Fill the boats. The system does the paperwork.
A boat booking system for canal boat and narrowboat hire: short breaks and weeks booked on your own website, crew details taken at booking, the handover slot fixed, and the damage deposit held and released without anyone at a keyboard.
The jobs that come with a boat.
A crew to brief at the wharf. A boat back by nine that goes out again at two. A balance still owing the week before, and a deposit to return once the boat has been checked. Most boat rental booking software holds the dates and nothing else.
Crew list in, handover booked, deposit held.
Nobody needs a driving licence to take a boat on the canals, so nobody is asked for one. The booking records the crew instead: who is aboard, how many, and the lead hirer’s details. The handover is a timed slot, so the tuition happens before the boat leaves the wharf, and the refundable damage deposit is held on the hirer’s card without debiting it.
- Crew list and party size taken at booking; no licence step
- Handover as a timed slot on departure day, set per boat
- Pre-arrival email: where the wharf is, when to arrive, what to bring
- Damage deposit pre-authorised, released after your inspection window*
* Supported in full with Opayo, Booqello’s preferred merchant payment provider — see integrations.
Coastway Motorhomes — the hirer’s “before you go” page. A boat operator’s version carries the wharf, the handover time and the boat’s own guide.
Coastway Motorhomes — the day view. At a boatyard it shows this morning’s returns and this afternoon’s departures.
Back by nine, out by two, and nothing booked into the gap.
Every boat has its own calendar with a turnaround buffer built in, so a return and a departure cannot be sold back to back unless you allow it. Return windows and handover slots are set per boat. The day view shows the wharf as you work it: which boats are due back, which crews are arriving, and what is still outstanding on each.
- Per-boat calendars with turnaround buffers for cleaning and checks
- Return windows and handover slots you control
- Day view: returns, departures, payment and paperwork at a glance
- Condition reports with photos at handover and return
Three nights midweek, seven in August, priced per boat.
Minimum stays are rules you set per boat and per season: a three-night short break in the shoulder months, a full week in peak season. Rate cards follow the season. Extras are yours to define: a dog aboard, bikes on the roof, bedding and towels, a second pump-out.
- Minimum nights and departure days per boat and per season
- Seasonal rate cards and discount codes for returning crews
- Deposit at booking, balance collected on your schedule
- Pay Monthly instalments on a week’s hire
Coastway Motorhomes — the hirer picks dates and slots, and the quote follows. Changeover days are blocked either side of every booking.
Your side, their side, and everything in between.
Three screens from the same deployment: the calendar for the whole fleet, the rate card by boat and month, and the portal where the crew manage the booking.
You see the whole fleet. One row per boat, every night, and the changeover gaps.
Rates by boat and by month. Short-break and peak-week pricing, feeding the quote directly.
The crew manage it themselves. Balance, extras and arrival details.
Every screen above is from Coastway Motorhomes, one of the four deployments we keep standing. A boat operator’s version carries the same screens with the boats, the wharf and the words you use.
What a boat hire business actually pays.
Boats are priced the same way as every other sector: a rate per boat per month, everything included, with no setup fee and no commission. The same £29 minimum and £199 cap apply. The boat rate is not published yet, so yours is confirmed in writing before you commit.
Common questions from canal boat hire operators
Our crews don’t need a licence. Will the system keep asking for one?
No. The licence step and the driver paperwork are switches, and they are off for a boatyard. The lead hirer gives their details and the crew headcount, and that is the form.
How do we handle the handover and tuition?
The handover is a timed slot on departure day, set per boat, so crews arrive spaced out rather than all at once. The pre-arrival email tells them when to be at the wharf and what to bring, and the boat’s own guide sits in their portal.
What about the damage deposit?
Pre-authorised on the hirer’s card before departure — held, not taken. After the boat is back, the hold releases automatically once your inspection window passes, or you charge against it with the evidence attached.
We run short breaks and weeks with fixed departure days. Can it do that?
Yes. Minimum nights and departure days are rules per boat and per season, so a Friday-to-Monday short break and a Saturday-to-Saturday week sit in the same calendar without colliding.
Is this boat charter booking software as well?
Skippered day charters are seats on a date rather than a boat away for a week, and are not something Booqello takes on at the moment. Self-drive holiday hire, where the crew takes the boat away for a break, is what this page describes.
We have two bases. Does that work?
Handover slots and return windows are set per boat, and the pre-arrival email tells each crew which wharf to come to. One-way hires between bases are a conversation for the call rather than a promise here.
We have bookings in another system. What is involved in moving?
Your boats, rates, rules, extras and documents are rebuilt in Booqello for you, with no setup fee. Forward bookings depend on what your current system will let you export; tell us which one you use and you will get a straight answer before you commit.
See it run a changeover day.
Book a demonstration and we will set the system up as your boatyard before the call.