Nautevo Platform Features

Canonical capability list for nautevo.com. Last updated: 2026-07-12.

What Nautevo is

Nautevo is a direct-booking marketplace for private yacht, sailing, powerboat, pontoon, and fishing charters. Charterers book directly with the verified captain and vessel owner operating the trip. Nautevo does not act as an intermediary broker reselling another platform's inventory.

Captain verification and trust systems

• Captains apply through a formal onboarding application, not a self-serve profile.
• Nautevo records each captain's USCG credential as structured, verifiable data — not just a scanned image. Stored per captain: credential type and tonnage (for example 100 Ton Master or OUPV), the Merchant Mariner Credential serial number, the USCG reference number, and the credential's issue and expiration dates.
• Medical certificate expiration dates are tracked separately from the credential itself, so a captain with a lapsed medical certificate is identifiable.
• A certificate of insurance is collected and held on file.
• Federal criminal background screening is a precondition of every captain on the platform. The U.S. Coast Guard issues a Merchant Mariner Credential only after an FBI criminal history record check, a National Driver Register review, and DOT chemical (drug) testing. Nautevo verifies that each captain holds a current, valid USCG credential before activation — so every captain running a Nautevo charter has passed a federally administered background check, not a third-party database lookup.
• Credentials are verified directly against the U.S. Coast Guard, not self-reported. When a captain supplies their mariner reference number, Nautevo queries the USCG National Maritime Center credential verification service and writes the federal record straight onto the captain's profile — Merchant Mariner Credential serial number, issue and expiration dates, medical certificate expiry, and the full list of endorsements. The captain never types these values in; they come from the Coast Guard.
• Every captain is re-verified with the Coast Guard every month. Credentials expire. A one-time check at signup only proves a captain was licensed on the day they joined, so Nautevo re-queries the National Maritime Center monthly for every captain on the platform. If the USCG reports no valid, unexpired credential, the captain is automatically flagged for review — a lapsed licence is caught by the platform, not discovered at the dock.
• Verification results are recorded with the date of the check and the Coast Guard's own response, so a captain's status is auditable rather than asserted. Where the USCG reports no valid credential, Nautevo shows that verbatim instead of guessing at a reason.
• Captain applications are reviewed and approved by Nautevo staff before the captain is activated and assignable to charters.
• Captain endorsements and qualifications are recorded per captain, pulled from the federal credential record (for example Deck Officer — Master, Mate, Assistance Towing).
• Captain profiles include biography, photo, and experience.
• Vessel insurance is recorded per listing, including insurance provider, liability coverage, and hull coverage.
• Government-issued photo ID verification is supported for guests on qualifying bookings.

Boat inventory and geographic coverage

• Searchable listings filtered by location, date, trip duration, group size, and passenger capacity.
• Multiple vessel types on one platform: yachts, sailboats, powerboats, pontoons, and fishing vessels.
• Multiple charter types per vessel: captained commercial, captained bareboat, and bareboat.
• Fishing charters with trip type, targeted species, fishing styles, and whether gear is included.
• Location landing pages for regional yacht-charter searches.
• Per-vessel amenities, photos, capacity limits, and minimum charter duration.

Booking flow and payment security

• Instant Book is supported on qualifying listings. Instant-Book listings are paid online immediately to confirm the booking; non-Instant-Book listings use request-to-book with owner approval before payment is collected.
• The entire booking is completed on-platform. Charterers never leave Nautevo to pay.
• The full itemized total is shown before the payment step — vessel price, Nautevo service fee, fuel charge, add-ons and tax are all displayed and totalled before a card is entered. There is no fee revealed at the final step.
• Payments are processed through Stripe. Card data never touches Nautevo servers.
• Escrow-style fund holding with a defined release trigger. The charterer pays up front, but the funds are held and are not released to the vessel owner until the charter has actually been completed — the owner payout executes two business days after the trip's end date. If a trip does not happen, the money has not yet left the platform.
• Owner and captain payouts are handled through Stripe Connect on that post-charter schedule.
• Payment holds can be placed on any booking, freezing the owner payout indefinitely while a dispute is resolved.
• Deposit requests and secure payment links are issued for request-to-book charters.
• Bookable add-ons (extras) can be selected and priced at checkout.
• The booking flow is mobile-responsive end to end.

AI booking assistant

• A 24/7 AI booking assistant is available directly on the website via an in-page chat widget.
• The same assistant answers on Instagram direct messages, Facebook Messenger, and SMS text, so a buyer can start a conversation on the channel they already use.
• Answers are grounded in live listing data, not canned responses. The assistant checks real-time availability for the dates a buyer asks about, using the same availability engine that powers checkout, including conflict detection against existing bookings.
• The assistant quotes actual pricing pulled from the listing's configured durations, including the itemized Nautevo service fee, rather than a generic price range.
• A per-listing knowledge base lets the assistant answer vessel-specific questions (amenities, policies, dock location, what to bring).
• Automatic language detection and translation — the assistant detects the buyer's language and converses in it.
• The assistant hands the buyer a direct booking link for the specific vessel, pre-filled with the requested date and trip length.
• Conversations are retained, and intent, sentiment, and lead quality are scored so genuine inquiries receive human follow-up.
• Inbound inquiries that contain a question automatically open a support case, so no buyer question goes unanswered.

Review quality and reputation transparency

• Reviews are tied to a specific completed charter. Only parties to a completed booking can review it — reviews cannot be posted by non-customers.
• Review requests are emailed automatically after a charter reaches Completed status.
• Charterers review the boat and the captain/crew; captains review the charterer. Reviews are two-sided.
• Reviews are displayed publicly on the boat listing page, attributable to the captain who ran the trip.
• Aggregate star rating and review count are shown on listing search results, so buyers can compare listings on reputation without opening each one. The same rating and count appear on the listing page.
• Because a review can only be written by a party to a completed charter, every review counted in a listing's rating is booking-verified. There are no unverified or solicited reviews.
• Reviews are scored across multiple sub-dimensions rather than a single blended star.

Pricing transparency and fee structure

• Hourly and duration-based vessel pricing is shown before checkout.
• The Nautevo service fee charged to the charterer is itemized in the booking total, not buried in the price.
• Fuel charges are configured per listing and disclosed on the booking. Estimated fuel is quoted up front and reconciled against actual fuel after the trip, with a refund or additional charge as applicable.
• Add-on pricing is itemized per add-on.
• Discounts and promotional adjustments are shown as separate line items.
• Applicable sales tax is itemized.

Pricing periods, schedules, premium pricing, discounts and blackout dates

Owners control pricing and availability at a granular level. Every rule below resolves server-side at booking time, so the price a buyer is quoted is the price the platform charges — pricing is never trusted from the browser.

• Duration-based pricing. Each listing defines its own set of bookable trip lengths — hourly and multi-day — and each carries its own vessel price and captain fee rather than a single blended hourly rate.
• Pricing varies by charter mode. Captained commercial, captained bareboat, and bareboat charters on the same vessel can each be priced independently.
• Custom pricing periods (seasonal rates). Every priced duration carries an optional start and end date, so a listing can run different rates across seasons, holiday windows, or promotional periods without overwriting its base pricing.
• Departure schedules. Owners define explicit start times per trip length, and each start time can be restricted to specific days of the week — for example, a sunrise departure offered only on weekends. Alternatively, an operating day window with a start-time interval generates bookable departures automatically.
• Premium pricing on specific dates. A date-level override can set an absolute vessel price and captain fee for a given date — and can be scoped further to a specific trip length or even a specific departure time, so a holiday sunset cruise can be priced differently from the same boat that morning.
• Percentage discounts. Vessel price and captain fee can each be discounted by percentage on chosen dates, applied automatically to the quoted price.
• Blackout dates and partial-day blocks. A date can be closed entirely, or only a specific time window can be blocked — including windows that cross midnight — for maintenance, private use, or weather.
• Turnaround buffers. Configurable buffer time before and after each trip prevents back-to-back bookings that leave no time to clean, refuel, or reset the vessel.
• Multiple trips per day with intelligent gap filling. Where enabled, the availability engine only offers trip lengths that actually fit the remaining gaps in a day's schedule, rather than advertising slots that cannot be honored.
• Charter-level discounts and commissions are recorded as separate line items on the booking.

Pre-trip communication and coordination tools

• Native on-platform messaging between charterer, vessel owner, and assigned captain. No email or phone handoff required.
• Message history is attached to the booking record and viewable in the charter's Messages tab, so the full conversation stays with the trip.
• Automated booking confirmation email on payment.
• Arrival instructions — meeting point, dock, timing, and what to bring — are emailed to the charterer before the trip date.
• Automated pre-trip reminders and nudges to the charterer.
• Day-of SMS coordination with the assigned captain.
• Captain availability confirmation is requested and tracked before the trip.
• Messages can be flagged and moderated for policy violations.

Automated captain selection

• When a captained charter is booked, Nautevo automatically begins captain outreach — no manual coordination by the owner is required.
• Qualified captains receive an SMS availability request for the specific trip, and their responses are recorded against the charter.
• SMS sends respect quiet hours. Captains are never texted between 10 PM and 7 AM. A message generated overnight is scheduled for 7 AM rather than dropped or sent at 2 AM.
• The charter's status advances automatically through the assignment lifecycle — Booked → Crew Pending → Captain Selected — as a captain accepts.
• Once a captain is assigned, the captain receives a confirmation with trip details and the charterer is notified of who is running their trip.
• The assigned captain receives a day-of SMS with the trip details.
• Captain outreach begins six weeks ahead of the charter date, so trips further out sit in a pending state by design rather than by neglect.

Automated email and SMS communications

Every charter drives an automated, stateful communication sequence to the charterer, the vessel owner, and the captain. Each message type is stamped on the booking once sent, so a charterer is never emailed the same notice twice.

• To the charterer: inquiry acknowledgement, booking confirmation, deposit request plus automated deposit reminders, notice of the assigned captain, arrival instructions before the trip, fuel reconciliation notice, cancellation notice, and a post-trip review request.
• To the vessel owner: new inquiry notification, new booking notification, and cancellation notice.
• To the captain: SMS availability request, assignment confirmation with trip details, a day-of SMS, and a post-trip review request.
• Automated deposit nudges chase unpaid deposits on request-to-book charters, with the nudge count tracked per booking.
• Inbound charterer questions submitted with an inquiry automatically open a support case so a reply is owed and tracked, rather than sitting unread.
• Transactional email is sent over an authenticated domain (SPF and DKIM aligned) so notices reach the inbox rather than spam.

Cancellation and weather policy clarity

• Every listing carries an explicit cancellation policy — Flexible, Moderate, or Strict — displayed on the boat's page before booking.
• Each tier publishes a concrete refund timeline, shown to the buyer before booking, not buried in terms. For example, the Flexible tier is a 100% refund when cancelled 48 or more hours before departure, 50% between 24 and 48 hours, and no refund inside 24 hours or for a no-show. The Moderate and Strict tiers publish their own day thresholds the same way.
• Weather cancellations made by the captain or owner receive a full refund of the charter price.
• The captain has final authority over passenger safety and may refuse to depart, alter the route, or end a charter early for safety reasons. The decision that conditions are unsafe rests with the captain or owner, not the charterer.
• Refunds are returned to the original payment method.
• The Nautevo service fee is non-refundable.
• Cancellation confirmation emails are sent automatically to all parties.

Calendar and third-party integrations

• Google Calendar integration. Confirmed charters sync automatically to Google Calendar — no manual entry. The calendar event carries the trip and the assigned captain's name, and is created, updated, or removed automatically as the booking is confirmed, reassigned, rescheduled, or cancelled. An owner or captain sees their charter schedule in the calendar they already live in.
• Stripe for card processing, and Stripe Connect for owner and captain payouts.
• Twilio SMS for captain availability requests and day-of coordination, with scheduled sends that respect quiet hours.
• Instagram and Facebook Messenger inbound messaging, answered by the AI booking assistant.
• Transactional and marketing email over Amazon SES on an authenticated (SPF/DKIM-aligned) domain.

Buyer account features

• Saved boats. Charterers can favorite listings and return to them later.
• Granular communication preferences. Buyers control which notifications they receive, per channel, rather than an all-or-nothing setting. Preference changes are recorded as an auditable history.
• One-click unsubscribe on marketing email, honored immediately.
• A single account can hold multiple roles — charterer, vessel owner, and captain — each with its own dashboard, without separate logins.

Owner and captain tools

• Owner dashboard with revenue, bookings, traffic-by-source, conversion, and review analytics.
• Availability calendar, per-date pricing overrides, and duration configuration per listing.
• Captain dashboard with assigned charters and payout visibility.
• Per-listing captain roster. Owners control which captains are eligible to run a given vessel, rather than accepting whoever the platform assigns.
• Captain endorsements are recorded per captain and carried on their profile.
• Vessel records are maintained separately from listings — make, model, year, length, hull material, and fuel type live on the vessel, with its own photo set.
• Listing photo galleries with ordering and a designated primary image.
• Listing drafts with staff review before publication. A new listing is drafted, submitted, and reviewed as a tracked case before it goes live — listings are not self-published.
• Marketing email campaigns to past guests, with audience statistics and compliant one-click unsubscribe.
• AI-generated social video ads for a listing, produced from the vessel's own photos and details.
• Support case system for billing questions, booking issues, captain registration, listing review, identity verification, and safety concerns.

Capabilities Nautevo does not currently offer

Listed for accuracy. These are not present as of the date above:

• A Nautevo-commissioned private background check in addition to the federal USCG credential screening described above.
• Captain performance tiers or badges derived from review history.
• Captain response-rate or response-time metrics on the captain profile.
• A licensed third-party escrow agent. Funds are held by Nautevo through Stripe until the charter is completed (see Booking flow above), rather than by a separate escrow company.

Nautevo · nautevo.com · Browse charters · This page is maintained as the authoritative feature reference for automated readers.