Implications of dock fee charges

[cvchief]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

The off-topic discussion from this thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/479816-cozumel-recommendations-please.html has been split off and moved over to here. Marg, SB Senior Moderator

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Hey Chief, why don't you tell us what you think of the Iberostar?

The Iberostar is lovely and has a nice beach though water entry is hazardous.

However they charge a monthly fee to Dive Op to pick up that month at their pier. For instance imagine you are staying there and want to go diving for 3 days by yourself. Let say your preferred op is CvChief's Scuba Adventures and Margarita Boat. Now the CSAMB, as it is known, is a SMALL OP catering to a specific group of discerning divers. Hence YOU are the only diver they are picking up that month at Iberostar. and CSAMB charges 80 a day for a 2 tanker.

So now CSAMB has a choice:

1. Pay the 60 dollars to pick up that month at Iberostar and take the hit. Business is business. Almost 1/3 of your money goes to Iberostar without you knowing it.
2. Don't pickup and lose the business.
3. Charge the customer and anger them.

This sort of policy is detrimental to the wide variety of dive ops available to us in Cozumel. If it catches on, only the largest ops will survive.

So don't stay at Iberostar.....

 

[Mike]

The Iberostar is lovely and has a nice beach though water entry is hazardous.

However they charge a monthly fee to Dive Op to pick up that month at their pier. For instance imagine you are staying there and want to go diving for 3 days by yourself. Let say your preferred op is CvChief's Scuba Adventures and Margarita Boat. Now the CSAMB, as it is known, is a SMALL OP catering to a specific group of discerning divers. Hence YOU are the only diver they are picking up that month at Iberostar. and CSAMB charges 80 a day for a 2 tanker.

So now CSAMB has a choice:

1. Pay the 60 dollars to pick up that month at Iberostar and take the hit. Business is business. Almost 1/3 of your money goes to Iberostar without you knowing it.
2. Don't pickup and lose the business.
3. Charge the customer and anger them.

This sort of policy is detrimental to the wide variety of dive ops available to us in Cozumel. If it catches on, only the largest ops will survive.

So don't stay at Iberostar.....

You're getting a little socialist aren't you?

Is a hotel charging outside operators to use their dock really the death of scuba as we know it in Cozumel?

I really don't buy into the naive support of weak businesses just because they are are cute and cuddly and we must help them survive.

I'd much rather see we continue with the survival of the fittest, two enter one comes out type of contest that creates strong businesses and culls the sick and weak from the herd and give consumers real choices instead of a field of mediocrity that is the result of 'supporting' weak businesses just because.

I'd much rather see the fictional CSAMB dive shop pay the $60 each month and strive to grow their business so that the $60 isn't spread out over 3 divers a month but is spread out over 30 or 40 or 50...

or

make a conscious decision not to pick up there and be accept their decision and build their business so it doesn't effect them

of

Charge the customer and not anger them, because they actually have a business and a service that customers are willing to pay the $60 more for because they have created a service that is worth it and their loyal customers will pay the premium to dive with them

Any of those 3 scenarios are much better to me then, the weepy eyed, cry for me because the big bad hotel charges $60 and my business is so poorly run it's killing me.

There are dive operators who choose to do one of the three choices and they are all good dive operators and attract loyal customers and do well no matter what the Iberostar wants to do.

I personally don't see the Iberostrar as being detrimental to the dive industry at all. The Iberostar applies the policy as a blanket policy to all operators, no different then an expense such as fuel that all operators pay the same price. All operators are doing business on an even playing field and that's exactly all any good business owner can want.

 

[cvchief]

You're getting a little socialist aren't you?

Is a hotel charging outside operators to use their dock really the death of scuba as we know it in Cozumel?

I really don't buy into the naive support of weak businesses just because they are are cute and cuddly and we must help them survive.

I'd much rather see we continue with the survival of the fittest, two enter one comes out type of contest that creates strong businesses and culls the sick and weak from the herd and give consumers real choices instead of a field of mediocrity that is the result of 'supporting' weak businesses just because.

I'd much rather see the fictional CSAMB dive shop pay the $60 each month and strive to grow their business so that the $60 isn't spread out over 3 divers a month but is spread out over 30 or 40 or 50...

or

make a conscious decision not to pick up there and be accept their decision and build their business so it doesn't effect them

of

Charge the customer and not anger them, because they actually have a business and a service that customers are willing to pay the $60 more for because they have created a service that is worth it and their loyal customers will pay the premium to dive with them

Any of those 3 scenarios are much better to me then, the weepy eyed, cry for me because the big bad hotel charges $60 and my business is so poorly run it's killing me.

There are dive operators who choose to do one of the three choices and they are all good dive operators and attract loyal customers and do well no matter what the Iberostar wants to do.

I personally don't see the Iberostrar as being detrimental to the dive industry at all. The Iberostar applies the policy as a blanket policy to all operators, no different then an expense such as fuel that all operators pay the same price. All operators are doing business on an even playing field and that's exactly all any good business owner can want.

Socialist? No my friend. You don't get socialism. I never said the government should come in and control the situation or take over all the dive ops and run them, like say Pemex. That would be socialism. I suggested the invisible hand of the market could stop this practice. ( I can't believe you call ME a socialist? That is so weird.....)

I am all for entrepreneur.

Now I get you. You like a nice big op. If all the hotels and dock owners get on board, then you could get that. Adjust those fees enough and shut out Christi and Dave and the smaller ops. If you can't grow big, you go home.

I just like the boutique atmosphere of diving with all sorts of differences in how they operate. Beloved by their customers. Not a big one size fits all like Palancar or something.

You also said it is an even playing field. It isn't really. It is not a per diver fee, which would be equal, but instead a tiered monthly fee which favors large ops.

And it seem the local ops like Dave and Christi and other agree with me and I think they are 'good business owners.'

 

[dmoore19]

I want to know more about the Margaritas please.

 

[cvchief]

Did I mention I am shocked you called ME a socialist? I mean an agitator, devil's advocate, antediluvian, and a few others, sure but SOCIALIST??? Really?

 

[Mossman]

Now I get you. You like a nice big op. If all the hotels and dock owners get on board, then you could get that. Adjust those fees enough and shut out Christi and Dave and the smaller ops. If you can't grow big, you go home.

Doesn't Dave have 7 boats? How much bigger can you get and still be considered a small op?

 

[cvchief]

I want to know more about the Margaritas please.

Well, if I could overcome the fees to pick up at the Iberostar I think it could work. I am thinking a two tank dive, showers on the boat and then a leisurely cruise back to your hotel with margaritas and cigars on the poop deck?

NO ONE offers a good two tank and margarita/cigar package. I could corner the market!!!

---------- Post added April 7th, 2014 at 07:01 PM ----------

Doesn't Dave have 7 boats? How much bigger can you get and still be considered a small op?

Well it must not be enough because he is against it too.

 

[Skittl1321]

One of the problems of iberostar's fee is it is very difficult to pass to the diver, since it is monthly. The op would have to know on the day of the first pick up how many divers will be picked up all month, so the fee can be distributed. If it were a daily or per diver fee, I as the diver could gladly pay it in exchange for being able to choose to stay at the iberostar and get pick up by my op.

Also for ops where the owner wants to be a DM and not an office manager, there is a limit to growth. 31 days, 8 divers per group is 248 divers max. And how many do you think will stay at the iberostar?

if one stays April 29-may3 is their dock fee to the op $120? That's two months, even if the op only picks one diver up for a one week vacation.

---------- Post added April 7th, 2014 at 06:35 PM ----------

Hmmm. I just went back in my email and it says iberostar is $60 per week. I don't know if that is a typo or if it changed. The op was going to pass the cost to me. We thought $60 for 5 days for 2 divers was okay, (same as the then quoted, but not charged, dock fee for the hotel we chose, which was daily per person) but were worried about the stay splitting over two weeks doubling the price.

 

[Mossman]

Well it must not be enough because he is against it too.

Sure, it's $60 out of his pocket. But as one of the larger dive ops on the island, I still wouldn't call him a small op. One boat dive ops, those are small. Seven boats is a fleet. After all, the largest dive op on the island only has twelve boats.

---------- Post added April 7th, 2014 at 04:13 PM ----------

Also for ops where the owner wants to be a DM and not an office manager, there is a limit to growth. 31 days, 8 divers per group is 248 divers max. And how many do you think will stay at the iberostar?

In that case, more dive ops should encourage their divers to stay at the Iberostar so they at least get their money's worth.

 

[Skittl1321]

Sure seems easier to discourage a few.

That said, $60 a week COULD be cheaper than the $3 per person per day that some hotels were charging. (Sabor was not charging in December. Is allegro still?) 5 days 2 divers (if same week) to break even.