BLUEMOMENT

Dunstaffnage Marina has been awarded the top rating by the Yacht Harbour Association.

Yachting Life gets less credible by the month.

Derek

If Port Edgar is worth 4 Gold Anchors, Dunstaffanage was a shoe-in for 5. The award appears to be based on self-assessment!

Yes, a laugh or cry moment. Having skimmed through the award procedure document , dunfannyage fails on several points in my opinion. The much heralded breakwater pontoon is promised this year, but no sign of it yet. I see that the award requires payment from the inspected marina, which makes it worthless. Time for marina tripadvisor?

cpedw wrote:Dunstaffnage Marina has been awarded the top rating by the Yacht Harbour Association.

Noticed this myself a couple of months ago but didn't like to comment in case it seemed as though as I was allowing my own recent negative experiences to prejudice my opinion. However I was sufficiently astonished to look into the assessment process in detail and the upshot appears to be that it is almost impossible to fail to achieve 5 stars if you pay the fees.

Customer feedback is worth only 5% of the marking and is based on a tiny sample which is effectively vetted by the marina. The assessor uses a system for 85% of the mark which is based on what is coyly described as "negative marking" or some such where the marina is initially assumed to get full marks until the contrary is proved to be the case. There was also something about it being a bit unfair if the establishment missed a level by only a couple of marks so in such cases the higher level is awarded anyway.

Essentially the award seems to be little more than a money-making scheme for the organisers and cheap window dressing for the marina which achieves it. (I don't know how much it costs of course by why would you bother with such flummery otherwise?)

It might be different on the south coast but here on the west a 5 star yard doesn't need to spend money on such nonsense because owners will be queuing to get in while the establishment next door is half empty.

stevepick wrote:Time for marina tripadvisor?

Thinks . . . maybe you are right.

How does tripadvisor avoid getting sued though? I got threatened by a well-known Scottish marina in 2012 after someone posted unfavourable comments on here.

And - can anyone suggest a suitable domain name for it?

shipadvisor.co.uk and .com are gone, but shipadvisor.info is available

What about berthadvisor.com ?

How exactly do you monetise it?

And - will I ever finish the refurbishment of BM and find time for this?

Marinadvisor would be handy?
If you go ahead an a fortune is made, I would like to be a sleeping partner on a handsome retainer please.

claymore wrote:Marinadvisor would be handy?
If you go ahead an a fortune is made, I would like to be a sleeping partner on a handsome retainer please.

I've registered marinadvisor.co.uk

Now for sale at £500 . . . .

I have no idea how these things turn into income generators an avoid litigation but I use trip advisor quite a bit, a Marina one sounds a really good idea.

I was going to comment on this also, but was worried incase I got blue moment into trouble, if I said the wrong thing.

If I'm not mistaking, these awards only seam to concern themselves with the quayside facility's, toilets, showers, staff uniforms, yard services, web site, wifi and so on.

What about condition of pontoon anchor points/chains, protection from weather, cleat condition/placement, marina staff available 24/7 to take care of you boat when owners are absent. Many marinas have wifi, so that will tick the right box, but is it workable many are not.
I dont think these are worth the paper they are written on, bit like the trouser press in a B n B, hey presto your up there with the best of them.
We are at the moment in a marina classed as one of the best in the country, wifi useless, regular power failures, pontoons snapping off and damaging boats, lots of damage to head sails, mooring ropes, dingies breaking free. plenty of staff day & night but they don't seam to concerned about going out and fixing these issues.

Marina adviser would be a good idea, but up here we are limited to a very small choice to choose from, would it buck there ideas up, I dont think so.......

lordmacdonald wrote:I was going to comment on this also, but was worried incase I got blue moment into trouble, if I said the wrong thing.

I've just looked back over the posts that caused Dunstaffnage 'management' to have apoplexy and threaten me with legal action last time, and frankly there was nothing there that wasn't reasonable criticism.

I'm not going to get intimidated again if people post reasonable, non-personal opinions of a marina or any other organisation.

Marinadvisor.co.uk might have legs. Perhaps Trip Advisor would be interested in taking it under their wing?

Well I'd bet there is much money to be made by offering not to publish certain reviews that aren't in the marina's interests. Which is probably no more corrupt than the present system.

Mavanier wrote:Well I'd bet there is much money to be made by offering not to publish certain reviews that aren't in the marina's interests. Which is probably no more corrupt than the present system.

You are wasted in teaching, aren't you?

Are you going to Sail Hebrides this year?

It seems to me that the requirements for a marina to create a favourable impression on visitors and regulars are not that steep, and acheiving them, even if the capital investment isn't higher than others, is acheivable.
The biggest, most important is the availability and attitude of staff.
Last summer my son and I sailed round the various parts of eastern N Ireland (Ballycastle to the border). We found two marinas that seemed to go out of their way to welcome visitors as if their salary depended on them. At one we were surprised to find someone waiting on a pontoon, waving us in, ready to take a rope. This was 6pm or so, and a council run marina, so we'd have expected them to be gone home. A key in hand for the amenities, notes on how to operate things, history of area and suchlike, info on shops etc.
At another, we got similar treatment, info on shops, which supermarket, where the train station was. I asked about diesel to be told that if you pull up at the diesel berth anytime in the 24 hour day, someeone will be there. Sure enough they were keeping an eye out and someone was there soon enough.
The state of the place might be next. Not every marina can afford all the bells and whistles, but no-cost issues create impressions. Litter, broken things (doors off hinges etc), silly things, bins overflowing, an answer to a radio call,... these things all cost little but impress.
Some people are naturally helpful, but there's not enough of these to populate the average business, so less than naturally helpful people must be employed. And the job of the management is to teach them what to do, to get them to put themselves in the customers boatshoes, and see things from that viewpoint.
The customer reaction to excellent customer service is what gets noticed and reported in Tripadvisor, (where is MarinaAdvisor, that's an opportunity waiting). But so does sloppy customer service. Problem is, many who get poor service relate that to others. Only a few who get excellent service tell others, so its harder to get a good reputation than a bad one.