From clean to certified

As the Grow Boating initiative moves closer to certifying builders and dealers, the next logical step for Grow Boating is to assess and monitor the nation’s gateways to boating — our marinas and boatyards.

As has been the case with dealer and builder certification, the idea of marina certification has been bandied about for years. However, in this case, the situation is slightly different, as a foundation has already been laid in the form of various states’ Clean Marinas programs and the Certified Marina Manager program. From the outside, the CMM program appears a little disjointed, though, as its accreditation — awarded by the former International Marina Institute rather than the Marina Operators Association of America — is an expensive title to earn, demanding extensive education and catering to a seemingly elite community. In all, there are around 160 CMMs worldwide, compared to the roughly 12,000 marinas in the United States alone.

Recently, however, talk of instituting some sort of nationwide marina certification program has grown more serious. The concept remains in its infancy, but there have been discussions of it as high up as the newly formed Association of Marina Industries’ board of directors. There’s hope that the merger of IMI and MOAA into the one organization will allow for a unified vision of what marina certification should look like.

“It’s a very hot button for the entire industry as we move forward with Grow Boating,” says Alex Laidlaw, CMM, area vice president of Holiday Marina on Lake Lanier in Buford, Ga., and the vice chairman of AMI. “Marina certification has been talked about for as long as I’ve been on the marina side of things — some 15 years.”

The potential for such a program has the industry optimistic, with marina operators looking forward to seeing how the program shapes up.

“We’re excited,” says Bob Faflik, managing partner for Marina International’s Ohio properties. “We definitely welcome it and agree with its philosophy. When we take care of our waterways and boaters are able to enjoy high-quality facilities, we’re all better off.

“Ohio has just initiated its Clean Marinas program, with 30 marinas in the process of receiving that designation, so certification logically follows that and the CMM program.”

This early in the planning, however, not everyone is sold on the concept. Patience Cohn, marina manager for Town of Lake Park Marina in Florida, for example, says she needs to see a concrete plan so “I can get my mind around it.

“I understand that we’re trying to improve the industry standards and strive for consistency, as are the dealers and builders, but I’m not sure how we’d get this off the ground if there’s a lack of interest and motivation.”

Checkered past

Laidlaw is working with the AMI board, and specifically with AMI President Jim Frye, and AMI Chairman and Flagship Marinas President Gregg Kenney, in an effort to develop a program that would fit today’s marinas. While there was an effort to create such a program through IMI about five years ago, Laidlaw says organizers hit “a couple of significant roadblocks that basically killed the movement.

“Two of the biggest hurdles,” he explains, “were design and dock standards and the actual certification business model. We needed to decide who would administer it, how much it would cost, and on what criteria marinas would be evaluated.

“We finally concluded that we (the industry) probably weren’t ready for all that it entailed.”

There are many in the marina industry who believe that certification’s time has come, primarily due to the association merger. And Laidlaw suggests that a single marinas association will be able to overcome the previous roadblocks.

“It will provide the one united vehicle needed to provide consensus on moving forward with the design and implementation of the program,” he explains.

“I don’t want to sound negative,” counters Cohn, “but I’m not sure you’re going to get much buy-in from the industry. Even the Clean Marina program, which is more of a warm-and-fuzzy, doesn’t get much participation — out of Florida’s 2,000 marinas, only 100 qualify for the designation.

“It’s just that such programs are kind of burdensome. A lot of marinas would qualify as Clean Marinas already, but they don’t want to go through the process of checklists and verifications. It’s just too time-consuming.”

That being said, for AMI’s part, it is estimated that the program will be off the ground in the next two years. The planning has just begun and the criteria had not been established as Boating Industry went to press. Faflik envisions the cornerstones as being existing best business practices, at the core of which is — as in the case of Clean Marinas — “a firm commitment to the ongoing education of employees and boaters, who are instrumental in helping keep marinas clean and fit.”

But Faflik says that marinas most likely wouldn’t have to be designated as a Clean Marina in order to be certified. That criterion, he believes, could be too restricting, as many states don’t have such a program, and Ohio’s, for example, just began. He does believe, however, that a Clean Marina already has in place the components of a proposed certified marina.

“A facility following best business practices that was well-run and environmentally conscious would become certified fairly easily,” he predicts.

Work in progress

A marina certification program faces many of the same challenges that the dealer body tackled when it began considering the idea of certification. For example, the sizes, profitability and types of businesses range from the mom-and-pops to municipal or corporately owned resorts. Who would evaluate the businesses and oversee the program? How would organizers ensure interest and participation? And who would pay for it?

On the front end, the leading idea is to have a multi-tiered program, Faflik says. He envisions a program with similar criteria for all marinas, but containing two levels: One where the marina meets all the criteria and another where the operator is working toward the goal.

Something like “gold, silver, bronze designations would be too confusing,” says Faflik. “We want to encourage the smaller mom-and-pops to get on the bandwagon and to make progress.”

With completed work from the past attempt already in the hopper, the criteria for a certification program is pretty easy to outline. Faflik suggests that some of the criteria would include the quality of the facility, the services available to customers, the quality of those services, upkeep of the property, customer service and the value for the consumer found in all of the above.

Ideally, a marina that becomes certified would hold its status for two to three years before reapplying, and a certified marina that is acquired would be grandfathered in and reassessed a year later.

But best-laid plans usually require a significant amount of money. And as is the case with the dealer program, funding for the program will most likely need to be generated through the marinas themselves. That means paying for inspections, follow-ups, promotions and so forth.

“I’d have no problem in investing in it,” says Faflik. “There would be forms to fill out, photos to be taken, etc. There would almost have to be a fee of some sort —maybe around $250 to $300 — depending on the number of slips, perhaps.”

Even with the nuts and bolts of the program put into place, a certification program is only as good as the number of boaters who know about it. And as Cohn points out, even a strong promotional effort could hold little incentive for marinas in states with water access issues: longer waiting lists won’t grow the business.

Laidlaw says the committee is looking at a variety of marketing vehicles and would probably promote it similarly to Clean Marinas: Flags, signs, blurbs on letterhead, in addition to, as Faflik puts it, “Blowing our horn to the media.” They’re also hopeful that state organizations would promote it in their literature and newsletters.

It’s no secret, though, that building a viable certification program will take time. And for the segment of the industry that interacts with more current boaters than any other segment, there’s no better time to get started than now.

The Roadmap to Certification

Today, there is very little publicized information on what makes a marina a great marina. Those published accounts of good marinas that are available are often found in the form of cruising guides and recommendations.

As the manager of the San Diego Marriott Marina, Mary Kuhn has done a little writing for herself. And her work — the Marriott Corporate Training Manual for Marinas — is about the closest thing available to outlining what it takes to excel at customer service initiatives in the marina field. She expects the absolute best from her employees and the resort, and she believes in the concept of certifying marinas.

“One more feather in one’s cap can’t hurt,” she says. “However, we can’t just give it lip-service, we have to be more specific.”

To be a little more specific, we turned to two highly regarded standars for ratings systems: the American Automobile Association, which has been rating lodgings and restaurants for more than 100 years, the Mobil Travel Guide, and cruising guides. Both employ inspectors who visit every property they list (AAA once a year; Mobil every 18 months) and assign ratings on a scale of 1 to 5.

“Inspectors measure television screens, count hangers, and check on numerous other items.” according to a AAA press release. AAA awards diamonds to 31,500 lodgings in North America, while Mobil gives stars to 9,000 hotels in the United States and Canada.

According to AAA, only three percent of the lodgings and fewer than four percent of the restaurants receive the coveted five-diamond rating. Lodgings are judged on the exterior of the facility, public areas, guest rooms, amenities and bathrooms. Restaurants are evaluated on food, service, décor, and ambience. Briefly, this is what the diamonds mean:
– One Diamond: No frills for the budget-minded.
– Two Diamonds: Modest enhancements for a modest price.
– Three Diamonds: Properties are multi-faceted with a distinguished style.
– Four Diamonds: An extensive array of amenities; more refined and stylish.
– Five Diamonds: The jackpot. You’ve arrived at an extraordinarily luxurious accomodation.

A little bit closer to home, another source for ratings criteria are the multitude of cruising guides published each year; however, their evaluation methods and criteria vary and tend to be more subjective.

The Atlantic Cruising Club’s Guides to Marinas uses “Bell Ratings,” from one to five, reflecting the reviewers’ subjective opinions of the services and amenities available for the captain and crew. “Boatyard Ratings,” measured by one or two “travelift” icons, indicate the extent of the services and the size of the yachts a facility can manage; and “The Sunset Rating”, the most subjective, indicates special destinations, such as pristine mooring fields or a slip with a spectacular skyline view.

The reviews themselves are quite detailed, including the usual lists of services, as well as pertinent information such as nearby recreation and entertainment, types of transportation available, medical services and so on. There are also extensive personal notes by the reviewers describing favorite aspects or quirks of a marina.

Skipper Bob’s array of books point readers to, for example, the “best anchorages, free docks, lowest marina and fuel prices from the Hudson River to Key West … with mile by mile highlights of the waterway, including caution notes.”

AAA, Mobil, and these guides appear to be the logical starting points for finding what many think are the critical “specifics” of certification criteria.