Why Did Shaun Stenning Start 5 Star Marine?
A talented entrepreneur with nearly two decades of professional experience, Shaun Stenning is a multitalented entrepreneur living in Phuket, Thailand.
Since 2003, Shaun Stenning has been working as an investor, operating on his own to offer financial support. In 2009, Shaun Stenning opened 5 Star Marine, where he currently serves as an Investor, Founder, and CEO of Phuket’s largest Private VIP Speedboat business. Visitors to the islands can take in the natural scenery and explore the region, and with the help of 5 Star Marine’s expertise, affordability, flexibility, and safety, you can truly plan an unforgettable experience.
Since opening 5 Star Marine, Shaun Stenning has grown the business from a single speedboat into an ever-expanding fleet that currently consists of 15 fully customized private VIP Speedboats and Luxury Cruisers, each of which is TAT SHA Plus approved. Designed with the highest level of comfort in mind, you can book these boats for a day or multi-night trip to one of 5 Star Marine’s unforgettable destinations. Currently, visitors can book a private boat tour to Phi Phi Islands, James Bond Island, Krabi Islands, Raya Islands, and Khai Islands, with custom boat tours available for those looking for more of an adventure. With 5 Star Marine, Shaun Stenning, and the team can help you snorkel in crystal clear reefs and relax on white sandy beaches or get up close and personal with some of nature’s coolest creatures on a dolphin spotting tour.
We have built 5 Star Marine as a family business, I don’t know how many staff we are now, almost a hundred staff, but we have managed to keep that family feel because we wanted to invest, invest in what is the most important part of a team which is “The Team”. That’s the most important part of our company, and so we invest in them, we spend time with them, and we train them, but we do more than that, we care for them, they are our family. We have family dinners, we have staff parties, we have training events and everything that’s going on in our staff lives we want to know about, so we can help them to go on to the next level.
My goal in this business is not for me to be the leader, I want to build leaders in my business, Thai leaders, male leaders, and female leaders and I want them to step up and I want them to show them that there’s a new way that you can run a business in Thailand, that is customer centric focused, that is all about the experience. Our tagline is “Experiences the 5 Star Marine difference” and the reason is that 5 Star Marine is all about the experience.
Our team takes care of you all the time, they will be in the water with you pointing out the different coral, pointing out the fish, serving you fresh fruit, whatever you want, whatever you need, we have requests from honeymoons to proposals, to 50th wedding anniversaries, to 40th birthdays, we have post-wedding parties, you name it we have done it. We want you to go back with an experience that you’re never going to forget, that’s what to me is the goal of 5 Star Marine.
Shaun Stenning moved to Thailand in the early 2000’s after successfully exiting a business in Sydney, Australia. After moving to Thailand he based himself in Phuket, Thailand right on Bangtao Beach.
During the first 6 months that Shaun was in Phuket, he started exploring the islands by hiring private boats from beach vendors. Shaun Stenning instantly fell in love with the islands, snorkeling, and boating, and started researching the market.
Shaun did not have any real boating experience. In his earlier days, he used to Ski on the Murray River and owned a Jet Ski while in Australia, but he did not have experience operating a large-scale Private Boat Charter business.
Prior to investing in his first boat, Shaun Stenning rented over 1,000 private boats for himself, friends, family, and clients. In this process, Shaun discovered what he wanted in a boat he was going to purchase.
This led Shaun to his first-ever boat purchase which was Lucus 1. This was a 39-foot private speedboat. In the early days of owning Lucus 1, Shaun Stenning went on every single private tour training his team and staff on how he wanted his private charter business to operate.
After successfully operating Lucus 1 and learning more about the private boat business in Phuket Shaun purchased Lucus 2. This was his first step into operating multiple boats on a single day that he owned.
Shaun Stenning found that he loved doing this and as such moved towards purchasing, renovating, and operating more Private Boats. This is where 5 Star Marine now operates and is the business that Shaun Stenning loves the most out of the assets in his portfolio.
You will meet Shaun and his wife Lisa on the pier at departure and return from your tour and Shaun still regularly goes out on tour with his crew.