Event Team

Event Manager

1. Role Summary

As an Event Manager (EM) you are the on-the-ground leader of the Yacht Week team for the assigned week. You take ownership of planning, coordinating and delivering official Yacht Week events, lead the route team, and act as the main point of contact between Yacht Week, local partners and on-site teams.

In one sentence: you own the event, the team, and the budget. Every other route role works through you.

Reporting & Working Relationships

Reports to: Operations Coordinator (OC) and Yacht Week central operations.
Leads on the route: Guest Experience Manager (GEM), Event Coordinator (EC), Route Manager (RM), Host Manager (HM), Route Medic.
Co-hosts evening events with: GEM, EC, RM, HM.
Liaises with: venue partners, central operations, Quarterdeck (QD) on Skipper and Host team matters via the RM and HM.
Owns: budget, event delivery, team performance.

Role Ownership Across the Team

Operations Coordinator (OC) — cross-destination operations; supplies pre-week intelligence and budget envelope to each EM.
Event Manager (EM) — on-the-ground route lead; owns the event, the team, and the budget.
Guest Experience Manager (GEM) — owns the guest experience, guest relationships, and complaint handling.
Event Coordinator (EC) — owns the YW App schedule, app comms and message updates; on-site POC for Media and DJ teams.
Route Manager (RM) — owns route operations and skipper-team coordination; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Host Manager (HM) — owns host-team coordination and onboard guest experience; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Route Medic — assigned skipper or host with medical credentials; provides route-level medical response and health & safety support.
Quarterdeck (QD) is Yacht Week's external service provider for the Skipper and Host crews (including RM, HM, and the Route Medic). YW is the customer; QD supplies the people. Skipper/host-side performance, offboarding, and replacement decisions sit with QD.

The Delegation Chain

You set the mandate. Information and execution flow downward through your team: GEM for guest experience, EC for app and information flow, RM for skippers, HM for hosts, Route Medic for medical incidents. The chain works only if you keep the brief sharp and the loop tight.

EM defines the week's mandate, priorities, and budget envelope.
EM briefs GEM, EC, RM, HM, and Route Medic at the start of week and daily through the week.
Functional owners execute: GEM holds guest experience; EC owns app and comms; RM works directly with the skipper team; HM works directly with the host team; Route Medic owns medical response. Each skipper and host owns their own yacht and their own crew.
EM remains the escalation point of last resort and the only owner of budget decisions, refunds, and material commitments to guests or partners.

If an issue spans multiple functional owners, the EM chairs the resolution and assigns the lead.

Authority & Mandate

Sole owner of budget decisions, refunds, partial credits, and material commitments to guests or partners.
Final approver of partner-name-public messaging before EC posts.
Final escalation point for cross-functional issues on the route.
Authorises formal actions on skipper or host crew in coordination with the RM/HM and Quarterdeck (QD) management.
Acting EM rule: when EM is unavailable for more than two hours, the GEM acts as EM for the route. Anything safety-related, GEM acts immediately. Anything material — refunds, boat changes, partial credits, partner-name-public messaging, budget commitments — waits for EM or escalates to OC for approval.
Vendor / venue confrontation: EM resolves on route. EM reports to OC, who logs in the Event Incident Log and briefs the HOO. OC or HOO contacts the vendor for any follow-up beyond the route.

2. Core Responsibilities

Your week breaks into five core responsibility areas. Every duty you perform should map back to one of these.

2.1 Event Delivery

Own end-to-end execution of all official Yacht Week events: arrivals, briefings, beach clubs, night events, departures.
Pre-event venue walk for every event: equipment check (DJ decks, speakers, mics, generator, branding signs) and confirmation that venue-contracted security and VIP wristband enforcement are in place.
Plastic-cup standard at every dance-floor venue. Three guest cuts logged in 2025 (two Croatia, one Greece). Where the venue contract already includes plastic, enforce; where it doesn't, escalate to OC mid-week.
Make real-time operational decisions on venue changes, weather calls, transfers, and partner issues.
Sign off on schedule changes, refunds, and partner-facing commitments.
Maintain operational rhythm: keep events on time, on budget, on brand.
Equipment-failure capture in every event recap, fed back to OC for supplier scoring.

2.2 Team Leadership

Set the daily mandate at the morning briefing; align GEM, EC, RM, HM, and Route Medic on priorities and risks.
Run the end-of-day debrief to surface fresh feedback and align tomorrow.
Hold the line on team standards; address issues directly with the relevant role lead.
Protect team energy: rotate late events, protect off-evenings, mid-week 1:1 with each role.
Brief the skipper and host teams daily via RM and HM so each Skipper and Host shepherds their own ~8-10 person crew to and from transfers; the route team does not herd 80 guests.

2.3 Budget & Authority

Sole owner of budget decisions, refunds, partial credits, and material commitments.
Approve any partner-name-public messaging before EC posts.
Final escalation point for cross-functional issues.
Authorise formal actions on skipper or host crew in coordination with the RM/HM and Quarterdeck (QD) management.

2.4 Stakeholder Coordination

Liaise with venue partners, on-land suppliers, transport providers, and local authorities.
Liaise with central operations (via the OC) and with Quarterdeck (QD) management on Skipper/Host team matters via the RM and HM.
Represent Yacht Week to all external stakeholders for the week.
Hand over cleanly to next week's EM with documented learnings, risks, and partner notes.

2.5 Brand & Standards

Yacht Week brand voice: warm, confident, energetic, never defensive. Professional, reliable, respectful. No jargon, no internal acronyms.
Wear official Yacht Week merchandise during operational hours.
Hold the line on Code of Excellence (COE) compliance.
Zero tolerance on sexual harassment, drugs, and serious alcohol incidents. Same-day documentation. Sexual harassment was the top recurring incident category in both 2024 and 2025.
Reinforce sustainable onboard and on-land practices aligned with Company values.
Lead by example.
Set the standard for the team: how you communicate sets the tone for everyone else on the route.

3. Pre Event Preparations

The week is won or lost before guests arrive. As EM you sit at the top of pre-arrival prep: overseeing operational setup, reading the data from last week, and protecting the team’s energy for the week ahead. Five workstreams run in parallel.

3.1 Guest Profile Dashboard

Review the OC-supplied dashboard end to end: country and age split, returning guests, music preferences, prior YW issues, open CS tickets, group dynamics, dietary, medical and accessibility flags.
Know your VIPs by name before Saturday.
Walk the dashboard with GEM, EC, RM, HM, and Route Medic at the Saturday morning briefing.

The Operations Coordinator (OC) supplies this dashboard. The OC works across destinations, supporting EMs and the Head of Operations. Future state: a per-week Metabase dashboard so the profile is one click away.

3.2 Yacht-by-Yacht Communication Plan

3.3 Previous Week's KPIs & Feedback

3.4 Operational Setup

Venue confirmations: arrival times, setup, headcounts, dress codes.
Logistics: transfers, transport contracts, equipment.
On-land partners: contracts, contacts, expectations.
Timings: when each event opens, when it must end, when the fleet must be back on the water.
Mass-event late transfers (Ultra-style): paid local volunteers pre-arranged. The 2025 Ultra intern bailout left a single staff member working 3am, 4am and 5am transfers; do not repeat.
Apply learnings from last week. What added time. What to drop. What to adjust.

3.5 Team Health & Focus

The team has to last the season. A burned-out crew loses the plot by week three. Your job is to keep them effective and keep them human.

Are they happy? Notice signals early.
Is the team working efficiently together? Friction in pairings, unclear handoffs.
Do they love the job? Energy and pride show in performance.
Work-life balance: long days are inherent, protected hours are not optional.

Suggested practices:

Mid-week 1:1 with each role (GEM, EC, RM, HM, Route Medic).
Rotate who runs the late events so no one carries the closing shift every night.
Protect at least one off-evening per role per week.
Friday-night decompression conversation before the next week begins.

4. Weekly Schedule (Saturday → Friday)

Yacht Week runs Saturday to Friday. The schedule below is the principle, not a stopwatch — exact venues and timings vary per week and per destination. The rhythm itself doesn’t. The week breaks into four blocks: Pre-Arrival, Saturday (arrival), Sunday → Thursday (sailing days), and Friday (final day). Information moves outward from the EM via the EC’s app pushes; skippers and hosts run their own ~8-10 person crew on each yacht; the route team stays strategic, not herding. The single biggest success factor is that skippers and hosts are well-informed at all times — the daily app push and the RM/HM broadcasts to their teams are how that happens.

4.1 Pre-Arrival (Wed → Fri before week begins)

Pre-Arrival is the three days before guests embark. Each role’s Section 3 workstream lands during this window.

Day	Activity	EM Responsibilities
Wed	OC briefing pack absorbed	Read the dashboard end-to-end. Know your VIPs by name. Note dietary, medical, and accessibility flags.
Thu	Operational setup	Confirm venue partners, transport, suppliers, transfer plan. Apply learnings from last week’s debrief.
Fri	Final pre-week alignment	Walk the venue plan; confirm next-week check-in plan with EC; set up the EM Budget; align with RM/HM on first-week skipper/host onboarding for Saturday.

4.2 Saturday: Arrival Day

Saturday is the heaviest day of the week for most route roles. Marina check-in opens around mid-afternoon and runs through early evening; the welcome dinner / opening party closes the day.

Time block	Activity	EM Responsibilities
Morning	Management & all-staff meetings	Chair the management meeting (EM/RM/HM); chair the all-staff meeting; sign off kit hand-out.
Marina check-in (afternoon)	Walk the marina	Visible at check-in. Sign off skipper paperwork as needed; resolve issues real-time. EC + GEM run check-in mechanics; you walk it and hold the bar.
Welcome dinner (evening)	Co-host with the team	Co-host with GEM, EC, RM, HM. Hold operational rhythm; brief EC on any change for tomorrow.
Opening party / late	Eyes on the room	Co-host. Visible. Note anything for the morning debrief.

4.3 Sunday → Thursday: Sailing Days

Sunday through Thursday share a common rhythm: crew yacht repositions early, morning event-crew meeting around 09:30, the daily app push at 10:00, sail / event prep through midday, venue set-up in the afternoon, the day’s guest-facing event in the evening, and a ‘tomorrow’s schedule’ post on the event team WhatsApp group before the team winds down.

Time block	Activity	EM Responsibilities
Crew morning meeting (~09:30)	Set the day	Chair the meeting: yesterday’s misses, today’s ROS, sober-duty rotation. Brief EC on the day’s app push and any schedule changes; brief RM/HM on the day’s skipper/host briefing.
Mid-morning	Route & weather variance	Confirm with RM (weather, port, fuel). Confirm with EC any schedule changes that need pushed to the app.
Afternoon	Pre-event venue walk	Walk the venue: equipment check (DJ decks, speakers, mics, generator, branding), security & VIP wristband enforcement, plastic-cup standard at every dance-floor venue. Sign off changes to schedule, refunds, partner-facing commitments.
Pre-event	60 / 30 / 15 reminders out (via EC)	Confirm EC’s pre-event reminders are queued for the app so each Skipper and Host can shepherd their own crew on time.
Event window (evening)	Co-host & operational rhythm	Co-host with GEM, EC, RM, HM. Hold the rhythm. Resolve at the venue level; escalate to OC only when needed.
Late	Day debrief	Short end-of-day debrief: GEM’s themes, EC’s comms volume, RM/HM’s crew flags. Equipment-failure capture for tomorrow’s OC supplier scoring.

4.4 Friday: Final Day, Feedback & Departures

Friday is the closing day: sail back to the home marina, the crew yacht week-review meeting, boat-hopping farewells across the fleet, and end-of-week closeout (kitty, commissions, damages, comp report, KPI capture).

Time block	Activity	EM Responsibilities
Sail home	Lead the fleet back	Coordinate with RM. Apply learnings as the boat-hop plan firms up.
Crew yacht week-review (~10:30)	Chair the review	Walk the team through the week’s wins and misses; align boat-hop plan; brief next week’s EM on partner notes, risks, and learnings.
Boat-hopping (afternoon)	Visible across the fleet	Co-host the farewell tour with the team. Eyes on flagged guests. Hold the brand.
Evening	Closeout	Sign off kitty, commission, comp report; confirm damages/repairs sheet submitted via RM; partner debrief notes filed.

5. Complaint & Incident Handling

Every guest complaint and operational incident follows the same flow: Listen → Acknowledge → Assess severity → Route → Act → Close → Log. Severity decides authority; authority decides who acts and who escalates. The role-with-the-relationship holds the guest POC through resolution; the role with operational ownership runs the fix behind the scenes. All Med+ incidents are documented in the Event Incident Log within the same operational day.

5.1 Principles

Listen first. Acknowledge before defending. Repeat the issue back in your own words.
Severity-led: classify before acting. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.
Single guest POC: whoever first held the guest relationship keeps it through resolution. The operational fix routes to the right role behind the scenes.
Speed over perfection on Med+ incidents. Same-day Event Incident Log entry is non-negotiable for: sexual harassment, drugs, drunk-on-duty, glass injury, anaphylaxis, vendor confrontation pushed onto crew, vessel emergency, lone-host situation, social-media-bound complaint.
Critical incidents are owned by the Head of Operations (HOO). The HOO leads or stays connected to the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. The route team's job during a Critical is to deliver facts, hold guest comms locally where directed, and execute on the HOO's call.
Confidentiality is the default. Medical details are held in line with company policy and applicable data-protection rules. Staff misconduct details are shared only with those who need to know to act (EM, RM/HM, Quarterdeck (QD) as relevant), not across the team.
External / public communication during a Critical incident routes through the HOO. Route roles do not speak to media, social platforms, or families on behalf of Yacht Week without HOO sign-off.

5.2 Severity & Response

Use this matrix to decide whether you handle an issue alone, loop in another role, the EM, or escalate beyond the route. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.

Severity	Examples	Action
Low	Schedule confusion, dietary tweak, lost item, minor venue gripe.	Resolve in role on the spot, ideally via skipper/host. Log at end of day.
Medium	Repeat complaint, partner-venue conflict, missed transfer, group dissatisfaction with one event, minor conduct flag.	Resolve in role; notify EM same-day. If skipper/host involved → route operational fix to RM/HM. Log immediately in the Event Incident Log.
High	Safety incident, medical issue, refund request, conduct incident, social-media-bound complaint, repeated skipper/host failure.	Stop. Notify EM immediately. RM/HM looped if crew-related; Route Medic looped if medical. EM may escalate to OC; OC briefs HOO. The role-with-the-relationship stays with the guest. Same-day Event Incident Log entry.
Critical	Injury, missing person, criminal incident, vessel emergency, anaphylaxis, regulatory issue.	Safety protocols first. HOO owns the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. Emergency services as required. All external comms route through HOO. Document everything in the Event Incident Log within the hour.

5.3 Chain of Command

The route team resolves what it can in scope; everything else escalates along these lines.

Within the route team: GEM, EC, and Route Medic surface to EM. EM is the route-level decision point for refunds, boat changes, partial credits, schedule changes, and partner-facing commitments.
Crew-related issues: skipper-side route through RM; host-side route through HM. RM and HM document conduct or performance issues same-day with EM and Quarterdeck (QD).
Medical issues: surface to the Route Medic via direct app contact. The nearest skipper or host is first responder and calls the Medic. The Medic treats within scope, stabilises, and arranges escalation to local medical services where exceeded.
Yacht / supplier issues: RM relays via the EM into the OC, who reports formally to the YW Commercial Team weekly.
Cross-destination patterns: OC reads every Event Incident Log entry across active routes weekly and surfaces themes to the HOO.
Critical incidents: HOO leads. OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff connect into the response. External comms route through HOO.

5.4 Event Manager Responsibilities

On the route you are the decision point for anything that crosses functional lines, touches budget, or commits Yacht Week to a guest or partner. Above that, escalate.

Sole owner of refunds, boat changes, partial credits, schedule changes, and partner-facing commitments on the route.
Same-day documentation with QD (via RM or HM) for any skipper or host conduct incident. Do not wait for end-of-week.
Chair the resolution for any cross-functional incident; assign the lead between GEM, EC, RM, HM, and Route Medic.
Vendor / venue confrontation: you resolve on route. Crew surface, HM/RM and you handle. Report to OC regardless of outcome — OC logs in the Event Incident Log and briefs the HOO. OC or HOO contacts the vendor for any follow-up beyond the route. The 2025 Cape Sol incident is the case study.
High and Critical: notify OC immediately; OC briefs HOO. Hold operational rhythm on the route while HOO runs the response.
Final approver of partner-name-public messaging before EC posts.
During Critical: facts and recovery on the route; external comms via HOO.
When you are unavailable for more than two hours, GEM is acting EM for the route. Material commitments still require OC approval.

6. KPIs & Feedback Analysis

Performance is reviewed continuously, weekly with the EM, and at the end of the season. Feedback is also a live operational input, not just a retrospective scoreboard. When a theme surfaces, it triggers action — to the route plan, to logistics, to music, to skipper or host behaviour, to venue or partner conversations, or to yacht-company escalations. The faster a theme is recognised and routed, the smaller the fix. The KPI scorecard itself (metrics, targets, thresholds) is being defined separately and will land in a future revision.

Pull the full KPI scorecard and survey results from the YW App feedback form at week's end.
Read end-to-end. Your domain spans guest, comms, route, hosts, medical, and partners.
Identify the top three risks for next week and the action you've taken on each.
Translate route-level feedback into next week's mitigations: route plan, transfers, venue brief, skipper/host briefings (via RM/HM), partner conversations, music or DJ direction (via EC).
Hand over to next week's EM with the complaint log, KPI snapshot, partner notes, and risk list.

Guest Experience Manager

1. Role Summary

As a Guest Experience Manager (GEM) you are the on-the-ground owner of the guest experience for the duration of a Yacht Week. You are eyes and ears on the experience, observing, sensing, building relationships, and surfacing issues before they’re raised.

You are not the app. You are not the help desk. App comms and operational logistics questions (where, when, what) are owned by the Event Coordinator (EC). Your job is the human side of the experience.

In one sentence: the EM owns the event, the EC owns the app and the message, you own the guest.

Reporting & Working Relationships

Reports to: Event Manager (EM).
Works alongside: Event Coordinator (EC) on app and message-based comms.
Primary delegation partners: Route Manager (RM) and Host Manager (HM).
Supported by: Operations Coordinator (OC) for data and pre-week intelligence; Route Medic for medical concerns.
Co-hosts evening events with: EM, EC, RM, HM.

Role Ownership Across the Team

Operations Coordinator (OC) — cross-destination operations; supplies pre-week intelligence and budget envelope to each EM.
Event Manager (EM) — on-the-ground route lead; owns the event, the team, and the budget.
Guest Experience Manager (GEM) — owns the guest experience, guest relationships, and complaint handling.
Event Coordinator (EC) — owns the YW App schedule, app comms and message updates; on-site POC for Media and DJ teams.
Route Manager (RM) — owns route operations and skipper-team coordination; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Host Manager (HM) — owns host-team coordination and onboard guest experience; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Route Medic — assigned skipper or host with medical credentials; provides route-level medical response and health & safety support.
Quarterdeck (QD) is Yacht Week's external service provider for the Skipper and Host crews (including RM, HM, and the Route Medic). YW is the customer; QD supplies the people. Skipper/host-side performance, offboarding, and replacement decisions sit with QD.

The Delegation Chain

We run a thin team this season, roughly five people delivering for up to 500 guests per week. The only way that works is by delegating almost everything through RM/HM into the boats; the GEM speaks to a guest directly only as a last resort.

GEM identifies a need, mandate, offer, or guest-side issue.
GEM briefs RM (skipper-related) or HM (host-related) with the desired outcome.
RM/HM relays to skippers/hosts and pushes the solution forward. They deliver to the guest.
If RM/HM is unavailable or the situation is time-critical, GEM may go direct to skipper/host and notifies RM/HM after.
Direct GEM-to-guest conversation: last resort only. With 500 guests across the fleet, the GEM cannot be the messenger for every yacht. Use RM and HM as proxies.
Medical issues route to the Route Medic for assessment; the GEM remains the guest's relational POC.

If a guest issue is caused by a skipper or host, the GEM remains the guest’s POC for the rest of the week. The skipper/host side of the issue is forwarded to RM/HM to deal with through them.

2. Core Responsibilities

Your week breaks into five core responsibility areas. Every duty you perform should map back to one of these.

2.1 Guest Experience Ownership (Eyes & Ears)

Be physically present and visible across the fleet (marina, briefings, venues, events).
Observe mood, friction, and joy in real time. Pick up on issues before they're raised.
Build relationships with every yacht as early as possible, Day 1 if at all feasible.
Personalize for returning guests and anyone flagged with prior YW issues; Day 1 face-to-face greeting with the prior issue addressed up front. The pre-week dashboard surfaces these; do not wait for them to come to you.
Glass on dance floors: spot, flag to venue security, escalate to EM if not actioned. Three guest cuts logged in 2025 (two Croatia, one Greece). Plastic-cup policy is on the way via OC, but until it lands this is on you to surface.
Lone-host check at every venue. Locate every host and confirm they are not isolated. The 2025 Bol train operator incident is the cautionary tale.
You do not herd 80 guests to transfers. Each skipper and Host shepherds their own ~8-10 person crew on their own yacht. You stay strategic: eyes, ears, escalation.

2.2 RM / HM Coordination & Delegation

Act as point of contact for the Route Manager and Host Manager throughout the week.
Receive and act on info / issues / opportunities relayed from skippers and hosts via RM/HM.
Push mandates, offers, and information to guests via RM/HM, who push to skippers/hosts.
Direct comms with a skipper/host only when speed demands it. Notify RM/HM immediately after.
When the issue is skipper- or host-caused, hold the guest relationship; route the operational fix to RM/HM.

2.3 Event Co-Hosting

2.4 Live KPI & Feedback Analysis

Monitor the YW App feedback form continuously. Surveys typically come in Friday/Saturday after each event.
Analyze feedback as soon as it lands; identify themes within hours, not days.
Convert insights into immediate fixes: feed into the next event, the next venue brief, or the next RM/HM hand-off.
Share findings with EM, EC, RM, HM at the daily debrief.

2.5 Brand & Standards

Yacht Week brand voice: warm, confident, energetic, never defensive. Professional, reliable, respectful. No jargon, no internal acronyms.
Wear official Yacht Week merchandise during operational hours.
Hold the line on Code of Excellence (COE) compliance.
Zero tolerance on sexual harassment, drugs, and serious alcohol incidents. Same-day documentation. Sexual harassment was the top recurring incident category in both 2024 and 2025.
Reinforce sustainable onboard and on-land practices aligned with Company values.
Lead by example.
Represent Yacht Week to a high standard at all times — guests treat you as the brand.
Hold the line on safety, conduct, and venue rules without losing the experience.

3. Pre Event Preparations

The week is won or lost before guests arrive. Five workstreams run in parallel in the days leading up to embarkation.

3.1 Guest Profile Dashboard

Build a per-yacht and per-guest picture before the week starts. The Operations Coordinator (OC) is responsible for supplying this data, pulled from booking data, the YW App, customer service notes, and prior-week handover. The GEM consumes and acts on it.

Country / nationality split per yacht (informs language, social mix, music).
Age distribution per yacht and across the fleet.
Returning guests: flag and personalize. They expect to be remembered.
Music preferences (genre, artists, vibe per yacht).
Guests with prior YW issues: flagged from customer service or past complaint logs. Priority touch-points on Day 1.
Open customer service tickets or pre-week requests still unresolved.
Group dynamics: bachelor/bachelorette, corporate, friends, mixed.
Dietary, medical, or accessibility flags. Anaphylaxis and severe allergy flags reviewed with the Route Medic and HM before Saturday briefing.

3.2 Yacht-by-Yacht Communication Plan

Before guests step on the dock, decide how you will engage each yacht across the week. Remember that most contact happens via skipper/host, not directly via you.

Day 1 introduction plan per yacht: when, where, by whom (you, RM, or HM).
Targeted touch-points for VIP / flagged / returning guests.
Cadence of presence: which yachts you walk past daily, which you check in on lightly.
Channel matrix per yacht: primarily through skipper/host (via RM/HM), GEM in person as needed.

Goal: every yacht has met the GEM as early as possible, ideally on Day 1, and knows their skipper/host is the day-to-day channel. Early relationship plus clear channel equals far fewer escalations later.

3.3 Previous Week's KPIs & Feedback

Read the data before you sail.

Pull the previous week's KPI scorecard and survey results from the YW App feedback form.
Identify recurring complaint themes (venues, transfers, music, food, comms).
Note partner feedback (venue, skipper, host) from prior-week debrief.
Convert each recurring issue into a proactive mitigation for this week, built into Day 1 briefing, fleet briefing to skippers/hosts via RM/HM, or venue conversations.

By Saturday morning, you should be able to name the top three risks for this week and the action you’ve already taken on each.

3.4 VIP & Flagged-Guest Plan

Build the VIP / returning / flagged-guest list for the week from the OC dashboard and CS notes.
Decide the Day 1 personal-greeting plan for each: you direct, via skipper/host (via RM/HM), or both.
Pre-brief RM and HM on which yachts host flagged guests so the relevant skipper/host is briefed on arrival.
Pre-brief the Route Medic on any medical-flag guests so awareness is in place from Saturday.

3.5 Team Coordination

Confirm delegation chain, escalation chain, and evening-event hosting roles with EM, EC, RM, HM.
Confirm complaint-handling and severity-call protocol with EM.
Align with EC on guest comms: who messages, who responds, brand voice baseline.
Align with the Route Medic on the medical-incident protocol and how guest-side comms are handled when a medical event occurs.

4. Weekly Schedule (Saturday → Friday)

4.1 Pre-Arrival (Wed → Fri before week begins)

Pre-Arrival is the three days before guests embark. Each role’s Section 3 workstreams land during this window.

Day	Activity	GEM Responsibilities
Wed	Guest dashboard absorbed	Read end-to-end: country, age, returning guests, music preferences, prior YW issues, open CS tickets, group dynamics.
Thu	VIP & flagged-guest plan	Build the personal-greeting plan; align with RM/HM on which yachts host flagged guests so the relevant Skipper/Host is briefed on arrival.
Fri	Medical & allergy alignment	Walk dashboard’s medical and severe-allergy flags with HM and Route Medic. Confirm Saturday allergy-briefing plan.

4.2 Saturday: Arrival Day

Saturday is the heaviest day of the week for most route roles. Marina check-in opens around mid-afternoon and runs through early evening; the welcome dinner / opening party closes the day.

Time block	Activity	GEM Responsibilities
Morning	Briefings	Attend management & all-staff meetings; align with EC on welcome-experience split (you = welcome, EC = paperwork).
Marina check-in (afternoon)	Welcome experience	Personally meet each yacht as guests board. Allergy / medical intake alongside HM. VIP / returning-guest personal greeting.
Welcome dinner (evening)	Visible & circulating	Co-host. Eyes on the room. Glass-on-floor watch from Day 1. Establish your visibility for the week.
Opening party / late	Lone-host check + Day-1 flags	Locate every host, confirm none are isolated. Surface any Day-1 flags to RM/HM and to tomorrow’s morning meeting.

4.3 Sunday → Thursday: Sailing Days

Time block	Activity	GEM Responsibilities
Crew morning meeting	Receive overnight signal	Receive overnight info from skippers/hosts via RM/HM. Action items agreed. Today’s flagged guests / VIPs known by name.
Mid-morning	Walk the fleet	Where geography allows, walk the marina or rafted fleet. Check on flagged guests in person. Route any skipper/host issue through RM/HM.
Afternoon	Light venue walk	Brief touch with EM on venue partner; align with EC on pre-event reminders for any flagged guests.
Event window (evening)	Co-host & circulating	Co-host with EM, EC, RM, HM. Eyes on the room. Glass-on-floor watch. Lone-host check at every venue.
Late	Day log + feedback scan	Log the day. Scan any new YW App feedback survey responses. Surface themes to EM & EC same-day.

4.4 Friday: Final Day, Feedback & Departures

Time block	Activity	GEM Responsibilities
Morning	Live feedback monitoring	Surveys land fast post-closing event. Identify themes within hours; feed any urgent fix into the boat-hop plan.
Boat-hopping (~14:00–16:00)	Personal goodbyes	Visit each yacht. Personal goodbye to flagged and returning guests. Review-ask where appropriate.
Evening	Handover	Hand the complaint log, KPI snapshot, partner notes, and risks to next week’s GEM.

5. Complaint & Incident Handling

5.1 Principles

Listen first. Acknowledge before defending. Repeat the issue back in your own words.
Severity-led: classify before acting. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.
Single guest POC: whoever first held the guest relationship keeps it through resolution. The operational fix routes to the right role behind the scenes.
Speed over perfection on Med+ incidents. Same-day Event Incident Log entry is non-negotiable for: sexual harassment, drugs, drunk-on-duty, glass injury, anaphylaxis, vendor confrontation pushed onto crew, vessel emergency, lone-host situation, social-media-bound complaint.
Critical incidents are owned by the Head of Operations (HOO). The HOO leads or stays connected to the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. The route team's job during a Critical is to deliver facts, hold guest comms locally where directed, and execute on the HOO's call.
Confidentiality is the default. Medical details are held in line with company policy and applicable data-protection rules. Staff misconduct details are shared only with those who need to know to act (EM, RM/HM, Quarterdeck (QD) as relevant), not across the team.
External / public communication during a Critical incident routes through the HOO. Route roles do not speak to media, social platforms, or families on behalf of Yacht Week without HOO sign-off.

5.2 Severity & Response

Use this matrix to decide whether you handle an issue alone, loop in another role, the EM, or escalate beyond the route. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.

Severity	Examples	Action
Low	Schedule confusion, dietary tweak, lost item, minor venue gripe.	Resolve in role on the spot, ideally via skipper/host. Log at end of day.
Medium	Repeat complaint, partner-venue conflict, missed transfer, group dissatisfaction with one event, minor conduct flag.	Resolve in role; notify EM same-day. If skipper/host involved → route operational fix to RM/HM. Log immediately in the Event Incident Log.
High	Safety incident, medical issue, refund request, conduct incident, social-media-bound complaint, repeated skipper/host failure.	Stop. Notify EM immediately. RM/HM looped if crew-related; Route Medic looped if medical. EM may escalate to OC; OC briefs HOO. The role-with-the-relationship stays with the guest. Same-day Event Incident Log entry.
Critical	Injury, missing person, criminal incident, vessel emergency, anaphylaxis, regulatory issue.	Safety protocols first. HOO owns the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. Emergency services as required. All external comms route through HOO. Document everything in the Event Incident Log within the hour.

5.3 Chain of Command

The route team resolves what it can in scope; everything else escalates along these lines.

Within the route team: GEM, EC, and Route Medic surface to EM. EM is the route-level decision point for refunds, boat changes, partial credits, schedule changes, and partner-facing commitments.
Crew-related issues: skipper-side route through RM; host-side route through HM. RM and HM document conduct or performance issues same-day with EM and Quarterdeck (QD).
Medical issues: surface to the Route Medic via direct app contact. The nearest skipper or host is first responder and calls the Medic. The Medic treats within scope, stabilises, and arranges escalation to local medical services where exceeded.
Yacht / supplier issues: RM relays via the EM into the OC, who reports formally to the YW Commercial Team weekly.
Cross-destination patterns: OC reads every Event Incident Log entry across active routes weekly and surfaces themes to the HOO.
Critical incidents: HOO leads. OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff connect into the response. External comms route through HOO.

5.4 Guest Experience Manager Responsibilities

You hold the guest relationship through the week. Most complaints either reach you directly (in person, via skipper/host through RM/HM) or get escalated to you by the EC from the YW App. You classify, route, and stay with the guest until it’s closed.

Listen → Acknowledge → Assess severity → Route → Act → Close → Log. Severity classification on the spot.
Surface Med+ to the EM same-day.
Skipper or host-caused issues: you hold the guest relationship through the week. Operational fix routes to RM or HM. The skipper/host is not put on blast to the guest.
Resolution Toolkit (within authority, no EM approval): drink or amenity to recover a moment, reseat or rearrange a guest, reschedule a transfer where logistics allow, offer official merchandise as a goodwill gesture.
Out-of-scope for GEM, EM-only: refunds, boat changes, partial credits, written commitments.
Eyes-on signals to surface immediately: glass on dance floors, lone-host situations, intoxication, group friction, mental-health flags, allergy concerns, predator or non-YW behaviour around guests.
Acting EM rule: when EM is unavailable for more than two hours, you act as EM for the route. Safety: act immediately. Material commitments (refunds, boat changes, partial credits, partner-name-public messaging, budget commitments): escalate to OC for approval before acting.

6. KPIs & Feedback Analysis

Monitor the YW App feedback form continuously. Surveys land Friday/Saturday post-event; analyse same hour, not next day.
Identify themes within hours: ≥2 mentions = a theme worth acting on.
Translate insights into immediate fixes — into the next event, the next venue brief, the next RM/HM hand-off, the next EC pre-event reminder, or (where music is the theme) the next DJ brief via EC.
Pre-week: read previous week's full results; brief mitigations into Saturday's start.
Hand over the complaint log, KPI snapshot, partner notes, and risks to next week's GEM.

Event Coordinator

1. Role Summary

As an Event Coordinator (EC) you support the Event Manager in the planning and execution of official Yacht Week events, and you own the on-site information flow: the YW App schedule, guest comms via app and email, message updates, and the on-site POC role for the Media and DJ teams.

In one sentence: the EM owns the event, the GEM owns the guest, you own the app and the message.

Reporting & Working Relationships

Reports to: Event Manager (EM) for the assigned week.
Works alongside: Guest Experience Manager (GEM) on guest relationship and guest issues.
Co-hosts evening events with: EM, GEM, RM, HM.
Supports: Media and DJ teams as on-site POC.
Liaises with: app and comms tooling owners at central operations, venue teams as needed.

Role Ownership Across the Team

Operations Coordinator (OC): cross-destination operations; supplies pre-week intelligence and budget envelope to each EM.
Event Manager (EM): on-the-ground route lead; owns the event, the team, and the budget.
Guest Experience Manager (GEM): owns the guest experience, guest relationships, and complaint handling.
Event Coordinator (EC): owns the YW App schedule, app comms and message updates; on-site POC for Media and DJ teams.
Route Manager (RM): owns route operations and skipper-team coordination; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Host Manager (HM): owns host-team coordination and onboard guest experience; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Route Medic: assigned skipper or host with medical credentials; provides route-level medical response and health & safety support.
Quarterdeck (QD) is Yacht Week's external service provider for the Skipper and Host crews (including RM, HM, and the Route Medic). YW is the customer; QD supplies the people. Skipper/host-side performance, offboarding, and replacement decisions sit with QD.

The Delegation Chain

The EM sets the mandate; you push it into the world via the app, email, and direct on-site comms with media and DJ partners. RM and HM are the channel into the boats. You do not bypass them.

EM (or GEM, RM, HM) flags a comms need: schedule change, venue update, transfer info, etc.
EC drafts the message, gets EM approval where required (refunds, partner names, schedule changes), and posts.
EC monitors guest replies in-app and answers operational questions (where, when, what); guest experience issues route to the GEM.
EC supports Media and DJ teams as their on-site POC for content windows, set times, equipment, and venue access.

For anything app or comms-related that crosses into guest experience or partner relations, EC and GEM coordinate before pushing.

2. Core Responsibilities

Your week breaks into five core responsibility areas. Every duty you perform should map back to one of these.

2.1 App & Message Comms Ownership

Own the YW App schedule, guest-facing app comms, and all message updates via app and email.
Post the daily app update before 09:00 every morning, Saturday to Friday.
Monitor the YW App continuously during operational hours. Many guest questions need an immediate response, keep up with all messages, treat them as ASAP. Logistics questions (where, when, what) you answer directly; experience, relationship, behaviour, partner, or repeat issues you forward to GEM with a quick holding reply.
Push change updates as soon as confirmed; guests should not learn about a venue, transfer, or schedule change from anyone but the app.
Pre-event reminder cadence: 60-minute, 30-minute and 15-minute reminders via the YW App with explicit transfer pickup time and location, so each skipper and host can shepherd their own ~8-10 person crew on time.
Maintain Yacht Week brand voice in every message: warm, confident, energetic, never defensive. Brief and clear.

For anything app or comms-related that crosses into guest experience or partner relations, EC and GEM coordinate before pushing.

2.2 Schedule & Information Flow

Maintain the YW App schedule as the single source of truth for guests.
Cross-check the Quarterdeck (QD) event guide against the YW App schedule; flag drift to the QD Operations Manager via the RM.
Push route updates and changes to the YW App Dev Team where needed.
Push change updates as soon as confirmed; guests should not learn about a venue, transfer, or schedule change from anyone but the app.
Keep contact lists, dress codes, and transfer info accurate and accessible.
Website-to-reality audit on provisioning claims (e.g. 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 dinners). Greek 2025 logged a guest complaint that the website promise differed from delivery. Mid-week audit; flag drift to OC and HOO.

2.3 Media & DJ Support

2.4 Event Operations Support to EM

Support the EM in the delivery of all official events (briefings, beach clubs, night events, departures).
Co-host evening events alongside EM, GEM, RM, HM. Guest experience first, fun second.
Take items off the EM's plate when they're heads-down.
Run the operational comms grunt-work pre-event and post-event.

2.5 Brand & Standards

Yacht Week brand voice: warm, confident, energetic, never defensive. Professional, reliable, respectful. No jargon, no internal acronyms.
Wear official Yacht Week merchandise during operational hours.
Hold the line on Code of Excellence (COE) compliance.
Zero tolerance on sexual harassment, drugs, and serious alcohol incidents. Same-day documentation. Sexual harassment was the top recurring incident category in both 2024 and 2025.
Reinforce sustainable onboard and on-land practices aligned with Company values.
Lead by example.
Brand voice in every guest-facing message: brief, clear, no jargon, no internal acronyms, no defensive language.

3. Pre Event Preparations

You are the EM’s right hand on the operational and comms side. Your pre-arrival work runs across five workstreams. Across all of them, the operating principle is simple: when the EM has too much on, you take the next thing off their plate.

3.1 Guest Profile Dashboard

Read the OC-supplied dashboard through a comms lens.
Music preferences feed the DJ brief.
Open CS tickets surface in app comms.
Group dynamics shape tone of message templates (corporate vs. bachelorette vs. mixed).
Returning guests and VIPs get personalized greetings in the Saturday welcome message.

3.2 Yacht-by-Yacht Communication Plan

3.3 Previous Week's KPIs & Feedback

3.4 App & Schedule Setup

Pre-load the YW App schedule with venues, addresses, dress codes, and transfer info.
Cross-check the QD event guide against the YW App schedule. Where they disagree, the YW App schedule wins; updates flow back to the QD Ops Manager (or to the YW App Dev Team) so the QD event guide aligns over time.
Pre-write Day 1 welcome and Day 2 morning update.
Build draft messages for the most likely change scenarios: weather, late venue, transfer delay.

3.5 Media & DJ Briefs

Confirm set times, content windows, and equipment lists for each event.
Pull music preferences from the dashboard and pass to the DJ team.
Confirm media access and brief windows with venue partners.
Be the on-site POC. Media or DJ team lands and you're their first call.

4. Weekly Schedule (Saturday → Friday)

Yacht Week runs Saturday to Friday. The schedule below is the principle, not a stopwatch; exact venues and timings vary per week and per destination. The rhythm itself doesn’t. The week breaks into four blocks: Pre-Arrival, Saturday (arrival), Sunday → Thursday (sailing days), and Friday (final day). Information moves outward from the EM via the EC’s app pushes; skippers and hosts run their own ~8-10 person crew on each yacht; the route team stays strategic, not herding. The single biggest success factor is that skippers and hosts are well-informed at all times; the daily app push and the RM/HM broadcasts to their teams are how that happens.

4.1 Pre-Arrival (Wed → Fri before week begins)

Pre-Arrival is the three days before guests embark. Each role’s Section 3 workstreams land during this window.

Day	Activity	EC Responsibilities
Wed	YW App schedule preload	Pre-load venues, addresses, dress codes, transfer info. Cross-check the Quarterdeck (QD) event guide against the YW App schedule; flag drift to the QD Operations Manager via RM.
Thu	Templates & pre-written messages	Pre-write Day 1 welcome and Day 2 morning update. Build draft messages for the most likely change scenarios: weather, late venue, transfer delay.
Fri	Media / DJ / venue access	Confirm set times, content windows, equipment lists for each event. Confirm media access and brief windows with venue partners.

4.2 Saturday: Arrival Day

Saturday is the heaviest day of the week for most route roles. Marina check-in opens around mid-afternoon and runs through early evening; the welcome dinner / opening party closes the day.

Time block	Activity	EC Responsibilities
Morning (around 09:00)	Departing-guest support & Day-1 prep	Outgoing guests check out around 09:00; be on hand to support EM and GEM with any tail-end issues. Day-1 welcome message scheduled in the YW App for the new cohort.
Mid-day	General EM support & event prep	Saturday tasks vary widely and shift on the day; you are the EM’s general support. Confirm venue / DJ / media for the opening event. Check inbound DJ and Media team arrival times via the OC dashboard.
Marina check-in (afternoon)	Greet new guests; check-in support	Check-in workflow varies by destination: in Sicily and Greece the event team runs check-in directly; in Croatia a separate check-in team takes the lead and the event team supports; at other destinations you assist EM and GEM. GEM owns the welcome experience; you support throughput where useful.
Pre-welcome dinner	Opening venue setup	Brief the DJ team for the opening venue. DJ load-in needs vary by destination: some venues have a full kit, others need YW gear from the route kit. Light boxes, flutter flags, group-photo cue. Brief the DJ team for the opening venue. DJ load-in needs vary by destination: some venues have a full kit, others need YW gear from the route kit. Light boxes, flutter flags, group-photo cue.
Welcome dinner / opening (evening)	Media & DJ POC; co-host	Sound check. Co-host with EM, GEM, RM, HM. First call for Media or DJ team.
Late	Charge cycle + tomorrow’s brief	Soundboks and DJ gear on charge. ‘Tomorrow’s Schedule’ post on the event team WhatsApp group.

4.3 Sunday → Thursday: Sailing Days

Time block	Activity	EC Responsibilities
Crew morning meeting	Brief in, plan comms out	Confirm with EM the day’s app push contents and any schedule changes.
10:00 sharp	Daily app push	Push the day’s run-of-show via app; event team WhatsApp group post in parallel.
Throughout operational hours	Continuous app monitoring	Stay glued to the YW App. Many guest questions need an immediate response. Answer logistics (where, when, what) directly. Forward experience, behaviour, relationship, partner, or repeat issues to GEM.
Pre-event reminders	60 / 30 / 15 minute cadence	Push pre-event reminders via app with explicit transfer pickup time and location, so each Skipper and Host can shepherd their own ~8-10 person crew on time.
Afternoon	Venue setup oversight	DJ load-in (~90 min pre-party); sound check (~60-75 min pre-party); flutter flags, light boxes, route flag at venue; group-photo cue.
Event window (evening)	Co-host & Media/DJ POC	Co-host. First call for Media or DJ team. Run the operational comms grunt-work.
~21:00	‘Tomorrow’s Schedule’ post	Post tomorrow’s schedule to the event team WhatsApp group. Soundboks and DJ gear charge cycle.
Daily	Schedule drift check	Flag any drift between the QD event guide and the YW App schedule to the QD Operations Manager via RM.

4.4 Friday: Final Day, Feedback & Departures

Time block	Activity	EC Responsibilities
Morning	Final app push	Day 8 / departure transfer info via app. Final staff post including review-ask language.
Mid-day	Damages collation	Collect damages / repairs sheet entries from skippers via RM. Run the website-to-reality audit on provisioning claims if it’s an audit week.
Boat-hopping	Support GEM	Bring merch, review-ask cards, and a charged phone to capture any last guest input.
Evening	Comp report & next-week prep	Send comp report to HQ. Confirm next week’s app schedule preload starts.

5. Complaint & Incident Handling

5.1 Principles

Listen first. Acknowledge before defending. Repeat the issue back in your own words.
Severity-led: classify before acting. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.
Single guest POC: whoever first held the guest relationship keeps it through resolution. The operational fix routes to the right role behind the scenes.
Speed over perfection on Med+ incidents. Same-day Event Incident Log entry is non-negotiable for: sexual harassment, drugs, drunk-on-duty, glass injury, anaphylaxis, vendor confrontation pushed onto crew, vessel emergency, lone-host situation, social-media-bound complaint.
Critical incidents are owned by the Head of Operations (HOO). The HOO leads or stays connected to the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. The route team's job during a Critical is to deliver facts, hold guest comms locally where directed, and execute on the HOO's call.
Confidentiality is the default. Medical details are held in line with company policy and applicable data-protection rules. Staff misconduct details are shared only with those who need to know to act (EM, RM/HM, Quarterdeck (QD) as relevant), not across the team.
External / public communication during a Critical incident routes through the HOO. Route roles do not speak to media, social platforms, or families on behalf of Yacht Week without HOO sign-off.

5.2 Severity & Response

Use this matrix to decide whether you handle an issue alone, loop in another role, the EM, or escalate beyond the route. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.

Severity	Examples	Action
Low	Schedule confusion, dietary tweak, lost item, minor venue gripe.	Resolve in role on the spot, ideally via skipper/host. Log at end of day.
Medium	Repeat complaint, partner-venue conflict, missed transfer, group dissatisfaction with one event, minor conduct flag.	Resolve in role; notify EM same-day. If skipper/host involved → route operational fix to RM/HM. Log immediately in the Event Incident Log.
High	Safety incident, medical issue, refund request, conduct incident, social-media-bound complaint, repeated skipper/host failure.	Stop. Notify EM immediately. RM/HM looped if crew-related; Route Medic looped if medical. EM may escalate to OC; OC briefs HOO. The role-with-the-relationship stays with the guest. Same-day Event Incident Log entry.
Critical	Injury, missing person, criminal incident, vessel emergency, anaphylaxis, regulatory issue.	Safety protocols first. HOO owns the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. Emergency services as required. All external comms route through HOO. Document everything in the Event Incident Log within the hour.

5.3 Chain of Command

The route team resolves what it can in scope; everything else escalates along these lines.

Within the route team: GEM, EC, and Route Medic surface to EM. EM is the route-level decision point for refunds, boat changes, partial credits, schedule changes, and partner-facing commitments.
Crew-related issues: skipper-side route through RM; host-side route through HM. RM and HM document conduct or performance issues same-day with EM and Quarterdeck (QD).
Medical issues: surface to the Route Medic via direct app contact. The nearest skipper or host is first responder and calls the Medic. The Medic treats within scope, stabilises, and arranges escalation to local medical services where exceeded.
Yacht / supplier issues: RM relays via the EM into the OC, who reports formally to the YW Commercial Team weekly.
Cross-destination patterns: OC reads every Event Incident Log entry across active routes weekly and surfaces themes to the HOO.
Critical incidents: HOO leads. OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff connect into the response. External comms route through HOO.

5.4 Event Coordinator Responsibilities

You handle guest comms broadly through the YW App. Resolve what you can; escalate to GEM when an issue touches experience, behaviour, relationship, partner, or is a repeat. EC and GEM are not in competition; EC reads first, GEM owns the relationship.

Pure logistics (where, when, what, schedule, transfer, dress code, venue access): you answer directly.
Anything touching guest experience, behaviour, relationship, partner, or that's a repeat issue: forward to GEM same-message with a quick holding reply.
Refunds, partial credits, written commitments, partner-name-public messaging: route to EM. EC does not commit YW to anything material.
Brand-voice compliance: warm, confident, energetic, never defensive. No jargon, no internal acronyms, even under pressure.
During Critical: pause the regular comms cadence on HOO's call. Pre-cleared messages only.

Route Manager

1. Role Summary

As a Route Manager (RM) you skipper the crew yacht (no paying guests) and lead operational coordination for the skipper team across the route. You drive communication, support, and performance management for skippers, working closely with the Event Manager and the route team.

You do not command, direct, or assume responsibility for any other skipper’s vessel. Each skipper remains the sole captain in command of their yacht. Your role is advisory and coordination-based: guidance, coaching, and information flow.

In one sentence: the EM owns the event, you own the route and the skipper team’s performance.

Reporting & Working Relationships

Reports to: Event Manager (EM) operationally for the assigned week.
Reports to: Quarterdeck (QD) management (and the QD Operations Manager) for skipper performance, offboarding, and route-level escalations. RM is supplied by QD; YW is the customer.
Works alongside: Host Manager (HM), parallel role for the host team.
Co-hosts evening events with: EM, GEM, EC, HM.
Liaises with: skippers across the route; the Route Medic on medical-incident handling; the QD Operations Manager for staffing and replacements.

Role Ownership Across the Team

Operations Coordinator (OC): cross-destination operations; supplies pre-week intelligence and budget envelope to each EM.
Event Manager (EM): on-the-ground route lead; owns the event, the team, and the budget.
Guest Experience Manager (GEM): owns the guest experience, guest relationships, and complaint handling.
Event Coordinator (EC): owns the YW App schedule, app comms and message updates; on-site POC for Media and DJ teams.
Route Manager (RM): owns route operations and skipper-team coordination; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Host Manager (HM): owns host-team coordination and onboard guest experience; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Route Medic: assigned skipper or host with medical credentials; provides route-level medical response and health & safety support.
Lead Skipper: route-level skipper-support role assigned to selected skippers; sits under the RM. Advisory and coordination only, no command authority over any other yacht.
Lead Tech: route-level technical-support role assigned to selected skippers with strong yacht-systems experience; sits under the RM as a support function. Advisory and coordination only, does not replace charter-company technicians or formal repair channels.
Lead Host: route-level host-support role assigned to selected Hosts; sits under the HM. Advisory and coordination only, no authority over skipper teams or vessel command.
Quarterdeck (QD) is Yacht Week's external service provider for the Skipper and Host crews (including RM, HM, and the Route Medic). YW is the customer; QD supplies the people. Skipper/host-side performance, offboarding, and replacement decisions sit with QD.

The Delegation Chain

You receive mandates from the EM, push operational coordination to the skipper team, and feed real-time information back up. The operational WhatsApp Community (managed by OC) is the primary channel for crew comms; the YW App is the guest-facing channel for route info, schedule, and changes; phone is for emergencies only.

EM sets the week's priorities; GEM and other route roles surface skipper-related needs to you.
RM relays operational coordination, weather, port and route updates to skippers via the app.
Skippers execute on their vessels (each remains in command); RM coaches, supports, and gathers performance signal.
RM escalates safety issues, performance concerns, and incidents to the EM and to QD management without delay.
Medical incidents surface to the Route Medic for assessment; the RM stays in the loop on operational impact.

You are the documentation owner for skipper performance, COE breaches, and incident reports: facts, dates, and witnesses where relevant.

Authority & Mandate

Advisory and coordination authority over skippers; each Skipper retains command of their own vessel.
Submits per-skipper performance ratings and notes to QD; supports QD-instructed formal actions including removal from duty, reassignment, or offboarding.
Owns the route's spare-equipment kit (adapters, speaker, microphone, generator fuel cans). Surfaces replenishment needs to EM, who consolidates to OC; OC fulfils via storage (HOO support if needed).

2. Core Responsibilities

Your week breaks into eight core responsibility areas. Every duty you perform should map back to one of these.

2.1 Skipper Team Coordination

Day-to-day coordination point for the skipper team across the route.
Operational WhatsApp Community (managed by OC) is the primary channel for skipper-team comms: broadcasts in the skipper-team group; direct chat with individual skippers as needed; WhatsApp Community is the system of record for crew comms.
YW App is the guest-facing channel for route info, schedule, and changes; never the place for crew-only operational discussion.
Default to broadcast posts in the skipper-team group for one-to-many; reserve direct chats for time-critical or skipper-specific coordination.
Each skipper shepherds their own ~8-10 person crew to and from events. RM briefs the skipper team on what's expected per event; skippers execute on their yachts.
Where Lead Skippers and a Lead Tech are assigned to the route, they sit under the RM as support roles for a defined group of skippers. Use them to extend support across the week, particularly to newer skippers and on technical issues, without delegating performance-management or escalation ownership. Lead Skippers and Lead Tech do not command any other yacht and do not replace the RM, the HM, or the EM.

2.2 Daily yellow and red flag dialogue with the skipper team

The most important thing the RM does on the water is run a constant dialogue with the skipper team so the events team can support actioning before anything escalates. Each day, run a short, standing, structured check with every skipper. The bar is to flag yellow even when it does not feel red yet: a difficult guest dynamic that feels manageable onboard, a host wellbeing concern, a yacht condition issue, a logistics bump from arrival day. Yellow flags are how the events team gets a chance to support before things go red. Skippers do not wait for the daily check if something material happens; they surface to the RM as soon as they can.

2.3 Daily action-plan cycle with GEM and EM

Each day, the RM, GEM and EM align on the day’s flags and agree the action plan. RM brings the flags from the skipper team. HM brings the flags from the host team. GEM brings the eyes-on signals from the marina and the in-app feedback monitor. The three of them, with HM in the loop where the issue touches a host, agree how each flagged yacht is handled through the rest of the week. GEM, together with the affected yacht’s skipper and host, executes through the week. The aim is to shift from end-of-week postmortems to in-week support.

2.4 First-time-in-destination flag

First-week-of-season flagging covers skippers new to the season. First-time-in-destination is a separate flag: a skipper who has not sailed those waters before. Skippers self-flag at first meeting with the RM. Where possible the RM pairs first-time-in-destination skippers with a destination-experienced Lead Skipper through the week, and the RM and Lead Skipper give extra attention and support. The same logic applies to first-time-in-destination hosts, raised via the HM and supported by the Lead Host.

2.5 Skipper Performance Management

Run regular check-ins with skippers for coaching, feedback, and support (high performers and developing alike).
Record and submit per-skipper performance notes and ratings to Quarterdeck (QD).
Flag concerns early to the EM and to the QD Operations Manager.
Skipper conduct: zero tolerance on harassment and drunk-on-duty behaviour. Two named-skipper sexual harassment incidents (2024 and 2025) and one drunk-on-duty case (2025) across two seasons is two too many. Document same-day with EM and QD; do not wait for end-of-week.
Where instructed by QD management, support formal actions including removal from duty, reassignment, or offboarding.

2.6 Operational Coordination

Maintain route operational rhythm: daily and weekly schedules, key timings, expected movements.
Monitor and communicate variables impacting operations: weather, local rules, port constraints, logistics.
Provide timely updates to EM, HM, and central operations.
Skipper resignation or dismissal mid-week: skipper notifies RM. RM notifies the QD Operations Manager, who deploys a standby skipper. EM owns the guest-facing message via EC. GEM picks up the affected yacht's relationship for the rest of the week. Cover and redistribution decisions sit with QD, not the RM.
Day-to-day coverage for dropouts or last-minute changes is handled by Quarterdeck via the standby pool. The RM notifies the QD Operations Manager promptly so deployment can begin.

2.7 Safety, Standards & Incident Handling

Reinforce maritime safety expectations and the Code of Excellence (COE).
Document and escalate incidents, complaints, and near-misses to the EM and QD management without delay.
Forward yacht-related issues to the OC, who routes them to the YW Commercial Team: damages, poor service, late check-in, wrong yacht specs, and charter-company cash demands (Istion 2025). The Fidji boat case (Croatia 2025, multiple defects, missing experiences) is the documentation standard.
Maintain the route's spare-equipment kit (adapters, speaker, microphone, generator fuel cans). 2025 saw generator fuel leaks, multiple broken DJ decks, faulty microphones; pre-position spares, do not scramble on the day. Surface replenishment needs to EM; EM consolidates to OC; OC fulfils via storage (HOO support if needed).
Coordinate operational handover when skippers leave or are replaced, including app access, route notes, and incident context.
Loop in the Route Medic on any incident with a medical dimension.

2.8 Brand & Standards

Yacht Week brand voice: warm, confident, energetic, never defensive. Professional, reliable, respectful. No jargon, no internal acronyms.
Wear official Yacht Week merchandise during operational hours.
Hold the line on Code of Excellence (COE) compliance.
Zero tolerance on sexual harassment, drugs, and serious alcohol incidents. Same-day documentation. Sexual harassment was the top recurring incident category in both 2024 and 2025.
Reinforce sustainable onboard and on-land practices aligned with Company values.
Lead by example.
Reinforce cleanliness and hygiene standards onboard.
Each skipper retains command of their yacht; the RM is advisory and coordination-based.

3. Pre Event Preparations

Pre Event is where you set up the skipper team for a week that runs cleanly without you having to micromanage. Five workstreams run in parallel.

3.1 Guest Profile Dashboard

Read the OC-supplied dashboard through a route lens.
Group dynamics inform skipper-style match.
VIPs and returning guests get briefed to the relevant skippers.
Medical and accessibility flags shape route choices and provisioning; pre-brief the Route Medic on any high-severity flags.

3.2 Yacht-by-Yacht Communication Plan

Operational WhatsApp Community is the primary channel for skipper-team coordination, system of record for crew comms.
YW App is the guest-facing channel for route info, schedule, and changes.
Default to broadcast posts in the skipper-team group for one-to-many; reserve direct chats for time-critical or skipper-specific coordination.
Each skipper owns their own yacht's crew. RM briefs the skipper team; skippers execute per yacht.
Route updates and changes flow to the QD Operations Manager (or the YW App Dev Team) so the QD event guide stays as up to date as possible. Where the QD event guide and the YW App schedule disagree, the YW App schedule wins.

3.3 Previous Week's KPIs & Feedback

Read the full KPI report.
Through a skipper lens: per-skipper feedback, route-level themes, timing issues, complaints rooted in route or yacht.
Feed route and timing learnings to the EM in time for Saturday morning briefing.
Forward yacht-related issues to the YW Commercial Team via the OC: damages, poor service from the yachting company, late check-in, wrong yacht specs.

3.4 Skipper Team Setup

3.5 First-Week Skipper Onboarding (Saturday)

A repeatable Saturday curriculum so first-week skippers land on the same standard every week.

Operational updates from the season so far.
Current operational team structure and reporting lines.
Code of Excellence (COE) walkthrough and acknowledgement.
Reporting protocols: incidents, performance, yacht issues.
YW App walkthrough.
Q&A.

4. Weekly Schedule (Saturday → Friday)

4.1 Pre-Arrival (Wed → Fri before week begins)

Pre-Arrival is the three days before guests embark. Each role’s Section 3 workstreams land during this window.

Day	Activity	RM Responsibilities
Wed	Dashboard through route lens	Group dynamics inform skipper-style match. Pre-brief Route Medic on high-severity medical flags.
Thu	Skipper team setup	Confirm assignments. Identify first-week skippers. Confirm Saturday onboarding curriculum.
Fri	Route spare-equipment kit	Confirm spare adapters, spare speaker, spare microphone, fuel cans for generators are pre-positioned. 2025 saw generator fuel leaks, multiple broken DJ decks, faulty microphones; pre-position spares, do not scramble on the day.

4.2 Saturday: Arrival Day

Saturday is the heaviest day of the week for most route roles. Marina check-in opens around mid-afternoon and runs through early evening; the welcome dinner / opening party closes the day.

Time block	Activity	RM Responsibilities
Morning	Management & skipper meetings	Attend management meeting; chair skipper meeting (incl. first-week onboarding for any new skippers); Code of Excellence (COE) walkthrough.
Marina check-in (afternoon)	Skipper yacht checks	Verify flag, registration, beam length per yacht. Sign off skipper paperwork. Oversee food deliveries to crew yacht.
Welcome dinner (evening)	Co-host (where present)	Observe skipper team conduct in the social setting. Document anything material same-day.
Opening party / late	Next-morning plan	Confirm the next morning’s reposition plan with the skipper team via the WhatsApp Community.

4.3 Sunday → Thursday: Sailing Days

Time block	Activity	RM Responsibilities
Early morning	Crew yacht repositions	Skipper the crew yacht to the next bay.
Crew morning meeting	Receive day’s brief	Receive EM mandate; align with EC on what skippers will be told.
10:00 broadcast	Skipper team brief	Broadcast today’s ROS, weather, port info, transfer plan in the skipper-team WhatsApp group. Direct chat per skipper as needed.
Pre-event	Skipper-by-skipper brief	Brief each skipper on their yacht’s role in the day’s event: timing, venue access, transfer plan, what guests have already been told via the app.
Event window	At venue or on water	Watch skipper team conduct. Capture per-skipper performance signal.
Late	Skipper signal capture	Note conduct, performance, or safety issues. Document same-day with EM and Quarterdeck (QD) if material; do not wait for end-of-week.
Daily	Variance management	Weather / port / fuel updates pushed to skippers. Coverage planning for any dropouts via the QD Operations Manager.

4.4 Friday: Final Day, Feedback & Departures

Time block	Activity	RM Responsibilities
Sail home	Lead the fleet home	Skipper the crew yacht back. Coordinate with skipper team via app.
Crew yacht week-review	Skipper-team review	Walk the skipper team’s week with EM. Align boat-hop plan.
Mid-day	Damages collation	Pull damages / repairs sheet from each skipper. Surface yacht-related issues via OC into the YW Commercial Team.
Boat-hopping	Skipper-team capacity	Be present in skipper-team capacity.
End of week	Performance ratings to QD	Submit per-skipper ratings to QD. Flag concerns with documented examples and dates.

5. Complaint & Incident Handling

5.1 Principles

Listen first. Acknowledge before defending. Repeat the issue back in your own words.
Severity-led: classify before acting. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.
Single guest POC: whoever first held the guest relationship keeps it through resolution. The operational fix routes to the right role behind the scenes.
Speed over perfection on Med+ incidents. Same-day Event Incident Log entry is non-negotiable for: sexual harassment, drugs, drunk-on-duty, glass injury, anaphylaxis, vendor confrontation pushed onto crew, vessel emergency, lone-host situation, social-media-bound complaint.
Critical incidents are owned by the Head of Operations (HOO). The HOO leads or stays connected to the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. The route team's job during a Critical is to deliver facts, hold guest comms locally where directed, and execute on the HOO's call.
Confidentiality is the default. Medical details are held in line with company policy and applicable data-protection rules. Staff misconduct details are shared only with those who need to know to act (EM, RM/HM, Quarterdeck (QD) as relevant), not across the team.
External / public communication during a Critical incident routes through the HOO. Route roles do not speak to media, social platforms, or families on behalf of Yacht Week without HOO sign-off.

5.2 Severity & Response

Use this matrix to decide whether you handle an issue alone, loop in another role, the EM, or escalate beyond the route. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.

Severity	Examples	Action
Low	Schedule confusion, dietary tweak, lost item, minor venue gripe.	Resolve in role on the spot, ideally via skipper/host. Log at end of day.
Medium	Repeat complaint, partner-venue conflict, missed transfer, group dissatisfaction with one event, minor conduct flag.	Resolve in role; notify EM same-day. If skipper/host involved → route operational fix to RM/HM. Log immediately in the Event Incident Log.
High	Safety incident, medical issue, refund request, conduct incident, social-media-bound complaint, repeated skipper/host failure.	Stop. Notify EM immediately. RM/HM looped if crew-related; Route Medic looped if medical. EM may escalate to OC; OC briefs HOO. The role-with-the-relationship stays with the guest. Same-day Event Incident Log entry.
Critical	Injury, missing person, criminal incident, vessel emergency, anaphylaxis, regulatory issue.	Safety protocols first. HOO owns the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. Emergency services as required. All external comms route through HOO. Document everything in the Event Incident Log within the hour.

5.3 Chain of Command

The route team resolves what it can in scope; everything else escalates along these lines.

Within the route team: GEM, EC, and Route Medic surface to EM. EM is the route-level decision point for refunds, boat changes, partial credits, schedule changes, and partner-facing commitments.
Crew-related issues: skipper-side route through RM; host-side route through HM. RM and HM document conduct or performance issues same-day with EM and Quarterdeck (QD).
Medical issues: surface to the Route Medic via direct app contact. The nearest skipper or host is first responder and calls the Medic. The Medic treats within scope, stabilises, and arranges escalation to local medical services where exceeded.
Yacht / supplier issues: RM relays via the EM into the OC, who reports formally to the YW Commercial Team weekly.
Cross-destination patterns: OC reads every Event Incident Log entry across active routes weekly and surfaces themes to the HOO.
Critical incidents: HOO leads. OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff connect into the response. External comms route through HOO.

5.4 Route Manager Responsibilities

Skipper-side first escalation point. You document everything that touches conduct, performance, or yacht safety; the route team relies on the Event Incident Log being current.

Skipper-side first escalation for any incident on the water or in port. Same-day Event Incident Log entry on Med+.
Skipper conduct (sexual harassment, drunk-on-duty, named-skipper safety failure): zero tolerance. Same-day with EM and Quarterdeck (QD); do not wait for end-of-week.
Yacht and supplier issues: pre-position spares from the route kit; surface replenishment needs via EM (EM consolidates to OC). Surface persistent issues via OC into the YW Commercial Team weekly report.
Per-skipper performance ratings to QD weekly with documented examples; flag concerns early.
During Critical involving a vessel: vessel emergency protocols first. Then loop EM and HOO.
Confidentiality on misconduct: shared only with EM, HM (where relevant), QD, and the directly affected skipper. Not across the wider team.

Host Manager

1. Role Summary

As a Host Manager (HM) you operate from the crew yacht (no paying guests) and lead operational coordination for the host team across the route. You drive communication, support, and performance management for hosts, working closely with the Event Manager and the route team.

You do not assume command over any vessel or skipper team and do not take on ship owner or operator liability. Hosts remain responsible for following Company standards and escalating any health or safety concern immediately.

In one sentence: the EM owns the event, you own the hosts and the onboard guest experience.

Reporting & Working Relationships

Reports to: Event Manager (EM) operationally for the assigned week.
Reports to: Quarterdeck (QD) management (and the QD Operations Manager) for host performance, offboarding, and route-level escalations. HM is supplied by QD; YW is the customer.
Works alongside: Route Manager (RM), parallel role for the skipper team.
Co-hosts evening events with: EM, GEM, EC, RM.
Liaises with: hosts across the route; the Route Medic on medical-incident handling; provisioning and budget owners; the QD Operations Manager for staffing and replacements.

Reporting & Working Relationships

Reports to: Event Manager (EM) operationally for the assigned week.
Reports to: Quarterdeck (QD) management (and the QD Operations Manager) for host performance, offboarding, and route-level escalations. HM is supplied by QD; YW is the customer.
Works alongside: Route Manager (RM), parallel role for the skipper team.
Co-hosts evening events with: EM, GEM, EC, RM.
Liaises with: hosts across the route; the Route Medic on medical-incident handling; provisioning and budget owners; the QD Operations Manager for staffing and replacements.

Role Ownership Across the Team

Operations Coordinator (OC): cross-destination operations; supplies pre-week intelligence and budget envelope to each EM.
Event Manager (EM): on-the-ground route lead; owns the event, the team, and the budget.
Guest Experience Manager (GEM): owns the guest experience, guest relationships, and complaint handling.
Event Coordinator (EC): owns the YW App schedule, app comms and message updates; on-site POC for Media and DJ teams.
Route Manager (RM): owns route operations and skipper-team coordination; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Host Manager (HM): owns host-team coordination and onboard guest experience; supplied by Quarterdeck (QD).
Route Medic: assigned skipper or host with medical credentials; provides route-level medical response and health & safety support.
Lead Skipper: route-level skipper-support role assigned to selected skippers; sits under the RM. Advisory and coordination only, no command authority over any other yacht.
Lead Tech: route-level technical-support role assigned to selected skippers with strong yacht-systems experience; sits under the RM as a support function. Advisory and coordination only, does not replace charter-company technicians or formal repair channels.
Lead Host: route-level host-support role assigned to selected Hosts; sits under the HM. Advisory and coordination only, no authority over skipper teams or vessel command.
Quarterdeck (QD) is Yacht Week's external service provider for the Skipper and Host crews (including RM, HM, and the Route Medic). YW is the customer; QD supplies the people. Skipper/host-side performance, offboarding, and replacement decisions sit with QD.

The Delegation Chain

You receive mandates from the EM, push operational coordination to the host team, and feed real-time information back up. The operational WhatsApp Community (managed by OC) is the primary channel for crew comms; the YW App is the guest-facing channel for route info, schedule, and changes; phone is for emergencies only.

EM sets the week's priorities; GEM surfaces guest-experience needs that hosts must deliver.
HM relays daily program needs, service standards, and provisioning guidance to hosts via the app.
Hosts execute onboard each yacht; HM coaches, supports, and gathers performance signal.
HM acts as first escalation point for host-related guest issues, with material matters going to the EM.
Medical incidents surface to the Route Medic for assessment; the HM stays in the loop on operational impact.

You are the documentation owner for host performance, COE breaches, provisioning failures, and incident reports.

2. Core Responsibilities

Your week breaks into six core responsibility areas. Every duty you perform should map back to one of these.

2.1 Host Team Coordination

Day-to-day coordination point for the host team across the route.
Operational WhatsApp Community (managed by OC) is the primary channel for host-team comms: broadcasts in the host-team group; direct chat with individual hosts as needed; WhatsApp Community is the system of record for crew comms.
YW App is the guest-facing channel for route info, schedule, and changes; never the place for crew-only operational discussion.
Default to broadcast posts in the host-team group for one-to-many; reserve direct chats for time-critical or host-specific coordination.
Each host shepherds their own ~8-10 person crew on their own yacht. HM briefs the host team on what's expected per event; hosts execute on their yachts.
Where Lead Hosts are assigned to the route, they sit under the HM as a support role for a defined group of Hosts. Use them to extend support across the week, particularly to newer Hosts, without delegating performance-management or escalation ownership. Lead Hosts have no authority over skipper teams or vessel command and do not replace the HM, the RM, or the EM.

2.2 Host Performance Management

Run regular check-ins with hosts for coaching, feedback, and support.
Record and submit per-host performance notes and ratings to Quarterdeck (QD).
Flag concerns (including cultural-fit) early to the EM with documented examples and dates.
Allergy and dietary data flows from the Staff Coordinator → OC → EM → HM and is distributed to hosts via the dashboard before guests arrive. Hosts read it and act on it on their own yachts. Pre-brief the Route Medic on any high-severity flags. The 2025 Greek pasta-with-nuts anaphylaxis incident is the case study for why this data must be live and acted on.
Where instructed by QD management, support formal actions including removal from duty, reassignment, or offboarding.

2.3 Guest Experience & Service Standards

First escalation point for host-related guest issues; material matters go to the EM.
Guide hosts on last-minute guest requests, itinerary adjustments, and service mindset.
Coordinate closely with the RM to ensure skipper and host collaboration runs smoothly.
Host resignation or dismissal mid-week: host notifies HM. HM notifies the QD Operations Manager, who deploys a standby host. EM owns the guest-facing message via EC. GEM picks up the affected yacht's relationship for the rest of the week. Cover and redistribution decisions sit with QD, not the HM.

2.4 Provisioning & Budget Support

Ensure hosts are trained and compliant with provisioning best practices, budgeting, and expense tracking.
Support resolution of major provisioning failures, budget overruns, and supplier issues; escalate where required.
Provide oversight to support consistency across yachts (without taking direct control of any yacht's skipper responsibilities).

2.5 Day 1 meal plan and budget

Each host shares a meal plan and a budget with their group on Day 1, before provisioning. This is a host responsibility. The HM’s role is to verify with Leads that it has happened. Lead Host runs the spot-check across the host team in the first 24 hours of the week and reports back to HM if anything is missing. The Day 1 meal plan and budget heads off the most common provisioning friction: group disagreement at the supermarket, a host who feels unbacked, guests who feel they are paying for something they did not agree to.

2.6 Brand & Standards

Yacht Week brand voice: warm, confident, energetic, never defensive. Professional, reliable, respectful. No jargon, no internal acronyms.
Wear official Yacht Week merchandise during operational hours.
Hold the line on Code of Excellence (COE) compliance.
Zero tolerance on sexual harassment, drugs, and serious alcohol incidents. Same-day documentation. Sexual harassment was the top recurring incident category in both 2024 and 2025.
Reinforce sustainable onboard and on-land practices aligned with Company values.
Lead by example.
Reinforce Company standards, safety expectations, and the Code of Excellence (COE).
Host safety protocol: never alone with venue staff at night. Transfer-back-with-companion as a standing rule. The 2025 Bol train operator incident is the cautionary tale.
Vendor confrontation does not land on hosts. The 2025 Cape Sol owner / skipper threats incident shows what happens when vendor disputes are pushed onto crew. Hosts surface; HM and EM resolve on the route; EM reports to OC who logs and briefs HOO.
Coordinate operational handover when hosts leave or are replaced (replacement host brief, app access, route notes, incident context).

3. Pre Event Preparations

Pre Event is where you set up the host team for a clean week. Five workstreams run in parallel.

3.1 Guest Profile Dashboard

Read the OC-supplied dashboard through a host lens.
Dietary, medical and accessibility flags drive provisioning and prep. Pre-brief the Route Medic on high-severity flags.
Group dynamics shape service style.
Returning guests and VIPs get personalized hosting plans briefed to the relevant hosts.

3.2 Yacht-by-Yacht Communication Plan

Operational WhatsApp Community is the primary channel for host-team coordination, system of record for crew comms.
YW App is the guest-facing channel for route info, schedule, and changes.
Default to broadcast posts in the host-team group for one-to-many; reserve direct chats for time-critical or host-specific coordination.
Each host owns their own yacht's crew. HM briefs the host team; hosts execute per yacht.
Route updates and changes flow to the QD Operations Manager (or the YW App Dev Team) so the QD event guide stays up to date. Where the QD event guide and the YW App schedule disagree, the YW App schedule wins.

3.3 Previous Week's KPIs & Feedback

3.4 Host Team Setup

3.5 First-Week Host Onboarding

A repeatable checklist so first-week hosts land on the same standard every week. Covered via pre-arrival video brief or 1:1 between arrival and embarkation; there is no single host group meeting on Saturday.

Operational updates from the season so far.
Current operational team structure and reporting lines.
Code of Excellence (COE) walkthrough and acknowledgement.
Reporting protocols: incidents, performance, provisioning issues.
YW App and operational WhatsApp Community walkthrough.
Provisioning and budget process refresher.
Q&A.

4. Weekly Schedule (Saturday → Friday)

4.1 Pre-Arrival (Wed → Fri before week begins)

Pre-Arrival is the three days before guests embark. Each role’s Section 3 workstreams land during this window.

Day	Activity	HM Responsibilities
Wed	Dashboard through host lens	Dietary, medical, and accessibility flags drive provisioning. Pre-brief Route Medic on high-severity flags.
Thu	Host team setup	Confirm assignments. Identify first-week hosts. Confirm Saturday onboarding curriculum (incl. provisioning refresher).
Fri	Allergy & dietary data check	Confirm the OC’s dashboard has the Staff Coordinator’s allergy/dietary data live for every guest yacht. Anaphylactic guests confirmed by name and severity. The 2025 Greek pasta-with-nuts incident is the case study.

4.2 Saturday: Arrival Day

Saturday is the heaviest day of the week for most route roles. Marina check-in opens around mid-afternoon and runs through early evening; the welcome dinner / opening party closes the day.

Time block	Activity	HM Responsibilities
Morning	Management meeting	Attend the management meeting (EM/RM/HM). No host group meeting: hosts are spread across marinas with time off before guests arrive; they read the dashboard for allergy / dietary / accessibility data on their own.
Mid-day or as scheduled	Crew yacht supermarket run	Restock the crew yacht’s supplies for the week.
Marina check-in (afternoon)	Provisioning oversight	Onboard provisioning checks per yacht. Confirm hosts have read the allergy / dietary data on the dashboard for their yacht’s guests.
Welcome dinner / opening (evening)	Co-host & lone-host check	Co-host. Pair with GEM on lone-host check at the venue. Vendor-confrontation deflection if needed (HM and EM resolve, hosts surface).

4.3 Sunday → Thursday: Sailing Days

Time block	Activity	HM Responsibilities
Crew morning meeting	Receive day’s brief	Receive EM mandate. Align with EC on what hosts will be told via the app.
10:00 broadcast	Host team brief	Broadcast today’s program, service expectations, venue dress, provisioning notes in the host-team WhatsApp group. Direct chat per host as needed.
Mid-day	Host check-ins	Provisioning, budget, service issues. Coordinate with RM on skipper-host collaboration.
Pre-event	Host briefing	Brief on the day’s event. Service mindset. Lone-host rule reminder.
Event window	At venue, lone-host check	Visible. Lone-host check at every venue. Vendor-confrontation deflection if needed.
Late	Host signal capture	Note any conduct, cultural-fit, or provisioning issues. Document same-day with EM if material.

4.4 Friday: Final Day, Feedback & Departures

Time block	Activity	HM Responsibilities
Crew yacht week-review	Host-team review	Walk the host team’s week with EM. Align boat-hop plan.
Mid-day	Provisioning closeout	Host kitty / leftover stock reconciled.
Boat-hopping	Host-team capacity	Be present in host-team capacity.
End of week	Performance ratings to QD	Submit per-host ratings to QD. Flag cultural-fit concerns with documented examples and dates.

5. Complaint & Incident Handlin

5.1 Principles

Listen first. Acknowledge before defending. Repeat the issue back in your own words.
Severity-led: classify before acting. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.
Single guest POC: whoever first held the guest relationship keeps it through resolution. The operational fix routes to the right role behind the scenes.
Speed over perfection on Med+ incidents. Same-day Event Incident Log entry is non-negotiable for: sexual harassment, drugs, drunk-on-duty, glass injury, anaphylaxis, vendor confrontation pushed onto crew, vessel emergency, lone-host situation, social-media-bound complaint.
Critical incidents are owned by the Head of Operations (HOO). The HOO leads or stays connected to the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. The route team's job during a Critical is to deliver facts, hold guest comms locally where directed, and execute on the HOO's call.
Confidentiality is the default. Medical details are held in line with company policy and applicable data-protection rules. Staff misconduct details are shared only with those who need to know to act (EM, RM/HM, Quarterdeck (QD) as relevant), not across the team.
External / public communication during a Critical incident routes through the HOO. Route roles do not speak to media, social platforms, or families on behalf of Yacht Week without HOO sign-off.

5.2 Severity & Response

Use this matrix to decide whether you handle an issue alone, loop in another role, the EM, or escalate beyond the route. When in doubt, escalate one level higher.

Severity	Examples	Action
Low	Schedule confusion, dietary tweak, lost item, minor venue gripe.	Resolve in role on the spot, ideally via skipper/host. Log at end of day.
Medium	Repeat complaint, partner-venue conflict, missed transfer, group dissatisfaction with one event, minor conduct flag.	Resolve in role; notify EM same-day. If skipper/host involved → route operational fix to RM/HM. Log immediately in the Event Incident Log.
High	Safety incident, medical issue, refund request, conduct incident, social-media-bound complaint, repeated skipper/host failure.	Stop. Notify EM immediately. RM/HM looped if crew-related; Route Medic looped if medical. EM may escalate to OC; OC briefs HOO. The role-with-the-relationship stays with the guest. Same-day Event Incident Log entry.
Critical	Injury, missing person, criminal incident, vessel emergency, anaphylaxis, regulatory issue.	Safety protocols first. HOO owns the response, supported by OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff. Emergency services as required. All external comms route through HOO. Document everything in the Event Incident Log within the hour.

5.3 Chain of Command

The route team resolves what it can in scope; everything else escalates along these lines.

Within the route team: GEM, EC, and Route Medic surface to EM. EM is the route-level decision point for refunds, boat changes, partial credits, schedule changes, and partner-facing commitments.
Crew-related issues: skipper-side route through RM; host-side route through HM. RM and HM document conduct or performance issues same-day with EM and Quarterdeck (QD).
Medical issues: surface to the Route Medic via direct app contact. The nearest skipper or host is first responder and calls the Medic. The Medic treats within scope, stabilises, and arranges escalation to local medical services where exceeded.
Yacht / supplier issues: RM relays via the EM into the OC, who reports formally to the YW Commercial Team weekly.
Cross-destination patterns: OC reads every Event Incident Log entry across active routes weekly and surfaces themes to the HOO.
Critical incidents: HOO leads. OC, EM, Route Medic, and any other relevant staff connect into the response. External comms route through HOO.

5.4 Host Manager Responsibilities

Host-side first escalation point. Material matters surface to EM same-day. Vendor disputes do not land on hosts.

Host-side first escalation for any host-related guest issue. Same-day Event Incident Log entry on Med+.
Host conduct (sexual harassment, cultural-fit, drunk-on-duty): zero tolerance. Same-day with EM and Quarterdeck (QD).
Allergy and severe-allergy data: distributed to hosts via the dashboard before guests arrive (Staff Coordinator → OC → EM → HM). Same-day documentation on any allergy near-miss. The 2025 Greek pasta-with-nuts incident is the case study.
Vendor confrontation: hosts surface, HM and EM resolve on the route. EM reports to OC; OC logs in the Event Incident Log and briefs HOO. Hosts are not the dispute interface. The 2025 Cape Sol incident is the case study.
Per-host performance ratings to QD weekly; flag cultural-fit concerns with documented examples and dates.
Confidentiality on misconduct: shared only with EM, RM (where relevant), QD, and the directly affected host. Not across the wider team.

5.5 Post-event guest communications

Once the week is over, or once a guest complaint is in during the week, Customer Service holds the guest relationship and owns all guest-facing communication. The route team, Operations, Quarterdeck, Commercial and Finance feed input through CS and act on guest comms only at CS’s request. If a guest reaches out directly after the week, or after a complaint is in, the response is to refer them back to CS rather than reply. Skipper, host and crew personal contact with the guest stops the moment a complaint is in, including via WhatsApp or social channels.