The important role of interior crew on board superyachts is becoming increasingly recognised. Without a doubt, this is due in large part to the Professional Yachting Association (PYA) and its establishment of Guidelines for Unified Excellence in Service Training (GUEST) standards.

The crew are aware of the GUEST courses, and now it’s time for the industry to be aware of the value of meeting and maintaining high standards of service on board. After all, charter brokers will want to know if they’re putting to their clients a yacht whose interior crew is working to these established standards expected in the incredibly niche superyacht industry, or if the crew has simply come with some waitressing experience.

As a result, the PYA is putting on its second interactive day aimed at charter brokers and yacht managers and ship builders, to showcase the type of training offered through the GUEST programme. The day will give charter brokers a better understanding of the service aspect of what they are offering their clients, yacht managers a better understanding of the level of service required on board to keep owners and guests happy, and shipbuilders will get a better understanding of the ins and outs of interior service, about which designers at SuperyachtDESIGN Week earlier this year claimed they were keen to learn more.

After the previous day, Fiona Maureso, MYBA president (MYBA is supporting the initiative and the workshop) and charter director at Northrop & Johnson, told The Crew Report, “I’m going to be asking different questions when I step on board now. I will certainly be trying to understand the way the crew unpack and pack guests’ suitcase, the way they turn down the beds and the way they deal with laundry, and things like that.”

At this point Joey Meen, training and certification director at the PYA, added, “I think many of the charter brokers felt that they didn’t know if interior crew had the training, and many of them wanted to ask the question to find out if they did. If this goes to plan, it will be the industry that takes charge of the level of knowledge that interior crew have on board.”

Due to the popularity of the first PYA GUEST day for the industry, held earlier this year, the PYA has decided to hold the workshop the day after the superyacht industry’s most anticipated event of the year, the Global Superyacht Forum, which sees top industry professionals come together for three days of expert discussion.

The Global Superyacht Forum is taking place from Monday 16th to Wednesday 18th November, and the PYA GUEST workshop (endorsed by MYBA and supported by the International Superyacht Society), is taking place on Thursday 19th November, in Amsterdam.

Find out why the GUEST programme and your attendance at the Awareness Day is important here.

To register for the event, click here, or to read more about the first PYA GUEST awareness day, click here.

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