BEST KNOWN FOR REPRESENTING PRINCESS YACHTS, BOAT LAGOON YACHTING IS RENOWNED FOR ITS SPECTACULAR BOAT SHOW DISPLAYS AND POPULAR RENDEZVOUS.
BEST KNOWN FOR REPRESENTING PRINCESS YACHTS, BOAT LAGOON YACHTING IS RENOWNED FOR ITS SPECTACULAR BOAT SHOW DISPLAYS AND POPULAR RENDEZVOUS.
ONE OF THE region’s largest yacht dealerships, Boat Lagoon Yachting has this year underlined its reputation by staging its biggest Princess Yachts Rendezvous in Phuket and dominating the Singapore Yacht Show with a 13-yacht display.
Founded in Thailand in 1995, Boat Lagoon Yachting is best known for representing Princess Yachts in key Southeast Asian markets – Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia – as well as the Maldives.
Today, the company employs 70 staff across eight offices in five countries, and specialises in yacht sales, management, charter, maintenance, after-sales and crew training.
CEO Vrit Yongsakul is particularly proud of how his company has grown the Phuket rendezvous for owners, of which he is one.
“We are the first to start such a rendezvous of this scale in this region, with more than 200 people from different countries,” Vrit said. “It was very helpful as the sales process has also been growing because of clients and us using the boats.”
The father of three, who spent 14 years in the UK, purchased the first Princess 66 in 1994 during the development of the Phuket Boat Lagoon marina and started the company’s dealership arm a year later.
“The idea of being a dealer was fairly natural for us since we wanted to be happy with owning such a boat and understood what fellow owners needed. Buying a good product is easy, but enjoying it afterwards is much more challenging, and that’s how the dealership began and then grew.”
During their long relationship, Boat Lagoon Yachting and Princess have collaborated to organise events with other luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Johnnie Walker Reserve and Bentley.
In fact, one of Boat Lagoon Yachting’s other highlights this year was the Asia-Pacific premiere of the Princess S60 alongside a Bentley Continental GT3 at Marina Bay in late March, ahead of the Singapore Yacht Show.
And at the seventh Singapore Yacht Show itself, in early April, Boat Lagoon Yachting was arguably the dominant presence at ONE˚15 Marina, managing a display of 13 yachts, including 11 Princess models, all in front of the main entrance to the on-water display.
Historically, the company’s strong link with Princess has benefited from the hire of several former Princess employees, including Head of Sales Alister Brunskill, a Princess employee for six years.
Boat Lagoon Yachting also hosts workshops and trainings for its management and service teams in Phuket, or flies them to the UK’s Power and Motor Yacht Academy for further education.
“We are very strong,” Vrit said. “We are able to combine boating activities, wonderful experience and real boating knowledge from the days the staff were working at Princess in the UK. And we are probably the only company who have invested so heavily in staff training.”
In 2007, Boat Lagoon Cruises was founded to cater to charter requests, mainly from Thailand and occasionally from Singapore and the Maldives. Brunskill sees great potential in Indonesia becoming Asia’s next popular yachting destination.
“Indonesia is developing very quickly and there’s a huge group of high net worth individuals with lots of disposable income,” Brunskill said. “It also opens the door more to visiting yachts so the market will see more yachting lifestyle.”
Over the years, Boat Lagoon Yachting has expanded its portfolio of dealerships, which now includes Jeanneau (in Thailand and Singapore from 2015), Prestige (in Thailand from 2015) and Wider (in Thailand from 2014).
As well as new yachts, the company also sells pre-owned yachts, with 60-65 per cent bought by repeat owners.
One loyal customer has bought 14 yachts from the company, a hefty endorsement of Boat Lagoon Yachting’s tradition of putting owners first.
Above: In Singapore, Boat Lagoon Yachting helped Princess announce the yard’s partnership with Bentley.
