamas. Many yachts that were damaged are still undergoing repairssome nearly 30 months in the process. The Moorings and Sunsail continued to pay the owners. I shouldmention this is without the aid of insurance. Business interruption coverage for our industry is notavailable.
With the current situation and outcome albeit unknown, I do not think even the most pessimistic ofpundits believe the pandemic will not be controlled and we will be back to normal sooner rather thanlater.
All those that have or had relationships with The Moorings/Sunsail can rest assured this pandemic willend and like the last 50 years we will be standing ready to provide the best yachting holidays andownership experience in the world because WE DO THE RIGHT THING.
