The Sweet Service Award goes to Emirates, for its flight from London to Dubai, on Sunday 1 July. At the check-in I was told to reduce 5 kg of weight of my suitcase, luckily having bought a hand-luggage suitcase into which I could transfer items of that weight, and having to check it in too, to avoid paying extra. My son had left my check-in too late, so I was allocated a poor seat. I asked the check-in lady if she could find me a window seat, but she told me that the fight was full, and that all such seats were taken already. She said that she would continue to try to find me a window sat, and that I should ask again at the boarding gate desk. Lo and behold, there it was, in the second row from the front, in the company of a Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Manchester
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 31 March
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* British travelers can experience a virtual taste of Cape Town and other South African highlights whilst in Manchester(NoHo) and in London (Corbet Place), with a special film about our city on the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift. Abseiling down Table Mountain, shark-cage diving, paragliding, kite-surfing, feeding elephants, and visiting the Johannesburg Neighbourgoods Market are featured. Two viewers will win tickets to travel to South Africa, to experience our country’s beauty in reality.
* For the first time Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom has admitted that the Immigration Regulations, which were Continue reading →
WhaleTales: Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 16 October
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* La Residence in Franschhoek is the joint Best Hotel in the World, on the Conde Nast Top 100 Hotels as chosen by its readers, and Singita Sabi Sand and Bushmans Kloof Wilderness are in joint 3rd place. Lion Sands, Phinda Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, and Singita Kruger have all made the Top 100 Hotel list.
* Cape Town has been ranked joint 11th Best City in the World, out of 25, on the Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards, following San Miguel de Allende in first place, followed by Florence, Budapest, Salzburg, Charleston, San Sebastian, Vienna, Rome, Siena, and Quebec City.
* ‘All these must see lists are nonsense because they sell books, magazines and they push websites but there is no truth behind it. What makes sells a place is if you had a great experience there and that’s something only you can do’ writes Lonely Planet Guide writer Doug Lansky about Continue reading →
Grande Provence Sweet and Lime Media Marketing/Media Mountain Sour Service Awards
The Sweet Service Award goes to Donovan Dreyer, the new Food & Beverage Manager of Grand Provence in Franschhoek, who came over to introduce himself when a colleague and I popped in to see the latest exhibition at the art gallery and had a cappuccino and a dessert each. We were served the most beautiful desserts I have ever seen, and they matched their visual attractiveness with exquisite taste as well. My colleague had an apple and mango tart with a tiny toffee apple on top, as well as the greenest scoop of apple ice cream on a chocolate biscuit base. My dessert was a mini chocolate-filled croissant-like pastry, served with a thick vodka cream. Executive Chef Darren Roberts is a talent to be watched. Donovan refused to let us pay, and we left Grand Provence impressed with their friendliness and professionalism.
The Sour Service Award goes to Lime Media Marketing/Media Mountain, a company that has changed its name a number of times since calling in the past six months or so. In heavy recognisable (almost trademark) Manchester accents the staff introduce themselves as a “Google certified company” and promise immediately to put one at number one position “on the first page of Google”. I was offered a special for the Plettenberg Bay accommodation page, at a discounted rate of R 1 300 per month, down from R 4 600. When I asked where it would be located on the Google page – as an ad on the right hand side, as an ad at the top, or as a normal Google listing, tele-sales caller Matthew could not reply, passing me on to Ben. Normally Google ads are charged on a pay-per-click basis. It is obvious that the company is a call centre, as one hears the buzz of numerous other callers (I heard the same salescall go out to an accommodation establishment in Hout Bay whilst speaking to Matthew). No written communication is sent, the transaction being done electronically, so that one cannot see the paperwork at all, which makes one suspicious already. A guest house colleague in Camps Bay, Sally from Atlantic Suites, has also experienced the pushy nature of the company, having been intimidated by them when she did not pay immediately on what the company had felt had been a done deal.
The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.