The operating desk for charter companies

CharterDesk

Fill the boat. Ready the crew. Leave the dock on time.

CharterDesk is the managed front desk for charter operators: every call and text answered in seconds, trips booked, waivers chased, and a weekly report showing what it earned you — without replacing the booking system you already trust.

See how it works
Prefer to talk? Call (754) 432-1857.
$199/mo flat — no cut of your bookings$0 setup fee30 days to prove the fit

How the front desk works

01
We answer

Calls and texts answered in seconds — after hours, on the water, mid-trip. Nothing goes to voicemail.

02
We book and chase

Trips get booked, waivers go out and get chased, crew notes get logged.

03
You see everything

One queue plus a weekly email showing exactly what the front desk earned you.

What your guests would see.

This is the instant estimate a guest could get on your website — powered by CharterDesk. Change the inputs; the estimate updates live. Nothing is sent or saved.

Your trip

7 days
8

Your estimated range

LOW ESTIMATE—
HIGH ESTIMATE—
PER GUEST—
Planning estimate from typical small-vessel operator rate bands for the chosen destination, trip length, and party size. Treat it as a starting point — exact quotes come from the operators themselves.

Want this on your website?

Leave your details and we'll show you how this estimator — and the front desk behind it — plugs into your operation.

Why this problem is real

Operators already pay to fix the missed calls and messy follow-up around a booking.

Established tour platforms report gains from cleaner booking journeys, completed waivers, and connected operations. Those results support the problem, not this product. CharterDesk will earn its own case with measured trial results.

8,800+

waivers completed in two months

In a published case study, FareHarbor says Jolly Pirates reached 100% pre-departure waiver completion after linking waivers to bookings.

28.3%

reported average conversion lift

FareHarbor reports this average for operators using its website product. The useful lesson: the path from interest to booking can matter as much as lead volume.

5

operating jobs beyond booking

RocketRez describes five recurring needs for boat operators: scheduling, booking, guest communication, fleet coordination, and reseller communication.

Fishing charter boats docked at the marina before departure
The problem is real: you're on the water while the calls go to voicemail.

The work that happens around the booking.

Keep the reservation system you know. CharterDesk picks up the loose ends around it, so guest information reaches the right person before it turns into a dockside problem.

WHEN AN INQUIRY ARRIVES

Give every lead an owner

Capture the trip details that matter and make the next reply obvious.

  • Calls, texts, and web leads together
  • Trip fit and availability captured early
  • A clear owner and next action
ONCE THE TRIP IS BOOKED

Clear the departure checklist

Show the captain, crew, and guests exactly what remains before departure.

  • Waiver and manifest status
  • Useful reminders, sent on time
  • A concise brief for the captain
AFTER THE BOAT RETURNS

Close the loop

Finish the admin while the trip is fresh and keep the relationship warm.

  • Outstanding actions in one place
  • Review requests at the right moment
  • Notes for the next booking

Nothing lost between stages.

The booking stays in your current system. CharterDesk carries the practical context forward, so the same guest details do not have to be found and typed again at each step between inquiry and follow-up.

Inquiry

Record party size, trip type, preferred date, and the questions still open.

Booking

Keep the reservation where it is and attach the working checklist around it.

Departure

Bring waiver status, guest notes, and crew actions into one dock brief.

Follow-up

Queue the right review request, rebooking note, or weather follow-up.

KEEP USINGYour booking engine and payment process
SEE IN ONE PLACEGuest and crew actions before they are late
STOP CHASINGScattered spreadsheets and last-minute surprises

A working view of the operation.

Console

Booking pipeline

No lead is left without a next move.

DEMO DATA
InquiryTripNext actionStatus
Morgan party — 6 guestsReef charterConfirm dateNeeds reply
Taylor party — bachelor tripWreck diveWaiver linkBooked
Rivera party — repeat guestPrivate charterNoneReady

Departure checks

Catch missing details while there is still time to fix them.

DEMO DATA
Manifests complete2 / 2
Waivers complete9 / 10
Special notes2
Ready
Reef charterManifest and waivers complete
Action
Wreck diveOne waiver reminder queued

Follow-up queue

Keep follow-up work out of your head and in the queue.

DEMO DATA
Today
Review requestSend after captain closes trip
+ 7 days
Repeat-guest noteOffer next suitable departure
Hold
Weather cancellationAwait new-date preference

Your booking system records the sale. CharterDesk runs the work around it.

Charter fishing boat at sunset in a Florida marina
Between the booking and the departure, the phone never stops.

A reservation is the start of the work.

From the first reply to the review request, someone still has to move the right information to the right person. CharterDesk makes that work visible.

  • 01Guest details are scattered across booking notes, email, texts, and waiver tools.
  • 02Missing details surface when the guest is already at the dock.
  • 03Reviews and repeat bookings depend on someone remembering to follow up.
CapabilityBooking engineSpreadsheetCharterDesk
Take payment●—Connects
Track inquiry next stepVariesManual●
Flag guest readinessVariesManual●
Create dock brief—Manual●
Queue post-trip actionsVariesManual●

Put a price on the hours lost to admin.

Start with a typical week

Use your own numbers. Nothing is sent or saved.

25
8
45 min

What that workload costs

WEEKLY ADMIN8.1h
MONTHLY LABOR VALUE$878
VALUE / $199 FEE4.4×
Model: 5 minutes per inquiry + selected admin time per departure, 4.33 weeks/month, and $25/hour operator-time value. Change the inputs; treat the result as a hypothesis for trial measurement.
A note from the founder

Why I'm building this

I'm Aurélien, CEO of CharterDesk. Charter operators lose real bookings to missed calls and messy follow-up — and the booking software they already pay for doesn't close those gaps. I started CharterDesk to be the front desk I couldn't find: every call answered, every waiver chased, every trip followed up, with a weekly report that shows exactly what it earned. The founding trial is how we prove it — one operation, thirty days, judged on calls caught and hours saved. If it doesn't earn its keep, you don't pay.

— Aurélien

Our team

The person behind the front desk

One founder, one front desk. Here is who runs CharterDesk and how the work gets done.

Aurélien Portuese, founder of CharterDesk

Aurélien Portuese

Professor of Economics, University of Miami

Founder & CEO, CharterDesk

Charter operators lose real bookings to missed calls and messy follow-up — and the booking software they already pay for doesn't close those gaps. I started CharterDesk to be the front desk I couldn't find: every call answered, every waiver chased, every trip followed up, with a weekly report that shows exactly what it earned.

One operation. Thirty days. A fair test.

FOUNDING TRIAL
$199/ month if the trial proves useful

No setup fee and no booking-system migration. The $199 price is part of the trial offer and will be confirmed with participating operators.

  • No card required to start.
  • Cancel anytime with one email.
  • You own your guest data — export or delete it whenever you want.
  • Day 30: continue at $199/mo only if you can point to the value.
  • Every call and text answered in seconds
  • No-shows and gaps caught before departure
  • Waivers sent out and chased
  • Departure dock brief
  • Post-trip follow-up handled
  • Weekly report on what you earned

Straight answers before you commit.

No. The trial wraps around the booking system you already use, answering the calls, texts, and follow-ups it doesn't consistently close.
Not in the founding trial. Payments remain in the operator’s current booking and payment system.
No. It is an interactive product preview built from generic demonstration entries. It shows the intended workflow without implying customers, revenue, or integrations that do not yet exist.
Hands-on dive, fishing, and small-vessel charter operators with recurring guest communications, waiver checks, and plenty of pre-departure details to track.
That's exactly what the founding trial installs and judges: a front desk that answers your overflow calls and texts in seconds — after hours, on the water, mid-trip — books the trip, and logs everything in your queue with a clear next action. The trial's job is to prove it on your real departures before you pay anything.
The trial is scoped around your leak: most operators start with after-hours and on-the-water coverage — the calls going to voicemail today. Exact hours are agreed when we map your workflow in week one.
No. Calls forward from your existing number. Nothing to install, nothing to learn on the boat.
It's yours. Guest details stay in your systems; CharterDesk carries copies to do the work. Export or delete everything anytime with one email.
Payments stay in your current booking system during the trial. We don't replace your reservations, your merchant account, or your crew — we run the work around them.
One email. No retention call, no dark patterns. If the month didn't earn its keep, you walk away with your data.

Run one month of real departures through CharterDesk.

Prefer to talk? Call (754) 432-1857.

Boats at a marina at sunset
The water never waits.But your front desk can always be there.