Hot Tub Boats is a business built on experiences. Based in Seattle, Washington, Hot Tub Boats operates in Lake Union and the Bay area year-round offering two-hour experiences in a hot tub boat hybrid that can fit up to six people. One of the things that sets Hot Tub Boats apart is the steering joystick that founder and inventor Adam Karpenske specifically designed for everyone to use. “It sort of creates equality on the water because everybody can drive it,” said Karpenske. “I needed to build something safe and intuitive for the layperson. People get on and they get it right away. They just point the joystick where they want to go and the boat goes that way,” he added.
Created in 2013 when Karpenske was running a wood boat repair business, Hot Tub Boats was initially a two-man operation as Karpenske and his business partner juggled full-time jobs. “I would run the daytime rentals. He would run the nighttime rentals. We’d put people in a boat and run down the street to get supplies at the same time, or we’d finish running a rental, go back to the shop, get working on a boat,” explained Karpenske of the hustle it took to get the business up and running.
Today, the business runs about nine boats seven days a week with the option for add-ons that range from luxurious salts to rose petals, designed to suit every kind of floater. All powered with the help of Square.
How it started: Manual booking mayhem
When it came to transacting payments, the business initially used a different process that allowed them to take an initial deposit a week before the reservation, taking the final payment upon arrival. “They were just random transactions that through time and effort, we could put together,” explained Karpenske. Things continued to grow more and more complex when floaters spontaneously decided to add or remove a boat or an add-on to their reservation.
The team recalled a time when a floater had previously booked Epsom salt as an add-on but later had to remove it because of an allergy concern. Locating the initial charge was disjointed and making a note about the updated reservation was difficult without a proper note-taking system for the rotating staff.
Another challenge for the business was being able to enforce its cancellation policy. With differing transactions scattered across the system, especially when factoring in last-minute additions after booking, enforcing the cancellation policy became an operational headache.
How it’s going: Smoother, customer-centered transactions
Because Hot Tub Boats was already using Square to take payments for the food and drinks they sold to floaters, Karpenske and the team looked into the other solutions available through Square and invested in Square Invoices. “Luckily, Square already had Square Invoices in place, because we wanted to continue using the platform,” he said. “It was a no-brainer,” he added.
Square Invoices is ideal for the business because customers tend to book in advance and having an itemized list of the entire reservation helps keep staff and customers organized. “Our customers can book with us 365 days in advance. If they want to add on Epsom salts we can put that on their invoice. If they come here six months later and don’t want Epsom salts, we can easily take that off. If we see they’re a frequent floater, we can offer a 10% discount,” Karpenske explained.
Because Square Invoices automatically creates a customer profile after an invoice is created, staff can easily go in and make updates or add notes to the reservation if needed, ensuring they can consistently provide a quality customer experience.
With the entire transaction linked together through a singular invoice, the challenges with enforcing the cancellation policy have also been alleviated. “Your invoice exists as soon as you book and attached to that is our cancellation policy. If someone cancels outside of our policy, we’re still able to collect their payment,” he said.
The impact: Time to plan and build partnerships
Processing payments through Square Invoices ultimately helps Hot Tub Boats gain a deeper understanding of its overall business performance through in-depth reporting features. “Our reports give us a way to actually predict business. We know when we’re going to be busy and we’re not guessing. Which gives us time to do the rest of our jobs,” Karpenske said. For instance, the business has lower bookings on Mondays and Tuesdays, so they strategically dedicate more time to the administrative and operational sides of the business on those days.
Dedicated time to focus on other parts of the business allows Karpenske and the team to build meaningful relationships with other business owners in the area. “We have a big presence in the community, so we want to be aware of our footprint and part of that is working with our local people,” Karpenske explained. “If we have an idea like date night chocolates on a boat, I work with a local chocolatier named Janet, spending about an hour talking with her and building that connection. And it’s worth it,” he added, highlighting that it stimulates the neighborhood economy.
Building these community relationships and partnerships helps bring to life the essence of the local community, offering frequent floaters and tourists a window into the breadth of the neighborhood, a key part of Hot Tub Boats’ success. “Seattle has grown exponentially in the last several years, but in some ways, it’s still a small town, especially when you break it down,” he said. Karpenske added, “We all work together in this community, and it’s important to us to keep being a part of that.”
