Buy or Sell a Hotel Barge in France
The hotel barge sector is an important part of the French tourist industry. In France alone, a hotel barge cruises specialist has estimated a market growth specific to canal and river barging from 10 million USD in early 1990 to over 45 million USD today.
Owning and operating a hotel barge is, at one and the same time, both hard work and very rewarding. It is not surprising that, out of the 70 hotel barges operating in France (see link below) there will always be a few where owners have decided to sell and move on. And there are always people looking to run a high-value, customer-oriented business in beautiful surroundings.
The Options
Buying or Selling a Hotel Barge: Visibility or Discretion?
We have a special, highly advantageous, collaboration arrangement with one of the world’s leading boat brokers. It combines our unique individual skills, experience and market reach. Together we know the hotel barge sector, the market and the commercial situation like no others.
On the one hand, sellers need to advertise their sale as widely as possible, to the best, most appropriate audience – and prospective buyers need easily to find information about potential purchases. Both sides need to trust any broker or intermediary – and the buy-sell process itself.
But there is, on the other hand, a possible problem with ‘visibility’, common to the hotel sector around the world. That is, that sellers do not wish to make public their interest in selling because doing so might adversely affect trade, introducing a negative perception of the business and hence reducing the value of the business. Similarly, buyers often wish to stay out of the limelight until a deal is concluded.
These are the options –
Visibility
Full Visibility (Public) Service – Results Oriented
Details will be circulated and promoted world-wide through Boatshed’s wide-reaching international 60-office 18-country network of brokers and websites. This includes of course, Boatshed’s locations in France (targeting those searches that combine, for example, ‘hotel barge’ and ‘France’) as well as Boatshed brokers in the USA and UK (the vast majority of hotel barges are either owned and operated by, or attract guests from, the UK or the USA).
In addition, details can be advertised by Boatshed through ‘boats for sale’ websites (such as waterways-boats.com or apolloduck.com) locally or internationally – according to vendors wishes and with their agreement.
Discretion
Low Visibility (Private) Service – Discretion Oriented
1. We can exploit our combined network of contacts
We will contact those people on our confidential ‘interested lists’, so as to spread the word in an effective, targeted but also commercially discrete manner.
2. We can create a bespoke confidential website and promote online
We will create and publish an individual website with content (including a photograph) where the identity of the hotel barge is not disclosed. Any photographs are altered and retouched so as to make the boat difficult to identify. Information can be communicated in a confidential format.
The website address and content is then used as the basis for discrete but widespread promotion through our combined network and some key public-facing websites, but keeping the identity of the hotel barge itself as hidden as possible.
Where appropriate our SEO (search optimisation) professional will mould the site’s technical details to produce best Google results (we should stress that getting search results takes time).
Key Features
Common to both approaches . . .
1. Realistic cost basis
- Modest upfront charge to cover direct costs
- No Sale – No Commission (to be paid by Sellers, not Purchasers)
2. Expert, in-person, promotion and sale conversion
Boatshed will visit your hotel barge in person to gather information, discuss and record details – of the boat and where appropriate, the hotel barging business.- Boatshed’s specialist inland France broker Graham Wharmby is himself an ex-hotel barge captain – he will handle all ‘on the spot’ barge viewings, discussions and negotiations.
- A full set of high quality photographs is taken, together with a video. The quality of this material is vital to attract in the first place and engender confidence in the second.
- Having ascertained the seriousness and bona-fides of enquirers, Boatshed would normally guide and accompany all prospective purchaser inspection visits. We are fully aware of, and sensitive to, the realities of charters and guests-on-board and will always make appointments at times to suit the barge’s operation, as relevant.
3. Commercial reassurance
- The limits of commercial confidentiality, business data and the stages of public/private disclosure are fully agreed and documented.
- Barges can be promoted as being suitable for returning to private use, or as ‘blank sheet’ hotel barges, or as established hotel barge businesses (complete with future bookings, guest lists, etc.) – as the vendor wishes.
- Once a sale has been agreed, deposit and other monies are safely held in a secure Client’s Account.
4. Prospect pre-qualification
- Under a ‘Visible/Public’ arrangement, interested visitors to the Boatshed website have to provide basic details and register before complete information about the hotel barge can be viewed and before an enquiry is made.
- Under a ‘Discrete/Private’ arrangement, requirements are naturally more stringent . . .
NDCA Agreement and Details Dossier (Discrete Arrangement)
- Enquiries are directed to us; we then ask enquirers to provide key details about themselves (in confidence) and to sign a standard Confidentiality Agreement (which we supply).
- When they do so, then and only then do we provide a dossier of further detail, which we draw up in conjunction with the vendor, including the name of the hotel barge, the name of the vendor, etc. The details of the prospective purchaser are passed to the barge owner and conversations begin.
Our Credentials . . .
- Independent industry statistics indicate that Boatshed sells twice as quickly as other brokers. Boatshed brokers have sold more than 20,000 boats, yachts and barges during more than fifteen years of operation.
- Overall, at any one time Boatshed has 900,000 prospective enquirers, each of whom has registered their details. Every enquirer can be identified and verified.
- Together, Waterways Boats and Boatshed France have unrivalled, deep-seated, knowledge of the rivers and canals of France, of hotel barging in France and of boats and barges in France.
- We know the barges that are not yet ‘on the market’ (for example, current finishing a season) and those where an suitable unprompted approach might be successful.
- We can guide and advise new entrants to the sector – we know the routes that are dependably popular and those waiting for an opportunity to be seized, we know the market for barges of differing sizes and price/quality levels, and we know the key specialist hotel barge agents who are so influential for business success.
- Together, we are members of the British Marine Federation, the Boat Retailers and Brokers Association, FIN (Fédération des Industries Nautiques), Inland Waterways International and The Barge Association.
For Buyers
Hotel Barging – a 41m€ sector in a 100bn€ market
France is the world’s most popular tourist destination. In 2012 83 million people visited France, compared to the country’s native population of 66 million – 16 million more than the second-place country, the United States. At close to 100 billion euros per annum value, tourism is a more significant sector of the French Economy than the automotive industry, contributing more than 7% towards the Gross Domestic Product. Surprisingly, only 17% of visitors come to Paris and those that do spend less than 3 nights there.
The Business of Hotel Barging
Hotel barges cruise the canals and smaller rivers of France and hotel barging is a 40+ million euro p.a market sector. There are something like 70 hotel barges on the French Waterways, providing an overall total of 300 cabins to an annual total of 10,000 guests. They vary in size (capacities from 2 cabins upwards to 20 or more), and service or luxury level.
The foundation of the hotel barging idea in the mid-1960s was a combination of English eccentricity buying an ex-commercial barge and converting it to (originally very basic) accommodation, and one of their first clients, the American travel writer Emily Kimbrough. Cruising barge-hotels started to be created from that point, with standards of accommodation being improved significantly from the mid-1970s onwards, following significant numbers of American guests coming over to enjoy the experience having read Kimbrough’s book ‘Floating Island’.
Although they are quite varied in size and level of comfort offered, what they each provide is the memorable and very relaxing experience of living, for a short time, on the canals and rivers, savouring the peace and quiet, the passing scenery, the historic towns and pretty villages – and the French lifestyle.
Covid-19
Worldwide demand for this very special product is strong and growing year on year, even if there are short-term dips prompted by financial, political or security events. To be clear, however, the Covid-19 situation has been extremely significant for the sector because of its reliance on American clients. However, whilst business in 2020 has been more or less dead, enquiries and bookings for 2021 have sustained, with some moving to 2022. We know of at least one barge whose order book is full for 2022 (but the situation does vary from barge to barge).
Hotel Barging at a Glance
- An overwhelming majority of guests are not French, they are mainly Anglophone and a very significant proportion are American. The market has more recently seen the arrival of Australian, New Zealand and Russian clients.
- Most guests are 60+, affluent, well-educated and often well-travelled.
- Assuming an average charge of 4,500 euros per person per week, the annual sales value to the hotel barge sector is 45m euros (45,000,000 €) and guests or their hosts (cruise prices are often all-inclusive) can also be expected to spend a total of 1.3m euros on shoreside products and services during their vacation.
- Each hotel barge earns an average of approximately 130,000€ (euros) per cabin during the season, although as noted this will vary significantly according to capacity and luxury level.
Hotel Barging Sales and Marketing
- Hotel barges provide a memorably enjoyable experience for their guests and this should naturally lead to repeat bookings and recommendation sales.
- Limited supply and high demand means that at the top – five/six star – end of the market, barges are frequently fully booked right from the outset of the season, often well into the following year.
Specialist Barge Agents
- Whilst owners will hope to maximise their (non-commission), direct bookings, many barges rely significantly on obtaining bookings through specialist hotel barge agents such as Abercrombie and Kent, Barge Lady and through our sister website French Waterways, which is the global leader in online information about enjoying the rivers and canals of France, including hotel barging. Specialists are justifiably influential and their reputation means that they also feed sales through from more generalist travel and cruise agencies.
- Commission rates vary according to the status and effectiveness of the agency, ranging from 10% for one-off generalist travel agents to up to 25% (or more) for specialist luxury barge agents capable of producing quality and quantity.
Confidential Enquiry
Complete this simple form to start the ball rolling.No action is taken without prior notice and specific approval.
All information is treated as commercially sensitive and confidential.
