Hermes Yachting Case Study: From Scattered Notes to a Seamless Operation

Operating from Greece, Hermes Yachting manages a fleet of 18 yacht sailing yachts and catamarans with a busy summer season and intense turnaround days every Friday and Saturday. In January 2024, Hermes switched from Sailsense to Floatist to streamline their yacht management and base operations, looking for a more advanced, fast and user friendly application to suit their needs.

Two years later, Hermes has completely restructured how their team manages check-ins, maintenance, and internal communication. This results in less hours of manual work each week and eliminates the chaos of scattered spreadsheets and notes.

Before Floatist

Like many established fleet operators, Hermes had already tried to digitalize part of their workflow. Before Floatist, they used Sailsense and several other tools to keep their operation running. But as their fleet and team grew, so did the complexity. The same happened to Brug Jachtverhuur.

“Before we started with Floatist, we were managing everything in notes, Excel, and papers. We had one Excel for the technical team, another for the base team, and separate notes for the office. Sometimes, our notes app even crashed because of the number of photos we stored. It was impossible to keep track of everything.”

Turnaround days were stressful, and winter maintenance had become a logistical puzzle of updates scattered across files and folders. Hermes was also struggling to find and retain skilled staff, which made it crucial to find a way to reduce workload through automation and clear task structures. “We were searching for digital solutions like Floatist to reduce our workload and make everything faster and more efficient.”

The Solution

Vaggelis discovered Floatist, the leading charter operations and fleet management system available in the yachting industry, in mid-2023 and officially started using it in January 2024. Coming from Sailsense, the team was curious but quickly impressed by how intuitive Floatist felt.

From the very beginning, Hermes and Floatist worked closely together. The Hermes team provided feedback on features like winter maintenance projects, checklists, and inspections, and Floatist quickly adapted to their operational needs. “From the beginning, communication with the Floatist team was great. We shared feedback and ideas, and within a few weeks, many of them were already implemented.”

The Results

1. Turnarounds in Half the Time

Before Floatist, check-ins could take anywhere from 45 minutes to over two hours per yacht. With Floatist’s digital guest app and pre-check-in flow, Hermes reduced this to just 20–30 minutes per yacht, using only one base team member per check-in.

“Now, guests complete most of the check-in process themselves through the Floatist app. We only spend about 15 minutes at the start and another 10–15 minutes at the end to review everything. One person can handle a check-in in about 30 minutes maximum.”

This streamlined process saves hours every turnaround day and ensures a consistent guest experience, with photos and checklists automatically logged in the system. “With Floatist, you can add photos and instantly share a copy of the check-in with the client. That’s a big advantage.”

2. Organized Task System

Hermes’ winter maintenance process was once spread across multiple Excel files and note apps, often crashing or losing data. Floatist centralized everything into one structured system. “We used to have three different spreadsheets. One for the technical team, one for the base team, and one for the office. Now everything is inside Floatist, with clear steps like ‘started’, ‘awaiting parts’, and ‘waiting for invoice’. It’s all in one place and easy to filter.”

This unified task flow eliminated confusion and unnecessary back-and-forth between the base and technical departments. Everyone can now see what’s been done, what’s waiting, and what still needs attention.

3. Inspections and Saturday Routines

Hermes uses Floatist’s inspection templates to manage Saturday morning preparations. Things like connecting shore power, securing fenders, and checking valves. “The inspection module was a very nice upgrade for us. I can now add around 15 preparation tasks for every yacht, and the base team follows the same list each Saturday morning.”

The next improvement Hermes requested was collaborative editing, allowing multiple team members to work on the same inspection simultaneously. This feature is now in Floatist’s roadmap, inspired directly by Hermes’ workflow. “Often one team member starts the inspection, but another needs to finish it. We need to be able to continue where someone else left off.”

The Impact

Hermes Yachting’s shift to Floatist transformed how their base operates. From turnaround speed to communication, accountability, and customer experience. The team gained visibility, structure, and valuable time back, resulting in more revenue.

Floatist helped Hermes reduce check-in time by over 50%, eliminate redundant Excel sheets, and bring every maintenance and service task under one roof. All while giving guests a smoother, more professional experience. And it’s noticeable by the resulting reviews.

Hermes’ story is familiar to many charter operators: running a growing fleet with limited people, endless Excel files, and constant pressure to deliver perfect turnaround days.

Floatist replaces that chaos with structure. A single, shared workspace where your entire operation runs smoothly, from winter maintenance to Friday check-ins.

If your team spends too much time managing tasks instead of completing them, Hermes’ experience shows what happens when everything starts flowing in one place.