American Express partner of OCEAN Independence

03 November 2011 |
American Express Centurion Yacht Charter Partner; OCEAN Independence. Great potential bookings growth for your charter yacht!

Introducing the OCEAN Independence Yacht Charter Partnership with American Express.

Charter bookings are down across the board with discounts and special promotions becoming common place in a market becoming ever more competitive.

So here at OCEAN Independence (OCI) we looked at different ways to promote our charter fleet to secure access to a new channel of qualified clients. The result of our search is that we are delighted to now announce our appointment as the exclusive Yacht Charter Partner with American Express and American Express Travel Service. We are the only large yacht broker to have achieved such a partnership, which was nearly two years in the making.

American Express (Amex) were, from the start, enthusiastic to be setting up a partnership with OCI, one of the World’s leading brokers, but being a vast global empire they had longstanding precedents which for the specialised yacht charter industry had to be negotiated and overcome. The two main points of discussion were over which contract should take priority i.e. their own cardholder agreement or the MYBA contract, and the payment transfer time, which is usually 45 days for Amex card holders whereas our industry standard is 10 days or less, depending on urgency.

We worked with various Amex departments and were able to agree that the MYBA charter agreement will take precedence and that funds will be received within 7 days of the card being processed, a delay we hope to further improve to facilitate last minute bookings and situations where there is more than one client vying for a yacht. Our partnership will be operational 25 countries covering most of Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Mexico and Argentina.

Amex has many clients who already charter large yachts, these enquiries are managed differently by each consultant but will now be primarily directed to OCI. In addition to this, yacht charter will be more actively marketed to American Express card holders and most specifically Centurion card holders. Amex travel service consultants will receive briefings and training about yacht charter from OCI and we have already run yacht charter training with two of their major UK offices; briefing senior managers and meeting the travel consultants in small groups, providing them with information and background knowledge to be able to more effectively sell yacht charter to their clients.

As in integral part of the partnership we have agreed an amended commission structure, a special benefit for Centurion card holders and have become an American Express merchant. If your yacht is currently managed for charter by OCEAN Independence, your charter manager will be contacting you shortly to discuss signing up for the American Express charter program. If your yacht is currently being managed by another company, now could be a good time to ask OCEAN Independence for a proposal.

Although the Partnership is new, we have already signed fourteen charters with a total value of approx $500,000 and receive new enquiries almost every other day. With OCEAN Independence having the largest charter fleet in the industry, matched with the reach and marketing of American Express, we can only see this powerful partnership growing.

For more information please contact: amex@ocyachts.com

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