Dockwa Dispatch: April 2026

Get more from Dockwa - one update at a time

Summer season is upon us. This month's Dispatch covers a new way to protect your marina's revenue when boaters' plans change, why now is the right time to revisit your pricing strategy heading into peak season, a quick reminder on what's new in Insights if you missed it last month, how to get your marina featured in front of 120,000+ active boaters, and a heads-up about something we're building for this summer — and how to be among the first to hear about it.

Trip Protection is Coming

Last-minute cancellations are one of the most frustrating parts of running a transient marina. A boater books for Fourth of July weekend, something comes up, and suddenly you've got an empty slip during the busiest week of your season — with no time to fill it.

Trip Protection Plus, offered through ViCoverage, changes that math.

Starting in May, Dockwa offers a trip protection option that gives boaters peace of mind when life doesn't go as planned — and protects your marina's revenue when it doesn't. When a boater opts into Trip Protection Plus at the time of booking and later needs to cancel for a covered reason, the marina still gets paid. No empty slip, no refund fight, no awkward back-and-forth. The policy handles it.

For marina operators, this is particularly valuable in the shoulder season, when a no-show or cancellation can mean the difference between a profitable weekend and a slow one. And for boaters, it removes one of the last hesitations around committing to a trip early.

Read the full post 

Dynamic Pricing: Are you leaving money on the dock?

Your docks fill up on holiday weekends. There's a waitlist. Every slip is spoken for. And you're charging the same rate you set in April.

That gap — between what you charged and what peak demand would actually support — is exactly what dynamic pricing is designed to close. It's a strategy the hotel and airline industries have relied on for decades, and the logic maps perfectly to how marinas work: fixed inventory, variable demand, a short season to capture it all.

Curious what it could mean for your marina this summer? The full post breaks it down — and Telescope, Dockwa's occupancy-based pricing tool, is how operators are putting it into practice.

Read the full post: Dynamic Pricing for Marinas →

Get Your Marina in Front of 120,000+ Boaters

Marinas ask us all the time: How do we get more exposure to Dockwa's boater network?

The Running Fix is our answer. It's Dockwa's monthly boater newsletter — 120,000+ active boaters planning their next trip, reading stories about the people and places that make the cruising community worth being part of. Not ads. Real stories, told well.

Every month, we feature a marina with a story worth telling. The history behind your operation, the person who built it, the traditions that make your dock feel like home. Your team drafts it, our editorial team helps shape it, and it goes out to our full boater network.

Learn how to get featured →

ICYMI: Your Marina's Performance, All in One Place

Last month we announced a major update to Insights — three real-time dashboards covering your transient performance, your contract portfolio, and your leads pipeline.

The new dashboards are now live. If you're not on Insights yet, this is a good time to take a look.

See what's new →

Coming This Summer: Dockwa Service

We're building something new.

This summer, Dockwa is launching a Service module — and we want to make sure the operators who are most interested hear about it first.

Service management is one of the most requested additions to the Dockwa platform, and we're close. If your marina offers service work and you've been waiting for a way to manage it inside Dockwa, this is for you.

Sign up below to be among the first to receive updates as we get closer to launch. 

Be the first to hear about Service →