CASE STUDIES

TOLCHESTER MARINA
A family-owned full service marina in Maryland
Tolchester Marina has been family owned and operated since opening in 1971 and provides a welcoming, family atmosphere. Located on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, the basin has a variety of docking options for slipholders and transients alike, including fixed and floating piers and covered and open slips. Marina services include shore storage, mechanical repairs and repowers, wood and fiberglass repairs and a fully stocked parts department.
Amenities for boaters include an on-site restaurant, private beach, pool, and the popular Shanty Beach Bar, known for its sunsets, live entertainment and signature Mudslide frozen drinks.
WE LIKE BEST
Dynamic mapping
Available to all staff
Speedy reservations
Intuitive to use
No extra purchases
WHY HARBOUR ASSIST
Two factors drove the search for an alternative to Tolchester’s outdated management software – increasing numbers of transient boaters and the desire for a fast, cloud-based system.
With hundreds of transient reservations for the Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays, the team needed a solution that delivered on-the-fly updates to dockhands and an efficient way to process customers without compromising Tolchester’s friendly service.
“Harbour Assist delivered the cloud-based architecture we needed and the dynamic mapping to support our dockhands. The pricing structure was also huge for us – unlimited users and no extra modules to purchase,” said Cathy Bramble, Tolchester Marina President.
“The system is user-friendly and easy to learn. More importantly, the people behind the system are great to deal with”
IMPLEMENTATION & SUPPORT
Online demonstrations testing Harbour Assist against processes like reservations, marine services, contracts and newsletters gave Cathy Bramble the confidence to buy, with the decision coming just ahead of the 2019 season. “Nick and the team were able to spin-up our site quickly, so we were ready for the start of the season”.
On-site training was provided to all team members, including office staff, managers and dockhands. “With a fast decision process, having targeted training for the dockhands meant I didn’t have to be a middle-man before I was fully capable with the software myself” explained Aaron Bramble, Tolchester Marina VP.
BENEFITS
Harbour Assist is now an integral part of marina life for everyone at Tolchester. It’s used in the office for taking reservations, handling contracts, emailing boaters and sending marketing newsletters, and financial data is transferred into Quickbooks. “The communications history is nice because it allows me to confirm whether someone has read our emails when they aren’t responding” said Aaron Bramble.
The dockhands use it on iPads out on the docks and report positive benefits: “The map helps on busy days, and it’s faster than our previous software,” said Senior Dockhand, Eli Schut. His colleague, Brad Forsyth added: “I love that there are multiple ways to do the same thing depending on how busy you are. The different views and shortcuts really help efficiency when we’re slammed.”
In the boatyard the service manager uses the task calendar to schedule haul and launch operations and to raise quotes and invoices.
“The batch functionality allowed me to turn about a week’s worth of work into a half hour task”