Kryptonite, shrimps & the 15-minute rule: tales of a yacht manager
Barrett Wright is in her 15th year with yacht manager Hill Robinson USA.
One of her maxims is the 15-minute rule. That’s the window Barrett Wright allows to get back to a client’s question. Any longer and you are on thin ice.
“You don’t want to be part of the problem. You want to be the fixer,” says the president of yacht manager Hill Robinson USA. “Being responsive is half the battle. Truly, no more than 15 minutes to get back to them.”
Sign up for the Superyacht Investor newsletter
In her 14 years with Hill Robinson, based in Fort Lauderdale, Wright has seen it all. There was the purse that needed to be fetched from New York City and hand delivered to St Barth; the bottled water which was only available in the US and had to be flown out in four large suitcases taken by two staff members to Cyprus; the helmet the company accountant had to drive from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa to pick up, then drive down to Miami and get on a flight to deliver it to the Isle of Man.
Then there was the specific induction hob which required the accountant again to fly to the UK and bring it back in business class; and the attentive shrimp-counting owner who spotted when the eight shrimps onboard had become seven because the captain’s quickly purchased replacement was a different colour.
“I didn’t know that a purse or a shrimp could be so stressful,” says Wright. “But making it happen is what we do. We need to pay attention, to listen and observe. No task is too small because if it’s going to make somebody’s life better that day, that’s completely worth it.”
Sometimes she will be honest and admit the best they can do is to get “very close” which is often OK. “But if they say, ‘I’m very disappointed’, that is crushing. That word, or any variation of it, is my kryptonite,” she adds.
READ: Why stagflation threatens brokerage market
Hill Robinson is a full-service yacht management company with offices worldwide.
As well as quirky or whimsical problems to solve, there are occasionally fires, accidents, problems with the crew or tragedies to deal with.
“Having to deal with the death of a young crew member left a really big mark on me,” adds Wright. “It was the family; it was dealing with the crew. It was very emotional, very extraordinary. So tragic.”
Sometimes the highs help to soothe the lows. Like the time the crew invited Barrett down to the mess to play Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. “It was this card game that wound up being so much fun,” she says. “I hurt myself physically playing it, but it was just hysterical, and it was great seeing everybody in a different element.”
After beginning her career with Sotheby’s, Wright drifted into working as a chef on the 30m schooner Aello out of Newport, Rhode Island. “I’ve never been more exhausted in my life,” she says. “Never did I think that I would be sleeping on sail bags as my designated bed, but I enjoyed it so much.”
Following a move to Florida with her partner’s new job in a shipyard, she spent five years with the Fontaine Design Group before taking up a company and yacht accountant role with Hill Robinson, quickly moving into operations.
Emotional
As a pure full-service yacht management company (which also owns boutique brokerage Moravia Yachting), Wright insists the personal touch must shine through to keep Hill Robinson ahead of the competition.
“The position we take is that it’s very personal and our clients deserve the best,” says Wright. “Yachting is emotional. You’ve got to be able to listen to what people want and then deliver it. No empty promises, and maintaining good relationships is essential.”
READ: Brokers on ‘two-speed market’ and straight-talking
From her position on the front line, Wright has fine-tuned her approach to working with owners, acknowledging she is often on the “receiving end” of emotions.
“They might be having a bad day, I might be having a bad day and taking it the wrong way,” she says. “It’s emotional but it shouldn’t be personal. I know to expect certain things from certain owners. Some are just challenging by character which can put you on the defensive.
“The fact that I happen to be a woman, and most of the time I’m dealing with male owners, I feel sometimes they are a little bit softer with me than they would be to, let’s say, their [male] captain.”
Remaining on the front foot is where Wright’s 15-minute rule comes in. And make sure you call back in person. “There’s a fear of conflict, everybody’s scared now to pick up the phone,” she says. “I swear, that’s going to be half the battle. It will save you time, it will save you emotion. It will save misinterpretation. You may be scared but just go in and listen. Don’t try to interject. Accept ownership, say you’ll fix it. And then fix it.”
Triggers
Equally key is to work with the next generation and the other decision-makers around the principal, who may have differing views.
Sometimes the company’s well-researched recommendations to rectify an issue – often three options based on price and time with safety at the forefront – can be usurped by “somebody who read something or saw it on TikTok or Mr. Superyacht said this or that”. This misinformation can be “frustrating” and can lead the owner down all sorts of avenues, wasting time and money, adds Wright.
“Sometimes, as a yacht manager, you’re having to validate yourself on a daily basis; we have helped you with this, saved money here; prevented that,” she says. “In the industry we need to emphasise a little bit more those real extraordinary tasks that we achieve versus the negative side elements.”
She has also learned to avoid trigger words which can set off certain owners. One disliked the word “purser” in the title of interior service roles, while another was averse to the word “refit”, which conjured images of excess time and money.
When it all gets too much, Wright dips into her private file with all the thank you emails she has received. “You read those and you’re like, this is why I continue to do what I do. There are people who appreciate what we do. Not everyone descends into the blame game,” she says.
Crew dynamic
One major challenge in modern yacht management is educating owners on the “changing crew dynamic” and the increased attention to wellbeing, expectations and benefits, particularly since Covid, according to Wright.
Many owners understand that putting the money into a good professional crew is a “great investment” and makes their experience of yachting “super smooth” and “enjoyable”, she says.
But she adds: “Some owners just don’t get it. That may be that they don’t want to pay for it or that they can’t afford it. The reality is, if your crew are not happy in their roles, it will be hard to have a great cruise.”
For all the demands, problems and swirling emotions she has to deal with, Wright says she still finds yacht management “fascinating”.
“I love the luxury of it. I like the exclusivity of it. I love the problem solving that comes with it,” she says.
“There are some extraordinary situations that occur. I love the fact that often I look at myself and say, ‘Hey, you wanted to be in that other place, but, wow, you’re sitting on the bridge of a very large vessel in Tortola right now and you’re paid to be there. How lucky is that?”
Subscribe to our free newsletter
For more opinions from Superyacht Investor, subscribe to our email newsletter.
