Inkoon Venehotelli - Reinventing Services for Motorboat Owners
Boating is a great way to relax, but owning a boat can be stressful. Venehotelli, or the Boat Hotel in English, develops service innovations that make life for boat owners as easy as staying at a good hotel.
Venehotelli has developed the first online service where you can buy all boat-related services, just like the parts of a trip on a travel agent’s website. Just pick the model of your boat and start clicking away – washing, painting, polishing, engine service – anything you need or wish!
The beauty of this kind of a digital service is that pricing is fully transparent and transactions remain in digital memory. Further on, with integrated software all transactions and data can be converted further into activities, tasks and reports.
“We couldn’t find a benchmark for this service in our industry. So, we needed to become the pioneers and with Vencubator’s support, we are changing the game,” says CEO Kristian Räme, who took the lead of the Venehotelli when they acquired the company in 2020.
“We couldn’t find a benchmark for this service in our industry. So, we needed to become the pioneers and with Vencubator’s support, we are changing the game”
/ KRISTIAN RÄME /
A Scalable and Extendable concept
The Venehotelli facilities are by the sea in Inkoo, conveniently near both the archipelago and the Helsinki metropolitan area.
The physical core of the Venehotelli concept is a “dry stack storage,” where boats are stacked on a multilevel rack. In five stories, to be exact. Venehotelli originally adopted the idea from the US, and since 2011, has been the only “dry stack storage” located by the sea with its own service marina for boats in Finland. Venehotelli is one of just a handful in Northern Europe.
For boat owners, a “rack berth” at Venehotelli means that the boat is always ready and available, and just a three-minute forklift drive away from the sea. For cities and local communities, dry stacking by Venehotelli means that they can use their precious shore more efficiently, as it can reduce land area per boat by approximately 75%.
“When we bought Venehotelli, we never bought just a building full of boats, but a scalable concept that has future potential if we just shape it,” Kristian says. “We had a great base to build upon. We keep expanding it with new elements in the business and by enhancing the user experience,” he continues.
As easy as life at a good hotel
The mission of Venehotelli is to make boat ownership so easy that anyone can dare to own a boat, and even those who are fed up with the hassle can continue enjoying the Finnish archipelago – one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on earth.
In Finland, winter storage is the service that every owner of a modern motorboat needs. The boats arrive at the hotel in the fall, and just like at a good spa hotel, they enjoy a variety of treats.
"We house more than 400 boats every year. When the boats come in, we wash them from the inside out", Kristian explains and continues to describe the check-in procedure. "We review the owners online service requests and may suggest additional services if something is missing. We take full responsibility for the boat, and the owners decide their level of involvement."
Boats with modern engines and electrical systems are increasingly more complex, and their owners are less and less motivated to do all the required maintenance work by themselves. Even Finns who usually take pride in being handy, are now willing to buy these services.
There are vast empty mid-floor spaces in the 2400m2 halls where 15 – 20 professionals work on the boats during the winter in stable +12-degree circumstances. Unlike at most other storages, if someone was to come and get their boat in the middle of the winter from Venehotelli, the boat is ready to leave whenever needed because it's not in the middle of a hall among dozens of other vessels on the floor.
"We even pick up the boats from their homes and drive them to the hotel if the customer is uncomfortable crossing open seas or if the winter surprises by coming early. And when checking out of the hotel, we make sure that the boats are refueled before they leave our dock. As one of our customers said, "You recognize good service when you bump into it," Kristian says with a proud smile on his tanned face.
Venehotelli specializes in modern mid-size motorboats up to 13 meters in length. The volume of serviced boats and their service histories constitute a unique database that enables both efficient service work and proactive service suggestions to the customers online.
Automating and moving everything online
Automating and moving everything online had never been done in this industry before, so it required a lot of determination and perseverance.
"Vencubator has been a huge support for us in this process. Once we have done the groundwork and they have seen the potential benefits, they have always encouraged us to move forward," Kristian says.
According to Kristian, the technical part of developing an online service has been the easy part of the process. Bringing in different configurations and background data has increased the degree of difficulty. There are hundreds of boat brands with thousands of boat models in several sizes, a dozen engine brands, and hundreds of engine models. The creation of new SKU’s is a never-ending effort.
Still, committing to a fixed price before executing the job has been the biggest challenge of them all. Every painted square meter or waxed lineal meter must be considered beforehand. In more detail, the team needs to know how many layers of paint a specific boat model requires, as well as how many hours of work, how much tape, and how much paint thinner is needed. Now, Venehotelli has developed a formula that counts each boat type's square meters and prices.
Kristian says Venehotelli couldn't have done it without over a decade's worth of data and thousands of repetitions of service activities - "We just had to take the leap of faith to make the change and to be first movers in this complex industry."
Online everything is very transparent and clear, which marks a significant transition in an industry that used to be a bit mysterious, if not downright shady. This has contributed to the fact that Venehotelli has multiplied its revenue in the past few years.
The online service frees up more time for personal customer service and to develop the company on all fronts, including sustainability.
sustainability, venehotelli and vencubator
Venehotelli takes sustainability into account on all fronts. The massive buildings of 80 000 m3 have led lighting, geothermal heating, and sprinklers. There have been charging stations for electric cars for a while already. If there is an eco-friendly alternative for a boat care product, Venehotelli is probably already using it.
“In front of our building, visitors can see a groundbreaking environmental effort in plain sight. The company has invested in an active-coal water cleaning facility for the boat washing station. No toxins in the sea!” Kristian explains.
Kristian has a master’s in economics and a long career working globally for international corporations such as KONE and Marinetek. He talks about his love for the sea and how he has been able to combine his hobby with his work life. "I think we excel at what we do because we can identify with our customers. I have, for example, never been good at managing a boat or taking care of the engine, so we have divided the tasks and have an authorized expert for each job. We always ensure the boat leaves in better condition than it was when arriving."
“Having Vencubator as our partner, always giving constructive feedback and support when needed, has also been of great help. We agree on all essential issues, including sustainability. Our cooperation includes just the necessary amount of reporting, and everything is adjusted according to company size. We have a solid and dynamic team at Venehotelli, while Vencubator has the resources and assets we sometimes need,” Kristian ends with a smile reaching up to his eyes.