Armada Club: Inside the idle asset revolution
Armada Club is a membership model planning to rent out idle yachts for dinners and meetings.
Peering across the marina you might not see it at first. But hidden among the tonnage of superyachts lies a rich resource. It has remained untapped until now, like unridden waves on a remote beach. But Claire Hagen reckons the potential is huge, with knock-on benefits for the industry.
The Briton has launched Armada Club, dubbed the “world’s first private members’ club on board yachts”. The premise is simple: rent out the superyachts sitting idle as exclusive dining rooms and wellness centres. There’s no overnighting or travel, just a luxury space for intimate gatherings or meetings.
“These yachts are an unused asset,” Hagen tells us. “They’re sitting in port for maybe months at a time, but the staff are on board, they’re equipped and can turn it into a restaurant.”
The need for privacy is increasingly key, which is why the membership model makes sense, according to Hagen’s co-director Jonny Harris, who is a Grammy and Brit Award-winning songwriter and music producer.
“I have spent my whole career around some of the most recognised people in the world, and privacy is a real need,” he says. “For many, going out for a meal is not an option. Even when they hire private spaces, there is always a risk of leaks. NDAs are not standard in other industries and selling photos and videos is common.”
‘Strong in-between option’
Membership is controlled with pre-vetted KYC. Captains and owners decide when they want to make the yacht available. They can also choose not to accept bookings. The club has an initial membership fee of €140,000 ($170k) with annual rates of €70,000. The yacht sets the rate for the event and receives the revenue. Brokerage houses will also receive commission. Yachts registered for commercial charter are the target, with legal, compliance and regulatory issues being worked through.
The new model is a “strong in-between option” for owners not keen on chartering their yacht but still keen to recoup some expenses, according to captain Alistair Best.
“From a crew perspective, as a captain, this is also a good way to improve service and train greener crew without the pressure of delivering a full week charter from day one,” he says.
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The scheme will also help bring in new prospects to yachting who may “fall in love with it” and go on to charter or own their own boat, adds broker Jan-Jaap Minnema of Fraser Yachts.
“As an owner, this is a strong new revenue opportunity and a great source of lead generation for other parts of the business, such as longer charters,” says Armin Dressler, the owner of Imladris, a 24.97m Lagoon sailing catamaran.
“Equally appealing” is the complementary membership for owners signed up to the scheme, offering the freedom to dine on other yachts, adds Dressler.
“Anything that creates more revenue and opens up opportunities for people to experience yachting in the right way is a positive move. Dinner on board is a truly magical experience. As an industry, we need to make it easier to book these moments, while still preserving the privacy of the yacht,” says the owner of the 50m Trinity Yachts-built Champagne Seas.
Claire Hagen is the founder of Armada Club.
Hagen, who began her career in hospitality, works across yachting and other luxury brands as a digital consultant. She says the industry is still behind the times in generating leads from its digital and e-commerce ecosystem.
“We’ve just gone through the golden age of the internet and we failed,” she says. “Yachting’s online experience is still very much old-school mentality. No one really gets leads online that convert. It’s a fairy tale.
“And now we’re about to get into the hardest time ever to be online with AI, validation and verification and who’s real, who’s not, what company is real and how things can be manipulated. We’re going to have a huge lead infrastructure problem.”
In early discussions with brokerage houses, she answered questions as to why they wouldn’t just start their own members’ club by likening her pan-industry model to iTunes, which was not affiliated to a single record label and therefore had broader reach.
“No one wanted a Sony music platform with only Sony artists on,” she says. “This is a fair platform for all brokerage houses to join.”
Military grade
The club will have a 24-hour human concierge service. Members will be checked on board with biometric security. There will also be a strict no-phone policy once onboard. There will be discreet feedback from both sides to ensure the quality of experience is retained, according to Hagen.
“We’re making it very controlled for the first six months to prove the concept,” she says. “This is not about going on for a party, trashing it and then leaving.”
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She adds that “military-grade” cybersecurity will be the “biggest expenditure” for Armada Club, given the ever-present and increasing threat.
A high-profile target such as the yachting industry needs to work together to improve its cybersecurity, according to Hagen.
“Everyone’s scared that if they admit that they’re vulnerable, then they become a liability,” she says. “It’s only going to get worse unless they share resources.”
The club will also have a philanthropic element, with 10% of membership profits going into a crew fund to support maternity and paternity cover for yachts on the scheme.
Opening up the most valuable rooms on Earth could soon make the view across marinas and anchorages look quite different.
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