Marinas.com Names 2017 Boaters' Choice Award Recipients

NEWPORT, R.I., Dec. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Marinas.com announced today the 152 recipients of the 2017 Boaters' Choice Awards, honoring marinas which boaters have most praised throughout the year. See the complete list of 2017 Marinas.com Boaters' Choice Award Winners.

Rather than rely on a condensed voting period as in years past, this year Marinas.com leveraged its thousands of user reviews to determine the Boaters' Choice Award winners. Any marina with at least three reviews which averaged a rating of 4 or more stars receives the accolade of 2017 Boaters' Choice Marina. The 2017 recipients list includes a diverse range of marina businesses, from private yacht clubs to public service yards, and locations from the west coast to Marinas.com's hometown of Newport, Rhode Island. Marinas.com includes profiles for more than 8,000 U.S. marinas, which places the 2017 Boaters' Choice winners in the top 2% highest-rated marinas in the United States.

"This revision in Boaters' Choice marina selection more closely aligns with the mission of Marinas.com to empower every boater an equal voice, to provide boaters worldwide quality marine information, and to reward marinas that work to consistently provide excellent service to boaters," said Dockwa & Marinas.com CEO Mike Melillo. "Boaters contribute reviews throughout their cruising season, so the associated ratings reflect their experiences without having to jog their memories in an end-of-year contest."

The use of user-generated content (i.e., user reviews) to validate a product's value (i.e., a marina's rating) is one of several ways in which Marinas.com has evolved to meet boaters' needs since its acquisition by the slip-booking and marina management software Dockwa in January 2017. Dockwa has also since integrated the data and functionality of Marinas.com into its software to provide a more comprehensive, seamless experience for the boater's booking process, as well as for each marina's business management.

While marinas use Marinas.com to increase exposure, generate sales, implement marketing campaigns, and respond to boater reviews, they simultaneously use Dockwa to respond to boater reservations, process payments, manage their docks, and communicate with customers. Boaters use Marinas.com to find information about harbors, marinas, and waterways; once they've set their sights on their next cruising destination, they use Dockwa to book and pay for their slip or mooring.

In the digital environment provided by Marinas.com and Dockwa, marinas and boaters can conduct all administrative aspects of their respective roles online and on the go. As the travel industry as a whole continues to trend toward a 100% digital booking and transaction process (nearly all major airlines charge travelers extra for ticket purchases made over the phone), the boating industry must follow suit. 

Marinas.com has millions of visitors each year and provides information for more than 17,000 marinas worldwide.

About Marinas.com

Founded in 1996, Marinas.com has the world's most extensive database of marine locations, featuring low altitude, high-resolution aerial navigation photography of marinas, key inlets, detailed overviews of waterfront communities, bridges, locks, anchorages, lighthouses, along with other major nautical points of interest. For more information, visit: http://marinas.com/ and follow Marinas.com on Facebook.

About Dockwa

Founded in May 2015, Dockwa is an award-winning unified marina reservation platform which connects boaters to marinas in real time, online and by app. Boaters download the free iOS or Android app or log in online, and then search, explore, reserve, and pay for their reservations in a matter of minutes. Marinas then use the Dockwa platform to confirm the reservation, collect payment, and deposit the customer's information into their intelligent database with a single click.

Headquartered in Newport, RI and Cambridge, MA, Dockwa rapidly expanded along the Eastern Seaboard in its first year, and has since expanded into the Great Lakes region, the West Coast, and beyond. Dockwa now has with a growing marina network of more than 500 marinas and over 100,000 boaters. For more information, visit: https://dockwa.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Media Contact:                  

Becky Pineo

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SOURCE Marinas.com

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