Boat Reservation Software That Gets Everyone on the Same Schedule
Requests from the phone, one-tap approval, a shared calendar that flags clashes and automatic notifications — your fleet gets booked without a single phone call.
A fleet schedule today usually means a notebook at the front desk, three WhatsApp threads and spreadsheets that aren't always up to date. The result: two outings on the same boat next Saturday, a member still waiting for an answer since Tuesday, and a manager who spends the whole day on the phone. Captain Crews is boat reservation software that replaces all of it with one clear flow: requests come in from the phone, approval takes one tap, and a shared calendar — the same one for everybody — flags slots that are already taken. Every step notifies the right people automatically, each in their own language. Yacht clubs, charter companies, management firms: your fleet finally gets booked without friction, boats and vehicles alike.
Request, approve or decline with a reason: a flow that runs itself
Members or crew, on their own accounts, pick a unit and a time slot right from their phone. The manager gets the request and approves it or declines it with a reason, in one tap; if the slot doesn't work, the manager changes it and the requester is told. Nobody chases anybody. This flow is switched on with the organisation-by-service option; without it, the people allowed to edit the calendar put their bookings straight in.
- Booking requests from the phone: unit, time slot, purpose, comments
- Approve, or decline with a reason, in one tap, from the office or the dock
- Pending requests surface on the manager's home screen with a counter
- Every step triggers a notification: request received, approved, declined, changed or cancelled
- A trail for every request: who asked for what, who approved or declined it, and when
One shared calendar that flags every booking clash
The calendar catches overlaps before they reach the dock: any overlap on the same unit is flagged before it is saved, and a clash confirmed anyway stays on the conflicts screen until someone settles it. Everyone looks at the same schedule, but only sees what their role allows — down to a read-only visitor access for front desks and partners.
- Overlaps flagged before saving, accepted clashes listed for a decision
- Availability search: find a free unit over any period in seconds
- Calendars filtered by type: boats on one side, vehicles on the other, or the whole fleet at once
- Fine-grained roles and scopes: unit managers, crew, owners, read-only visitors
- Each unit's status at a glance: available, reserved, in the workshop or under maintenance
The need, the purpose of the outing and rental rates
A booking says what the outing is for. With organisation by service, the requester gives the purpose of the booking and the planned skipper; they can also state a need without picking a unit ("a boat for six on the 12th"), which the manager then assigns to a free unit. Daily and hourly rental rates live on each unit's record and appear on its PDF sheet. Captain Crews does not invoice bookings or take any payment.
- Purpose of the booking and planned skipper, given in the request (organisation by service)
- A need without a specific unit: the manager then assigns a free one
- Daily and hourly rental rates on each unit's record, shown on its PDF sheet
- One currency per company (euro, US dollar or Mauritian rupee)
- Interface and notifications in English and French
The workshop and the schedule finally talk to each other
Planned maintenance takes up the unit on the calendar: a booking made for that slot triggers a warning. When the owner, or their crew, asks for a job, the date is settled in the tool: the company approves it or proposes other dates, and the requester accepts or withdraws.
- A planned work order automatically takes up the unit on the calendar
- Owner-requested jobs: approval or other dates proposed by the company, tracked in the tool
- Outings, maintenance and unavailability each read clearly on the schedule
- Requesters see immediately that a unit is laid up — no calls to the workshop
- The boat's history keeps both sides: trips made and work done
Your data flows: exports, imports and an API
The schedule doesn't live in a vacuum. Pull a booking report to Excel on exactly the scope you need, import your existing fleet to get started, and, on the Company plan, let another system — a company calendar, for instance — read your bookings automatically through the read-only API.
- Excel booking reports: whole fleet, boats only, vehicles only, or a single unit
- Import your existing fleet — no retyping to get started
- Each unit's PDF sheet, with its rental rates
- Read-only bookings API (Company plan): it changes nothing in Captain Crews
- No lock-in: your data stays exportable at any time, in line with GDPR data portability
Frequently asked questions
How does Captain Crews prevent double bookings?+
Every booking is checked against the unit's existing entries: if the slot overlaps an outing, maintenance or an unavailability, the clash is flagged before it is saved. An intended overlap can still be confirmed; it then appears on the conflicts screen until someone settles it, and the people who made the bookings are told. Back-to-back slots (one ends at noon, the next starts at noon) are not treated as conflicts, so you can chain outings without false alarms.
Who can request a booking, and who approves it?+
You decide. Every user has a role — manager, crew, owner, visitor — with precise rights. With the organisation-by-service option, your members or crew request a unit from their own account, and approval goes to the manager of the unit's service, to a captain you have given that right, or to the office. Without the option, the people allowed to edit the calendar put their bookings straight in. The read-only visitor access lets a front desk or a partner check availability without being able to change or request anything.
Can we manage vehicles as well as boats?+
Yes. Captain Crews handles mixed fleets: boats and RIBs, but also service or courtesy vehicles. Each category gets an adapted record, and both calendars and availability search filter by unit type — booking a courtesy car is as simple as booking a boat.
Can Captain Crews connect to the software and spreadsheets we already use?+
Partly. Excel and PDF exports take one click. On the Company plan, a read-only API lets another piece of software fetch your bookings automatically; it receives no data and exposes nothing else from Captain Crews. Tell us what you need.
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