Show Management has announced a partnership with QuintEvents, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based company with 13 years of experience creating exclusive VIP packages. The idea is to look at the kinds of experiences high-net-worth individuals now expect everywhere from The Masters golf tournament to racing’s Formula 1 Paddock Club and create a similar program at FLIBs, dubbed “VIP Boat Show Experiences”; starting small this year and building on that base in the years to come. 

Tickets for this year’s VIP Boat Show Experiences cost $399 for one day or $1,099 for three days. In addition to being available to regular FLIBS showgoers, QuintEvents will market the event to its database of existing clients who have enjoyed similar VIP experiences at other events worldwide, but who may never have thought of attending a boat show at all, let alone the biggest boat show in the United States.

The concept is part of a global shift in the expectations of VIPs, who, until now, primarily have been able to find these types of packages only at high-end sporting events like baseball’s World Series or The Breeders’ Cup horse races. Over the past few years, the idea of VIP access and experiences has begun spreading to events like the boat show—events that may not attract the same level of high-profile media coverage, but that definitely attract the same level of high-net-worth clients.

There are plans to expand it in the future, but this first year, FLIBS’ VIP Boat Show Experiences will be a scaled-down version of packages that VIPs receive at other events. The passes will include access to on-site valet parking at the Swimming Hall of Fame entrance as well as to a new lounge being set up inside the Swimming Hall of Fame, branded The Windward Club.

The Windward Club will have an open bar, flat-screen televisions, high-end catering and access to Jo-Aynne Von Born, former associate publisher of Yachts International magazine, who will act as a concierge. She will arrange yacht tours as well as help newcomers to the show with the general logistics of getting around the various venues.

Sales and charter brokers are welcome to buy tickets and relax in the lounge, as well as purchase VIP tickets on behalf of their clients. The tickets remain under the name of whoever purchases them, so if a broker buys two tickets, he or she can use one and leave the other for a client.

You can find ticket and package information at http://www.flibs.com/tickets/