The FIFA accommodation and ticketing agency MATCH is struggling to find support amongst Guest Houses and B&B’s to make their accommodation available for the 2010 World Cup. Whilst 5 742 hotel rooms have already been booked via MATCH in Cape Town, only 735 “non-hotel rooms”, which could include B & B’s, self-catering establishments, and even university residences, boarding schools and college accommodation, have been booked, according to the Argus. In total 24 725 rooms have been booked with MATCH around the country, more than half short of the 55 000 room MATCH target.
Small accommodation establishments feel uncomfortable about making 80 % of their rooms available to MATCH, and to accept MATCH’s unfavourable cancellation policy. In 2006, MATCH cancelled large numbers of rooms in German hotels at short notice, without penalty. Also, the MATCH room pricing rate of 16 % on top of the 2007 rate to set the 2010 rate is not acceptable to many establishments, given that the inflation rate currently is around 12 %, which would leave establishments out of pocket. MATCH adds on a 40 % surplus to the small accommodation rates for its commission, which will make these establishments look far more expensive than they are in reality.
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