Boatsetter Reviews 

It was easy to use the website and choose which boat you wanted. It was easy to communicate with Christopher and when we arrived the boat was ready to do and after a little review around the boat, we had an awesome time on the water.

A great time on Lake Wiley! Ken was an awesome captain with a great knowledge of the lake and swimming holes to cool off in. He supplied us with a cooler full of ice too. I will certainly recommend taking a pontoon boat cruise with Captain Kenneth!

My boat trip cancelled last minute and I was panicking looking for alternatives. Boatsetter reached out to me directly and sent over a few links that were in my area. I ended up booking a way better trip than originally planned! Thank you Boatsetter!

Honestly the Owners are what made boatsetter amazing for me. The site provides everything expected including insurance. I communicated with 2 owners and they helped me make my choice for the right boat for my outing. The selected owner also was kind enough to not only provide instruction on the use of the boat but maps and guides to help us have the est day on the water possible.

Captain was professional and knowledgeable, On time, boat was clean, we had great weather, it was fun!

Very easy to navigate and quick responses!

As a boat owner and operator, I joined Boatsetter with high hopes. The platform is well-designed, the booking flow is clean, and there's clear demand from renters. But unfortunately, the support for owners — especially power users or commercial operators — is severely lacking, and it’s beginning to outweigh the benefits.

The recent switch from Commercial to Buoy insurance was a nightmare. There was no upfront guidance, no timely communication, and zero proactive support throughout the transition. We lost confirmed bookings due to confusion and delays, all while trying to get clear answers. Even when a contact number was provided, it was unreachable — every time. That left us completely in the dark, trying to manage operations while Boatsetter remained silent.

This situation revealed a much deeper issue: Boatsetter’s support structure is not built for owners who treat this as a business. There is no direct point of contact, no escalation path, and no sense of urgency for time-sensitive issues. When income and scheduling rely on speed and clarity, generic email responses days later are not enough.

Here’s what we hope Boatsetter addresses:

Dedicated account managers or owner support lines for operators managing multiple boats or higher volume.

Clear documentation and timelines when major changes (like insurance carriers) affect listings.

Faster response times and better-trained reps who understand the operational impact of delays.

More transparency and updates when owner-facing problems are being resolved.

We’ve seen what this platform could be — the booking engine is great, and the demand is strong. But for owners, especially those with professional fleets, support needs to match the scale and seriousness of the operation. Right now, it doesn’t.

Until then, we suggest prospective owners proceed with caution and have a backup plan in place.

UPDATE 12 JUL 25

Updating my previous review to reflect a worsening experience. Not only has Boatsetter continued to provide minimal support for owners, but now they've demonstrated a complete disregard for our own clearly stated policies—especially regarding cancellations and boat substitutions.

We recently experienced a situation where a renter canceled at the last minute after we generously upgraded them to a larger boat at our expense. Despite our clear and strict cancellation policy, Boatsetter fully refunded the renter, completely undermining our business practices and our attempts at good customer service.

If Boatsetter won't uphold the very policies they encourage owners to put in place, the platform becomes entirely unreliable for serious commercial operators. Until significant improvements are made, I'd strongly advise owners to explore alternative platforms.

**UPDATE**
I’m updating my review to highlight yet another failure in Boatsetter’s partnership with Buoy.

One of our boats suffered a serious mechanical failure during an active rental period—clearly within the window of insurance coverage. We immediately had to drop everything, pick up the renters, juggle four other boats in operation, and stabilize our day before calling in the towing request. Buoy is now denying coverage, saying it’s “too late” because the call came two hours later. That excuse is absurd.

The timing of the call does not change the fact that the damage occurred while the renter was still on the water under a permitted rental. If the boat breaks down during the insured period, it should be covered—period. Instead, they hide behind technicalities to dodge responsibility, leaving owners like us to eat massive costs.

This isn’t about timing. This is about accountability. Buoy and Boatsetter are effectively selling owners a false sense of security. They collect their cut, then look for loopholes when it’s time to honor coverage. It’s predatory, dishonest, and completely unacceptable.

We’ve run hundreds of successful rentals and know how to operate. What we can’t accept is being strong-armed into paying for “insurance” that doesn’t actually insure.

Boatsetter: fix this. Until then, other owners—be warned.

Alfredo was awesome to work with. He had great communication and the boat was amazing. Very spacious and clean for our large group of 10. We had more than enough room.

The boat owner was great to work with and very accommodating.

Was & Beau were informative before our trip and detailed in operation of the boat. They answered all questions with a quick response. Will definitely do this again .

Very good experience. Beautiful boat. Very helpful boat owners! All good!

Was bait and switched by Captain Nicholas (21' Bowrider w/Wake Tower Up To 6 Lake Tahoe!). We booked for a set price, was called two days later and told the price has doubled due to it being a holiday. When I refuted this, I was hung up on and canceled. The experience was shady, unethical and there are a lot better options on the lake.

When I booked my boat on Boatsetter, I needed to switch the pickup marina to Brooklyn. When I asked the Captain if that was possible, he said “yes.”

There was nothing on the boat’s listing on Boatsetter’s site about extra fees for pick up in Brooklyn, nor was there any communication from Captain Paul indicating additional fees.

When the extra fees were brought up to us by the boat’s staff on the Tuesday before our Saturday trip, I reached out to Boatsetter. They confirmed with me that they did not see any mention of the fees in the listing or our communication and said they would reach out to Captain Paul.

I kept checking in with them in the days leading up to the trip, but after initially letting me know they were still waiting to hear from the boat captain, they stopped responding to me for several days. With just about 24 hours before our boarding time, I panicked and paid the extra fees so the trip would not be canceled, as it was an important celebration being planned for a friend.

When I followed up with Boatsetter after asking for help with the fees, they said since I paid them, there was nothing they could do to help. Again, the ONLY reason I paid the fees was because Boatsetter STOPPED responding to me, and I felt I had no choice. I did not appreciate that they previously acknowledged to me there had absolutely been a failure of communication/lack of information provided on the boat’s part and then essentially refused to assist me with it simply because we had paid the fees under duress. This shows a considerable lack of protection for customers booking through their site.

Overall, I would not recommend booking Boatsetter because of how they mishandled this situation. The whole experience felt unprofessional.

Great selection of boats, and seamless experience!

I attempted to rent a boat over the past weekend. I ended up booking a pontoon for the following day, only to wake up to a message an hour before our rental time that the owner was canceling. He stated that the pontoon was only meant to be rented with a lake home he was renting out and that the boatsetter platform should not have allowed a regular rental to process. This left my family with no options for the day as we had turned down other possible rentals after taking this one. We attempted to book with other places but they were no longer available. Boatsetter contacted me and said they would like to assist in booking another boat. They sent over 3 options, 2 of which were not even anywhere near the same style of boat. And the other which was 3 times as expensive as my original booking. They then simply stated, "Sorry, here's ten percent off your future booking." They ultimately took no responsibility for their mistake and did nothing to attempt to fix the problem.

Zero-Star Review (Booking ID: mmnsmsk)

I paid over $700 for what was supposed to be a fun, hassle-free day on the water with my family, but this experience was a complete nightmare and a blatant case of false advertising.

First, the owner failed to mention until the day before that we’d need to tow the boat ourselves — a major inconvenience that required last-minute scrambling and extra time. Many of the features listed in the rental — the GPS, depth finder, stereo, floating island, radar, cooler, and especially the large tube for our kids — were either broken or completely missing. We spent most of our “rental time” driving across the lake and to another marina just trying to get basic equipment like a tow rope and a tube that would stay inflated longer than two minutes.

Despite providing receipts and clear evidence of this mess, the owner continues to deny responsibility and Boatsetter has done the bare minimum, offering back only a tiny portion of their booking fee (a measly 10%) because they claim the rest is out of their control.

This entire experience was nothing like what was advertised — and cost us time, money, and a ruined family day. The only reason I didn’t immediately leave a one-star review was because the owner was polite — but politeness doesn’t excuse deception and lack of accountability.

Save yourself the frustration, wasted money, and disappointment — do not trust this boat owner or Boatsetter. This platform clearly doesn’t protect renters from false advertising or hold their owners accountable.

Wonderful afternoon!
We had a wonderful experience with our boat. Everything worked great and we will rent again soon.

Whole experience was great. Boat was spotless. It ran perfectly. Pick up and drop off were seamless. Louis was great. It was exactly what we were looking for to use on our trip! 10/10 will absolutely rent this boat again! I highly recommend!