Swiss-based yacht charter broker Boataffair is serving ultra-high-net-worth clients paying between 100,000 and 300,000 Swiss francs per week for luxury motor yachts, according to co-founder Adrian Walker.
Walker and his wife Natalya founded the company, which brokers high-end yacht charters worldwide from its Swiss base. The Mediterranean remains the primary focus, with additional coverage of the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Most charters run one or two weeks.
Prices begin at roughly 20,000 CHF per week for a catamaran with crew in the off-season, but motor yacht charters quickly move into six figures. Fuel, provisioning and additional expenses are borne separately by the client.
The typical clientele comprises entrepreneur families, wealthy private individuals and family-office clients. International celebrities have booked through Boataffair, including Hollywood figures and professional North American ice-hockey league players. Swiss alpine skier Marco Odermatt is among the firm's known clients.
Multi-generational trips represent an important segment. Parents or grandparents bring children and grandchildren aboard for milestone occasions such as birthdays or retirements. "It is less about traditional holidays and more about a special occasion," Walker said.
The firm operates on a personal-advisory model rather than a digital-platform approach. Planning begins four to six weeks before departure and centres on guest preferences — dining interests, cultural priorities, whether families travel with children, preferred destinations and onboard catering requirements — before any vessels are shortlisted. Walker emphasised that over-planning can undermine the experience, noting that flexibility is a defining feature of the product: a captain may arrange an impromptu oyster tasting with a local grower, a musician may be brought aboard for a celebration, or a late-arriving guest may be collected by helicopter. "Guests who have never taken a boat tour before often underestimate how much fun time at sea provides," Walker said.
Boataffair positions itself deliberately against the industry trend toward automated online booking platforms. "Personal contact is central for a product in this price class," Walker said. The firm describes itself as a boutique travel advisor rather than a digital portal, prioritising quality over quantity.
As a yacht broker, Boataffair earns a commission typically between 12 and 20 percent of the charter price, with around 15 percent cited as the industry standard.
Walker described the business as relatively crisis-resistant. Geopolitical conflicts and economic uncertainty initially trigger client hesitation, but are often followed by a surge in short-term bookings driven by what he termed a "now more than ever" mentality: affluent clients with sufficient means tend not to postpone extraordinary travel. Privacy and near-total control over who the guests encounter, where they spend each morning and when they depart — advantages difficult to replicate in even the most exclusive hotels — are core selling points. Rising luxury-hotel prices have further strengthened the yacht-charter alternative for large families requiring multiple suites.
