Tag Archives: Whale Cottage Porfolio

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 26 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  South African consumer confidence is at its lowest level in ten years, records the Bureau of Economic Research, and expects it to become worse next year!

*   To celebrate World Tourism Day (27 September), Western Cape Tourism Minister braaied at Oudekraal, cycled through Chapman’s Peak, and stopped at pavement cafés en route on Heritage Day. (via media release from Minister Winde’s office)

*  More than 15000 UK restaurants and pubs are participating in a Tax Parity Day, protesting the 20% VAT on hotel, restaurant, pub, and catering costs.  The aim is to prove that sales will increase if the VAT is reduced.

*   A four course Winemakers’ Dinner will be held at the Franschhoek Kitchen at Holden Manz on 26 September, with wines from Arra, Maison, Noble Continue reading →

‘Travellers staying away in their (sic) droves’ from South Africa, says Cape Town Tourism!

The verbose report-back by Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold about her organisation’s attendance at the world’s largest travel and tourism expo and convention ITB (10000 exhibitors from 188 countries) in Berlin ten days ago contains the shock admission that tourists are ‘staying away in their (sic) droves’ from South Africa, Egypt, and Greece, due to violence and political unrest in general, and due to ‘a burst of negative international publicity around violence and labour unrest’ in South Africa specifically!

One wonders what statistics Mrs Helmbold has used to draw this conclusion, and how serious this drop in tourism is, given that no tourism statistics for 2013 are available yet.  The events Mrs Helmbold blames for the drop in tourism numbers only took place in the last four months, and it would be hard for her to offer statistical evidence of her statement, in our opinion.

We have written before that Mrs Helmbold is a poor writer, and in her blogpost on the Cape Town Tourism website she wrote ‘it is important to understand and counter-address economic, political and social stability (sic) and its effect on inbound tourism‘.  Given the highly inflammatory statistically-unsubstantiated statement about the effects on tourism of recent undesirable events in the country by Mrs Helmbold, and her call to create instability if one tries to understand what she was trying to say, it is clear that Mrs Helmbold should be silenced until she leaves Cape Town Tourism in July, before she causes any further damage for brand Cape Town!   Even worse is that Cape Town Tourism has a PR and Communications department as well as a PR agency, which did not appear to edit Mrs Helmbold’s blogpost about ITB and tourism trends before posting it, it containing additional grammatical errors.

If the message of huge tourism stay-aways was one of the major ‘gems’ Mrs Helmbold brought back from Berlin, one would expect her to have made quick work to pull in Wesgro, and the City of Cape Town, as well as the Western Cape Tourism department to address this dreadful state of affairs.  No word has been heard publicly (other than the blogpost) from her since her return from Berlin, and neither does she offer any solutions to counter this image problem for tourism to our country and especially to Cape Town, despite having dedicated one quarter of her blogpost to this image theme.

Amongst all the waffle, the following few trends (the actual essence of the blogpost, according to its headline!) were found:

*   tourists now want ‘a simple, sustainable, and self-sufficient life’

*   tourists want meaningful community interaction and involvement

*   last minute impulse bookings are increasing, requiring greater flexibility, changed cancellation policies. and greater use of digital marketing

*   In 2012 beach holidays were most frequently booked by European tourists, although growth for this type of tourism was static relative to the year before.  Cape Town Tourism purposely moved away from a positioning for Cape Town of natural beauty of its beaches and mountains 18 months ago.

*   despite contradictory growth statistics presented for Germany, Germans took 329 million domestic and international trips in 2012, with a growth in 3%, ‘and now accounts for 45% of the entire travel market’, but Mrs Helmbold does not explain what this statistic means!

*   traditional source markets are predominantly aged 49 – 65 years, and our local tourism products should be geared for this age group.  However, emerging market tourists are far younger, and these could be from China, Russia, and Brazil.

The concluding paragraph of the blogpost is pure Helmbold, completely non-understandable, and not preceded by anything that could explain what she is trying to say: ‘Nostalgia is the worst business model. never waste the opportunity that comes with a crisis’!

It is clear that the Cape Town Tourism Board as well as its funders, the City of Cape Town, are not reading Mrs Helmbold’s ramblings, in that they are not addressing the damage she causes with her badly worded nonsensical writing on behalf of our beautiful city!

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

The SA Butler Academy grossly misleads its students and hospitality industry clients!

Having had the misfortune to connect with The South African Butler Academy, and its Recruitment Head Adriaan Coetzer last week in respect of their graduate Hettie Novacovic, we have done more homework on this dishonourable and unprofessional butler training and recruitment body based in Cape Town.

A phone call to Coetzer, to chat to him about Mrs Novacovic’s short-lived employment with us, was professional and honest, Coetzer agreeing that Mrs Novacovic had acted unprofessionally by not arriving for work without giving notice, was late for work twice in four days, did not follow instructions about the breakfast serving time or any other instructions for that matter, did not own up to damages she caused to our property which cost us a call-out fee for the pool company, did not want to interact with our guests over breakfast (one couple asked her to leave the table, something we have not experienced in our 17 years of operation!), she refused to shake hands to welcome our new guests, was unable to manage the housekeepers, left to go home midway during guest check-in training, prepared a dreadfully kitsch table for our wedding anniversary guests we wanted to spoil (contrary to my request of how I wanted it to be made special for them), was closed off to any communication with guests and ourselves, documented (unbeknown to us at the time) everything she had seen and learnt with us in the four days on her iPad, and generously took a coffee and a breakfast break herself while the rest of the staff were focused on getting the rooms ready for the new arriving guests.  Coetzer agreed that appointing her was a liability for most potential employers, as she has a husband on pension, who has to be ’employed’ too, but may not earn any income so as to not lose his pension!   He accepted that Mrs Novacovic’s poor work ethic was a very negative reflection on the SA Academy of Butlers and its training standards!  She was dishonest about the rate she quoted for her daily fee, quoting the most qualified butler fee of R800 per 12 hour day, and therefore we reduced her hours to 8h00 – 14h00.  While Mrs Novacovic was not appointed via Guild Recruitment, the placement arm of the SA Butlers’ Academy, Coetzer welcomed the feedback telephonically.

Coetzer promised to have a chat with the butler graduate, having a meeting with her later in the day.  The e-mail response was one of a changed person, making wild unproven allegations, and disputing any weaknesses of Mrs Novacovic, to which he had agreed earlier in the day, which earned him a Sour Service Award! Mrs Novacovic had replied to our Gumtree advertisement for a half day assistant for Whale Cottage Camps Bay, sharing that she was annoyed by Guild Recruitment taking so much of her fee for their placement fee of 20% on the advertised butler rates.  She was therefore applying for jobs directly, and not via the SA Butler Academy recruitment service, an important part of the Academy’s misleading marketing to attract students.

The SA Butler Academy website (and its Facebook page) is riddled with typing errors, and is over-written with extravagant exaggerated claims:

*  It is a ‘non-profit’ training establishment – yet they charge R19500 for local students, and €5000 for international students inclusive of accommodation!

*   It is aimed at ‘hospitality candidates‘, who have a ‘desire to step into a lavish world of Wealth and Fortune‘ – yet Mrs Novacovic has no clue of the hospitality industry!

*   Its Principal is ‘world renowned’ Newton Cross, but a Google search only provides links to his Academy’s website!  Cross has trained as a butler in the UK, worked on some cruise liners, at Fancourt in George, and at Clarendon House in ‘Fresnay’ (sic)! It is claimed that he has worked for Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton, and ‘George Senior Bush (sic)’.

*   Butler student applicants should be fluent in English, but neither the Academy’s website, its Facebook page, nor Mrs Novacovic’s writing reflects this fluency!

*   The ‘Academy is the finest in the world’, and ‘the finest Private Sector training institute in the world and most certainly in South Africa’, but these claims are not substantiated on the website!

*   The Academy ‘is World renowned for our modern approach to Butler Service in private households, resorts, exclusive yachts and passenger liners‘.  Again, no substantiation is offered.

*   The Mission Statement is the ultimate in exaggeration by the Academy, no substantiation reflected in its website or via Google: “The Academy is tantamount with professional Butler training which prides itself on the highest form of dedicated Butler Training. At The South African Butler Academy you will be taught how to run an effective modern private estate or household with grace and professionalism not just and estate but also a Yacht, Hotel Butler department and Boutique Resorts. The Academy course is 8 weeks of intense Butler training governed by experienced celebrity Butlers who are qualified as professional Butlers. The Academy will provide you with all the skills and certification to perform Butler duties. Our Training standards are exceptionally high and admired by International press and media. We are the world’s number one leading Butler Academy and the apex of all estates and households. Become part of SABA and celebrate service”  (our underlining).

*   The logo (provided cheekily by the Academy yesterday) reflects five stars – however the Academy is not graded by the Tourism Grading Council, and its use of the stars is therefore unlawful, SA Tourism having decreed that the star quality denotion is exclusive to the Tourism Grading Council!

It is the claim “We are proud to have a legacy in the market as our clients are kept confidential and above all “disclosure” is our highest priority” (our underlining).  Clearly they may have meant ‘discretion’ or ‘non-disclosure’, which ironically is the most dishonest of all the SA Butler Academy claims, with it publishing the slanderous feedback of Mrs Novacovic on its website, reflecting the unprofessional nature of the Academy and its graduates. Any potential employer of a SA Butler Academy graduate should fear that ‘discretion’ is not guaranteed by The SA Butler Academy or its graduates, and in particular by Mrs Novacovic.

Discretion is the most direct association one would have with a butler, and it is reflected in the Florida-based Institute of Modern Butlers’ Professional Butler Code of Ethics, which highlights Integrity, Confidentiality, Service, Lawful Behaviour, Dedication, Personal Development, Respect, Professional Relationship, and Promotion.  The SA Butler Academy and its graduate Mrs Novacovic have breached this international Code of Conduct in a number of respects.  Interesting is that the SA Butler Academy does not have a Code of Conduct!

At a cost of R19500 for an 8 week course, it would appear that The SA Butler Academy students themselves are being taken for a ride, as this time period is not long enough to teach any student the full theoretical spectrum of hospitality, customer service, staff management, table service, silver service, etiquette and protocol, security, home automation, interpersonal management skills, culinary training, household management, and executive housekeeping, all elements of The SA Butler Academy curriculum, and certainly not at a practical level!

Mrs Novacovic made no effort to learn my job, which she was meant to take over, lurking in the kitchen and washing the dishes most of the time, the most expensive dishwasher we have ever employed!  Our staff are served breakfast during the course of our very busy mornings, prepared by our chef, a different egg type daily, which Mrs Novacovic enjoyed too, and they are provided with lunch too.   I love writing this blog, and do so mainly at night, as there is no way that I could do it justice in writing it while sitting in a busy Reception dealing with the guests that we accommodate daily, e-mail enquiries and correspondence having priority during the day.  We deny Mrs Novacovic’s false and libellous allegations, deplore her attempts to discredit ourselves, our staff, and our guests, and reserve our rights to take action against Mrs Novacovic and the SA Academy of Butlers for defamation.

Needless to say, we would warn any potential butler student, and any potential employer of a butler via The SA Butler Academy’s Guild Recruitment, against any dealings with The SA Butler Academy!

POSTSCRIPT 27/2: We have received feedback from a number of our blog readers and past guests that their comments in support of ourselves have not been allowed on the SA Butler Academy blog, another proof of its unprofessionalism and one-sided presentation of information!

POSTSCRIPT 4/3: The SA Butler Academy has taken note of our comments about its exaggerated claims and spelling errors, having removed all the quotes we featured in the above blogpost.  Profiles of the owner Newton Cross and his partner Adriaan Coetzee have been removed.  An attempt has been made to remove the illegal use of the five stars in its logo!

POSTSCRIPT 4/7/17:  We were summonsed early this year by the SA Butler Academy with an intermediate interdict, demanding the removal of this Blogpost, four years after I wrote it. This came after a written request by the Butler Academy that I remove the Blogpost, which I was not prepared to do. Last week the judge hearing the case rejected the Butler Academy demand. I am extremely grateful to my superb advocate, for this outcome. The Butler Academy is threatening a further legal case, to claim compensation for alleged defamation, a case which is likely to be heard in 2018.

See the Blogpost of 29 December 2020 below, which summarises the misleading Marketing allegations against the SA Butler Academy, and which confirms that we won the court case brought against us by the Academy in 2017, in attempting to have this Blogpost removed. It remains on the first page of Google, causing the Butler Academy huge harm due to the negative picture which I have painted about the Butler Academy, and about its untruths.

POSTSCRIPT 29/12/20:  On Sunday 27 December 2020 Carte Blanche broadcast an 11 minute insert on the Marketing misrepresentation of the SA Butler Academy, a program which was instigated by its former 2019 Singaporean student Lin Yang, who is trying to get a refund on her 2019 course fees after being expelled by the Academy on her third day of the course, due to alleged lateness, a tireless warrior in this battle of the past 18 months. She and I, as well as an anonymous student, were interviewed by Carte Blanche presenter Derek Watts, as was Newton Cross and Braam West from the SA Butler Academy. The program left the viewer with the impression that what I had learnt in 2013, when I wrote this Blogpost about the misleading marketing of the Butler Academy,  is still true today! The link below contains a link to the Carte Blanche insert, as well as my summary of the SA Butler Academy misrepresentation story as told by myself and Lin Yang, with another anonymous student too. 

Carte Blanche exposes SA Butler Academy Marketing deception, first exposed on WhaleTales Blog in 2013!

 

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide

About Chris von Ulmenstein

 

Cape Town Tourism sees pink in reaction to Twitter cyber bullying!

Über cyber bully Jane-Anne Hobbs could not have foreseen how her abusive bully and blackmail Tweet about us relative to Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, Skye Grove, Abigail Donnelly, and Michael Olivier would boomerang so badly against the very Tweeters she wanted to protect!  More than 2500 persons have read our blogpost to date.

Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly has kept a low profile throughout the Hobbs Twitter abuse campaign, which included a threat issued by Hobbs that she would unfollow anyone who was seen to interact with us on Twitter. Mrs Donnelly clearly did not think that all her sins of restaurant judging bias would be divulged once again, and must have been very annoyed with Hobbs for having them dished up again.   Cape Town Tourism CEO Mrs Helmbold has also been low key, in showing little reaction to the furore the Tweet caused, focusing on her Mommy Tweeting instead!  Michael Olivier took serious offence to our job description of his supermarket wine promotion.  Perhaps he would prefer to be called a Social Media Smous, hounding wine estates for a package which includes Tweets and blog write ups by him as well as some radio mentions, in return for a hefty fee!

The surprise is the reaction by Cape Town Tourism PR and Communications Manager Skye Grove, who used the Cape Town Tourism legal firm Webber Wentzel to send us a letter about our blogpost about the Hobbs Twitter abuse, about what is essentially a personal issue about Ms Grove’s partner preference.  In the blogpost we highlighted that Ms Grove pushes the pink agenda on Cape Town Tourism’s website and in her Tweets on behalf of the company, but it was carefully worded as ‘personal gender preference Tweets’. Despite Ms Grove regularly Tweeting about her personal partner preference, we have never referred to it directly or given her a label relating to it.  She must be so sensitive to it that she read much more into it than was intended.   It must have been a comment by a Maria to the blogpost that really made Ms Grove see pink!

Cape Town Tourism’s lawyers must have been poorly briefed, in their poor wording about blogging in their letter, clearly having no understanding of Social Media.  They disparagingly allege that some comments could be written by ourselves using ‘pseudonym/s’, obviously the absurd perception of Ms Grove.   If we can write what we like in the front end of our blogpost on the blog, why on earth would we want to create different personas in the Comments section to say even more.  We have been known to be honest and direct in what we write, and do not need to hide behind false names. The lawyers claim that we have ‘addressed or alluded to the apparent sexual orientation of Ms Grove’.  As stated above, we have never declared nor hinted at Ms Grove’s partner gender preference on this blog.   Pink tourism is an important part of the marketing of Cape Town, but Cape Town Tourism should not push one agenda more than another.   Even if the reader may have read a partner gender preference into any of our words, there was no disparagement communicated nor should this have been hurtful to Ms Grove, given her open admission on Twitter of her partner gender preference, which is her right to do.  The letter states that alleging that Ms Grove has pushed the pink agenda ‘is damaging to her good name and reputation’!

We question why Ms Grove has sought legal support from Cape Town Tourism’s lawyers, a letter costing in the order of R20000, and which the City of Cape Town, Cape Town Tourism members, and its ratepayers are funding, when it is a personal matter.  This must have received the blessing of her CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, a surprise given how short of budget Cape Town Tourism is, as the City of Cape Town removed a few million Rand from their budget, and which may lead to staff retrenchments!   Two years ago Ms Grove (with Olivier) tried to close down our blog via our then website hosting company Hetzner, but we moved the website to an American hosting company to prevent this.  Ms Grove has not held back at opportunities to disparage us on Social Media platforms in the past!

The lawyers have demanded that we delete the ‘insulting, offensive, demeaning and defamatory’ entries on our blog which refer to Ms Grove’s personal gender preference, but as there are none, there is nothing to remove. They have demanded a written undertaking that we will desist from publishing further comments about Ms Grove’s partner preferences in future, to which we reply via this blogpost.  We have also been instructed to action their demands ‘without any editorial comment on your part or any reference to this letter or any other correspondence’. Freedom of speech is a constitutional right, and therefore we have written this blogpost, also to prove how Cape Town Tourism mismanages its City funds for personal agendas!  The threat of not adhering to Ms Grove’s demands is to ‘consider instituting urgent interdictory proceedings for the necessary relief’, and to make us liable for ‘additional damages’!  Furthermore Ms Grove ‘reserves her right to pursue civil and/or criminal action against you and “Maria’ should you fail to comply with her above demands’. One wonders if Ms Grove can afford the threatened legal action, or whether the Cape Town ratepayers and members of Cape Town Tourism will have to fund it too!

NOTE: We will not allow any Comments which are abusive to Ms Grove or ourselves in reaction to this blogpost.

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