strong Rand | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Tour operators say South African accommodation has become too expensive for their UK clients, and they have called on local accommodation suppliers to relook their prices for 2011, reports South African Tourism Update.

Portfolio of Places representative in the UK, James Westrip of Africa Collection, says that the “good-value-for-money perception” of South Africa has gone in the past year. This changed perception about tourism prices, coupled with tough economic times in the UK and the strong Rand “…is proving problematic for us all”, he said. He feels that “SA is pricing itself out of the market”. Portfolio of Places has experienced its worst year ever in its more than 20-year existence, we have been told.

Another operator said that it is no longer feasible for local establishments to increase their rates by 10 % annually, in excess of the inflation rate. These increases effect the value for money perception of South Africa, says Louise de Waal of Baobab Travel. She stated that budget accommodation options often are questionable as far as quality goes, and therefore cannot be booked. Tourvest Inbound’s Martin Wiest says that high pricing makes our country less competitive globally.

&Beyond’s Gary Lotter acknowledges that not all accommodation establishments have increased their prices above the inflation rate, or at all, but it is the strong Rand that is the root of the problem. He also said that if establishments were to drop their rates, they could receive more business, although this is not guaranteed.

Westrip also complained about establishments charging their direct clients better rates than they do tour operators, even though their clients may be a once-off and tour operators usually are loyal to establishments and book them regularly. De Waal queried the wisdom of last minute rate reductions, and called for early-bird discounts instead.

It is interesting to read that tour operators cry wolf about high rates when it is the operators that are exceptionally greedy in their commission demands. Africa Collection takes 20 % commission on bookings it gives Portfolio of Places clients, on top of close to the entry level R20000 annual advertising costs for the Bed and Breakfast Collection advertisers. While the standard commission rate is 10 %, tour operators tend to do business with establishments if they can get commissions of 20 % or more, leading their business to go to hotels rather than guest houses and B&B’s, which would be far more affordable for tourists.

It may well therefore be the tour operators that are the cause of the loss-of-value-for-money image that they are complaining about!

A survey on the Southern African Travel News website shows that the majority of respondents indicated that they have frozen their rates.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage

The Sweet Service Award goes to DEUKOM, for passing on the reduced cost of its contracts with German TV channels to its South African customers, resulting from the strong Rand, by reducing its subscription cost by 6,8 % from December onwards.

The Sour Service Award goes to Cape Town Tourism and its PR Manager Skye Grove. Public Relations is the management of relationship building with a company’s publics, and in the case of the tourism body, these would be its members and the media. Whale Cottage Camps Bay is a member of Cape Town Tourism and is on its media list for this blog. The defamatory response by a non-paying guest on Twitter to our exposure about the attempt by him and his editor wife to defraud our Whale Cottage Hermanus of payment, was retweeted by Ms Grove, making her guilty of defamation too. Not leaving matters at that, she wrote two Tweets, questioning why we had retweeted the link to an article in a national newspaper about the alleged fraud. Worst of all, however, was a Tweet that she wrote to the guest, suggesting that our Tweets be reported for “abuse” and providing the Twitter link for it, in an attempt to damage our professional reputation. Ms Grove did not offer this link to us, nor did she retweet our warning to hotels and guest houses about this couple, which would have been in the interest of Cape Town Tourism members. No apology nor response has been received from Ms Grove when she was notified about the Sour Award, other than removing two of her three Tweets on the topic.

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.