small accommodation | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

The Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, has acknowledged the concerns the small accommodation sector has regarding the MATCH rates and the cancellation policy for the 2010 World Cup.

Business Report reported as follows on 8 July:

“Onerous conditions imposed by Match, the Fifa agency tasked with securing 55000 rooms for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, remained a problem for small hotel operators, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said this week.

The minister said that with more than a 100 000 graded rooms in SA, the country had more than enough accommodation for next year’s tournament, but many small operators were reluctant to sign over their stock to Match as they were unhappy with the contract conditions.

“The industry has raised concerns about the price level offered by Match as well as its escape clause,” Van Schalkwyk said in an interview.

“Many feel they can do better by holding on to their rooms. While we will continue to work with Fifa and Match to secure enough rooms, it is a free market, and we as government cannot interfere.”

Addressing Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s concerns about the lack of available rooms in Bloemfontein, the minister said it was not a shortage of hotel rooms but rather a transport problem.

“We realised that we could not approach private sector players to build hotels where there would be no demand beyond 2010.

“So we had to come up with a way of transporting fans to the host cities, and the focus is on making sure we have the transport infrastructure in place for next year.”

The Whale Cottage Portfolio has expressed its concerns about MATCH and its unsuitable contract as far as Small Accommodation establishments go from the time that MATCH started doing industry presentations more than two years ago.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

At an industry presentation in Cape Town last week, Vivienne Bervoets, Senior Accommodation Manager of the FIFA Accommodation Office, described the publicity surrounding S A Tourism and MATCH as unfortunate, and said that it had damaged MATCH’s marketing. She intimated that S A Tourism had wanted to protect the industry’s interests, when it did not wish them to be protected! She indicated in question time that the MATCH accommodation pricing formula was now completely flexible, and that every establishment could set its 2010 pricing at the “fair” level it wishes to.

This is a major breakthrough for the small accommodation industry, and reflects the power of resistance and critique, which has been expressed in the past two years. WhaleTales has been very vocal in its criticism of the MATCH pricing. What is odd is that the wording in the MATCH contract regarding pricing has not been amended, and therefore unsuspecting establishments may still use the pricing formula of 2007 rates + 16 %, as specified in the contract. No other aspects of the MATCH contract are flexible. Soccer fans wanting to buy tickets for the 2010 World Cup matches are not obligated to buy accommodation via MATCH. MATCH and S A Tourism met last week, moderated by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

Both parties reached a “common understanding”, S A Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola said. ” S A Tourism will continue to work with MATCH based on fair pricing and terms in an effort to make the 2010 Soccer World Cup a success.” In the meeting fair accommodation pricing and terms, a transparent tour operator programme, and the implementation of a tourism advisory forum were discussed ..

Van Schalkwyk said: “The tourism industry has a very good working relationship with FIFA and MATCH. We remain committed as partners to assist MATCH in achieving their target and we will continue to encourage players in the industry to sign up their facilities. Our working relationship is one of mutual respect and partnership and I would like to encourage all role players to ensure that nothing detracts from this.” No details have been released to the industry as to the specifics of the discussions between MATCH and S A Tourism.

S A Tourism resigned its seat on the Advisory Board of MATCH, the FIFA accommodation and ticketing agency, early last month. Mosola expressed his dissatisfaction with MATCH’s pressure on the pricing of accommodation for 2010. He motivated his organisation’s withdrawal from the Board on the basis of the “unfavourable trading terms placed on local accommodation establishments. As we move towards 2010, we want you to know (as the South African tourism industry) that we at S A Tourism are on your side”, Mosola told the delegates at the 7th Annual National Tourism Conference in Johannesburg. He added that MATCH should be expected to pay market related prices for accommodation. Mosola highlighted that MATCH was using “bullying tactics” to move block bookings made with hotels at the time of the bid announcement across to MATCH, according to TravelHub.

He said that the threat by MATCH to bring in cruise ships for additional accommodation, and it stating to FIFA that the country was short of accommodation, was an unacceptable means of getting tour operators to release their accommodation holdings to MATCH. He added that S A Tourism was defending the rights and interests of the tourism industry, and felt that it could communicate more effectively with MATCH from outside its Board than from within.

The MATCH contract set the 2010 accommodation rates utilising a formula of the 2007 rate + 16 %. The inflation rate this year alone is 13 % ! MATCH then adds on its 40 % commission fee to this rate.MATCH has not used the small accommodation industry for any previous World Cup event.