How This Entrepreneur Is Disrupting the Yacht Rental Industry Amit Patel's Xclusive Yachts, which has become synonymous to Yacht rental services in Gulf countries, is now on the verge of expanding its services in Europe

Almost 15 years back, foreseeing an untapped, huge potential, at the age of just 21, Amit Patel had entered the yacht business. He had moved from London to Dubai to embark on his journey. From the very first day, he had the vision to build a peerless brand in the domain of Yacht Business and after over a decade of his inspiring entrepreneurial journey, today Amit is regarded as the 'King of Yachts'.

Studies suggest that the global yacht industry is projected to reach an estimated market value of $84.7 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 4.1 per cent. This growth is the result of the upsurge in the yacht industry globally. Over the years, Dubai has become a hub for the yacht industry and has attracted the owners and captains of superyachts. Thereby, contributing significantly to the global yacht industry.

Patel started Xclusive Yachts in the year 2006 with only one boat which has grown to a fleet of 70-plus boats and two super yachts today. Over the years, he has built a dedicated team of 300 professionals across the globe with a collective work experience of 100-plus years. Every year, Xclusive Yachts successfully puts over 1 million people on the water and they take with them the unforgettable experience for the lifetime. Some of the renowned guests include Rihanna, The Royals, Akon to name a few. Another interesting fact is that Xclusive Yachts is the only charter company to own its own fleet of yachts, setting the industry benchmarks and standards makes it the pioneers in yacht chartering in Dubai.

To build a successful business over the years, Patel has applied the magic formula, a perfect blend of good pricing and quality service. He caters to the high end of the market. Xclusive Yachts has a proprietorial algorithm in place that calculates the pricing of the services as per the demand and supply in the market. Thus, the prices tend to fluctuate.

As the yacht industry is getting disrupted by Patel and he is already acknowledged as the undisputed Emperor of the Sea by the experts, Xclusive Yachts has launched two more wings of operation. The first one is Xclusive Boat Club, which is a membership-based platform. The second initiative is Xclusive Sea School, which is essentially the learning institute for those who want to become certified boat drivers. Patel himself is the principal of the institute and it is an internationally recognized and RYA certified sea school.

Xclusive Yachts is located at Dubai Marina & JBR and has a great relationship with the Dubai Marina Yacht Club (DMYC), one of the largest private yacht clubs in the world. This strong bond helps the company to offer world class service experience to its customers. Over the years, Patel has expanded the award winning Xclusive Yachts into the various sects of boating - Internationally recognized RYA certified sea school where the company certifies individuals to drive a boat; Boat Club Membership to the valued customers to be the captain of the boat/yacht of their choice. The fleet owned by Xclusive Boat Club includes fishing boats, wakeboarding boats, mini yachts, speed cruisers, etc.

This is the peak season for yacht activities in Dubai. According to Amit Patel, Founder and Managing Director of Xclusive Yachts, "The most popular tour of Xclusive Yachts is a 120 minutes guided luxury yacht tour with a live barbeque. This tour takes our guests to the most iconic landmarks in Dubai, Burj Al Arab and Atlantis-The Palm. Our yacht is fully air conditioned so that the guests are at ease throughout the tour. Also, we have our own AC lounge at Dubai Marina where the guests can refresh before the once in a lifetime trip begins. They can also purchase the snacks of their choice from the floating supermarket at the dock."

The unexpected COVID-19 pandemic has badly affected businesses across the globe. Xclusive Yachts was no exception. Patel with his sharp entrepreneurial skills was able to sail through the tough times successfully by standing together strongly with his people and having faith that things will be normal soon. His positive attitude towards handling difficult situations helped him to take his business to greater heights when the COVID-19 related restrictions were eased and made Xclusive Yachts the only five-star yacht charter company in UAE. While successfully surpassing the hurdle of pandemic Xclusive Yachts is now about to expand its operation in Europe in addition to the Gulf region. Amit is very excited about this new expansion and in his words "Our world class services are already catering the HNI clients in the Gulf region for over a decade and now that we are expanding the operation in Europe, we are very optimistic that Europe will love us too"

Talking about how Patel sees his entrepreneurial journey, he says "It took me over a decade to build this, now I look back at these years of long hours and hard work". He further adds when he is asked what mantra he would like to convey to the budding entrepreneurs, "If you love what you do, then no day will feel like you are working."