It was a Facebook post by Chef Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen of South African/French restaurant JAN in Nice that alerted me to the Hospitality Counsel 2019 ranking of our countries top ten Restaurants as well as Chefs, when he thanked them for being included in the Top 10 Chef List. No other restaurant or chef on the two lists appears to have announced the accolades from the Hospitality Counsel, awarded at an event called the 2019 Luxury Tourism Awards! Continue reading →
Tag Archives: boutique hotels
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 12 January
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* South Africa’s 2014 Eat Out Chef of the Year, Chantel Dartnall of Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient, is participating in the Audi Chef’s Cup SüdTirol in Italy, commencing next Monday, as part of her prize, with a total of 70 chefs from Italy and other countries, many whose restaurants have Michelin stars. Chantel’s dish for the competition is ‘Treasures on the Beach’, with scampi tails and rooibos in a tomato risotto. (received via newsletter from the Restaurant Mosaic).
* It is speculated that SAA may drop its Johannesburg – Beijing route, its worst performing route with losses of more than R300 million per year, especially given the introduction of AirChina flights to Johannesburg from March onwards.
* Chef David Higgs of five hundred at The Saxon has been selected as one of three chefs to judge the S.Pellegrino Continue reading →
Hotels pessimistic about last quarter
The Horwath HTL Hotel Performance Confidence Indicator survey for the fourth quarter of 2009 paints a mixed picture as far as Occupancy, Average Room Rate Performance and Total Revenue are concerned.
Overall, 53 % of accommodation establishments expect a decrease in Occupancy, with only 19 % expecting an increase. Average Room rate is expected to increase for 51 % of establishments, while almost equal numbers of establishments said that their Total Revenue would increase, decrease or stay the same.
Comparing their performance in the first 8 months of this year with that of last year for the same period, Occupancy had clearly declined, by as much as 15 %, for 74 % of all establishments interviewed. Worst hit were 4-star establishments, with 21 % having lost 15 % or more in occupancy. In the Western Cape only 19 % of establishments expected an increase in the 4th quarter of this year. Occupancy is more likely to increase in lower graded establishments in this province.
Average Room Rates increased for 59 % of establishments, by up 5 % for a third of all establishments, and by up to 5 – 15 % for a further 26 % of establishments. Five-star establishments, and the ones with 151 rooms or more, did better than their 3-/4-star smaller counterparts on this measure. In the Western Cape 56 % of hoteliers expected the Average Room Rate to increase, especially the lower graded hotels.
Total Revenue decreased for 50 % of the establishments, especially for 3 and 5-star hotels. Those with an increased revenue did not see an increase of more than 5 % on a year ago, but small boutique hotels saw their revenue increase by as much as 15 %.
The study was conducted amongst 104 hotels throughout South Africa. If Whale Cottage Camps Bay is a sample of one, a very different picture emerges for guest houses – November and December are almost fully booked, thanks to the FIFA Final Draw on 4 December, and the New Year period.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio : www.whalecottage.com
Hotels forecast downturn in performance
Hotel representatives in South Africa are less optimistic about their occupancy and financial performance in the second quarter of 2009 than they were twelve months ago, according to a survey done by Horwath HTL Hotel Performance Confidence Indicator, reports TravelHub.
A decline in occupancy is expected by 56 % of hoteliers, while 44 % expect a decrease in revenue. However, 52 % indicated that they expected Average Room Rates to increase.
Occupancy declines are most likely to affect two star hotels (71 %), then 4-star hotels (60 %), 3-star hotels (57 %) and 50 % of 5-star hotels, says the survey. Smaller boutique hotels are far more confident about occupancy levels than are large 250 + room hotels, which have the lowest level of occupancy confidence.
In the Western Cape the occupancy forecast is particularly bleak, given the added problem of seasonality, resulting in between 59 – 70 % of all hotels in the region expecting their occupancy to decrease. Also, between 50 – 63 % of all hotels in the province expect decreases in revenue, particularly so at 4- and 5-star level.
Overall, the lower star rated hotels appear to be more confident about raising their Average Room Rates compared to the 5-star hotels, who have the lowest expectation of all star grading categories in doing so. Revenue declines are most likely to take place at 2-, 3- and 4-star hotels, with 40 % of 5-star hotels being confident that their revenue will not change from last year.