Virtuoso Preferred partner, Ahoy Club Yacht Charters, recently treated a group of luxury travel advisors, along with the Virtuoso hierarchy – including Chairman and CEO Matthew Upchurch – to lunch at the extravagant ANZ Residence towering over the Sydney CBD.
Founded in 2018 by the Sydney-based Malouf family, seasoned yacht owners and charterers, Ahoy Club offers a more seamless way for customers to charter a private yacht. In founding Ahoy Club, the Malouf’s primary motivation was to bring best-in-class customer service to the industry. This was based on their personal experience and knowledge that those looking to charter a private yacht expect – a premium and high-touch customer experience, every step of the way.
Subscribe to LATTE’s free eNewsletter to keep up to date with everything in the luxury travel industry.
Ahoy Club set out to do this by creating the world’s first digital marketplace for superyachts, a platform that providers their clients unrivalled choice and purpose-built technology that is underpinned by global travel expertise.
Today Ahoy Club has the world’s largest online selection of over 4,000 yachts, the industry’s best chartering technology and seven-star customer service. The business is on the brink of becoming the fastest-growing yacht charter company in the world.
Whilst Ahoy Club is known for their expertise within the private charter industry, they’re also known for bringing luxury to life through events and travel experiences – which aligns perfectly with that of the Virtuoso luxury and experiential travel network. Ahoy Club also has an array of sub-brands travel partners can access such as private planes, day- and term-charters, event management and more.
Virtuoso signed Ahoy Club as a cruise partner in 2020, which was part of the charterer’s vision to educate travel partners on their unique experience to make the world of chartering more discoverable. This includes webinars on everything such as itineraries, seasons, costs, VAT, how to select the right boat and more.
The event was held at the ANZ Residence when Virtuoso Chairman and CEO, Matthew Upchurch was in Sydney between the Adelaide Forum and the start of ATE 2022.
Lead image, at ANZ Residence from left are: Alison Lord, Travel Associates; Karen Majsay, Travel Associates; Jenni Davis, Travel Associates; Michael Londregan, Virtuoso; Debbie Collins, Spencer Travel; Evan Pierce, Virtuoso; Fiona Dalton, Virtuoso, Michele Duncan, Virtuoso; Kelly Gelfland, Tribe Travel & Events, Mandy Dwyer, Main Beach Travel; Matthew Upchurch, Virtuoso; Penny Spencer, Spencer Travel; Sharyn Kitchener, Mosman Travel; Gloria Gammo, SmartFlyer; and Mike Dwyer, Main Beach Travel.