Terms of service.

SailSeeker Ltd is a company registered in Malta with its registered office at Ta’ Xbiex. We operate the website at sailseeker.io and the booking service on it. In this document, we and SailSeeker mean that company, you means the person making a booking, and the operator means the licensed charter business that owns and runs the boat you book.

Using the site means accepting these terms. If you book, you also accept the operator’s own charter terms, which are shown on the boat page before you pay.

We list boats, take bookings, hold payment, and verify the operators before their boats go live. We do not own boats, employ skippers, or operate charters. Every charter booked through this site is supplied by an independent operator holding a Transport Malta commercial licence, which is printed on each boat page.

The practical consequence is straightforward. Questions about the boat, the route, the weather, the crew and what to bring are for the operator, who is one message away inside the booking. Questions about payment, the platform, or a booking that the operator is not resolving are for us.

Boats are listed in one of two modes, and the mode is printed on the listing.

• Instant book. The contract with the operator forms the moment you complete the booking and your card is authorised. You receive a confirmation with the departure time and berth immediately.
• Request to book. Completing the form sends a request to the operator. No contract exists and no money leaves your account until they accept. Operators publish their typical reply time on their profile, and a request that is not answered lapses automatically.

A booking covers the boat, the departure point, the date, the duration and the number of guests you entered. Bringing more people than the boat is licensed to carry is not something the skipper can accommodate on the day, and the shortfall is not refundable.

Prices are shown in euro and include Maltese VAT where it applies. They also include our commission, which is 10% of the booking value. That percentage is inside the number you see. We do not add a service fee, a booking fee or a platform fee at checkout, and the price at the top of the boat page is the price you pay.

One thing sits outside the quoted price and it is printed on the listing: fuel, where the listing says metered or extra. We take no security deposit. Nothing is held against your card beyond the charter itself. Anything you agree with the operator on the day, such as extra hours or catering, is between you and them and is settled directly.

Card payments are processed by our payment provider. We do not store your card number. Your card is authorised when the booking is confirmed, and the funds are held rather than paid out.

The operator is paid on the morning of departure. This is deliberate. If a charter is cancelled, moved, or does not happen for any reason, the money is still with us and a refund does not depend on chasing a third party. It also means that if something is disputed before you sail, we are holding the funds while it is sorted out.

There is no security deposit. You pay the charter and nothing else is held or authorised. Where a boat is damaged through misuse, the operator’s own terms and their insurance apply, and any claim is between you and them with evidence required.

The full policy is set out on the cancellation pageand forms part of these terms. In summary: free cancellation up to 72 hours before departure with a full refund, the operator’s published terms inside 72 hours, and a full refund or a move at the same price if the charter is cancelled for wind or sea state.

The skipper has final authority over whether a charter sails and over any change of route once it has. That authority is not negotiable and is not something we override, because the person on the boat is the one who can see the sea.

• To give accurate guest numbers, ages where children are aboard, and contact details that work on the day.
• To produce a valid boating licence before departure where the listing is marked Self-drive · licence. A booking will not confirm without it and the fee is not refunded if you arrive without the certificate.
• To attend the operator’s briefing and follow the skipper’s instructions aboard.
• To be at the berth at the stated time. A late arrival shortens the charter rather than extending it, because the next booking is usually behind you.
• Not to board or operate a vessel while unfit to do so. A skipper may refuse boarding on that basis and the charter is treated as a no-show.

Liability for the charter sits with the licensed operator. They are responsible for the seaworthiness of the vessel, its certification, the competence of the crew, compliance with Transport Malta requirements, and the safety of everyone aboard. Every operator on this platform carries third-party insurance of at least €5 million, verified before their boats go live, and guests are named on that policy.

Our liability is limited to the booking service itself, and to the amount of commission we received on the booking in question. We are not liable for the acts or omissions of an operator, for a change of route, for sea conditions, or for the ordinary consequences of being on the water. That limitation does not apply to death or personal injury caused by our own negligence, to fraud, or to anything else that cannot be limited under Maltese law.

Information published on this site about routes, seasons, licences and conditions is general and observational. It does not replace the operator’s briefing or the skipper’s judgement on the day.

Only a guest who completed a charter can leave a review, and the name and date are always shown. We do not remove a review because an operator dislikes it. We do remove content that is unlawful, identifies someone who has not consented, or is not about the charter it is attached to. Posting a review grants us a licence to display it on the site and on the operator’s profile.

Operators list under a separate agreement. Listing is free and we take 10% of each confirmed booking. An operator whose licence lapses, whose insurance falls below the threshold, or who cannot be reached at the berth we visited is delisted, and their live bookings are moved or refunded in full. How the checks work is set out on how we verify.

Raise it with the operator first, inside the booking thread, because they are the fastest route to a resolution and they are the ones on the water. If it is not resolved, write to us at hello@sailseeker.io with the booking reference. Where the charter has not yet departed, we hold the payment until the matter is closed.

Nothing here affects your statutory rights as a consumer. In Malta those sit under the Consumer Affairs Act and the consumer protection regulations made under it, and the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority handles complaints that are not resolved between the parties.

These terms are governed by the laws of Malta, and the courts of Malta have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them. If you are a consumer resident elsewhere in the European Union, you keep the protection of the mandatory consumer rules of your own country of residence.

We may update these terms. The date at the top of this page changes when we do, and a booking is always governed by the version in force when it was made.