Blog

As many of you know, Fort Lauderdale is known as the “Yachting Capital of the World” which hosts one of the largest boat shows in the world every year. As you can imagine our crew houses are at 100% occupancy with a very long waiting list. What this means is Jocelyn, who runs the front desk, and Tina, our front desk reservations team, work vigorously to ensure everyone has a place to stay. No matter how late, they will not leave the office until every single person has been taken care of. Many yachties, leave their bookings to the last minute as is indicative of the industry. There is a constant juggle at the front desk, a “musical beds” if you will, in order for us to accommodate everyone as best we can. With a finite number of beds, the front desk feels the air of anxiety and frustration out there. As many of your know, we are different to other crew houses in Fort Lauderdale in that we don’t cram as many people as possible into a bedroom. Our houses have 2-3 people per bedroom. Not a single one of our crew houses will have a room with 6-8 people – Smart Move is not that type of crew house.

During Boat Show season unless we monitor our crew houses very closely all aspects can get out of control very quickly. Everyone has to take responsibility for their

• Trash
• Dishes
• Keeping their personal space tidy.

It goes without saying that we do not allow overnight guests. While we hope you land a job quickly and move onto the boat, during your time with us, rules must be followed in order to avoid chaos. We have our cleaning service come in weekly to clean the common living areas and to make sure each and every crew house is maintained. We supply cleaning supplies for the week and in return we ask that you keep our crew houses clean and respected.

Being involved in the industry for as long as we have, the culture of a crew house is very interesting especially over Boat show. What we find fascinating and what so many of our tenants do not realize is that while staying in our crew houses many of them are being:

• Interviewed
• Assessed
• Evaluated

Without even knowing it. We have yachties staying with us that are looking for work, have landed a temporary job that hopefully becomes permanent and have been told to look out for more crew or have a permanent job and are looking for more crew.  How their roommates conduct themselves while staying in one of our crew houses can be a deciding factor in getting a foot in the door. Having respect for each other’s hours and varying schedules during Boat show shows a level of maturity that many employers are looking for. Crew house behavior and attitude is a true reflection on how you behave in the real world and gives those around you a glimpse into how respectful you are of their time and space. You don’t really know someone until you have lived with them and it’s important to see what type of person you are and what type of crew member you would be.

Once onboard, living in such close quarters for long periods of time you want a person of quality and living in a crew house allows you a peek into what people are truly like.

While watching how your roommates behave in a crew house is important, the energy in a crew house during Boat Show is palpable! Hopes are high and everyone is networking and looking for a great job. Everybody is up really early and attends all the major parties and networking events. Boat show days are long and we know the last thing on your mind is paying your rent, so we make staying with us as easy as possible. We email you and call you asking if you want to extend ask if we can run your card. Prefer to drop off the cash? We know it won’t be during business hours as you are super busy and that is no problem as we have a secure drop box with a security camera so it’s safe. And remember, set your mind at ease as the bed is yours until you tell us you are leaving. We will not rent it out from under you. Staying with Smart Move any time of year but especially of Boat Show is simple, convenient and fun.

Have a great and successful Boat Show 2015!!