Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

If Social Media Marketing performance is anything to go by, the World Cup is an outstanding success.

Twitter has shown record usage since the start of the World Cup on 11 June, often crashing due to overload when a World Cup match is underway, fans of a particular team egging on their players to do better, or to praise them for a good performance.  Twitter has a “fail-whale” sign when it is over-capacity.

If the Whale Cottage Portfolio WhaleTales blog is anything to go by, then the blogosphere has reached record heights.  With steadily climbing unique readership of about 30 000 per month, the current unique readership for the first 21 days in June is already at 84025, meaning that the total for June could be close to 120 000, an unprecedented performance.   The unique readership peaked on the opening day of the World Cup on 11 June, at a record 8182.   Of the stories that have been written on our blog to date, the following posts have been the most widely read this month, proving that the World Cup dominates interest over any other topic, such as restaurant reviews:

               1.  Cape Town Restaurant Winter Blues specials

               2.  Table Mountain only SA new 7wonders nominee

               3.   World Cup 2010 FIFA flop

               4.   FIFA Ticket Collection Sweet and Good Food & Wine Show Sour Awards

               5.   Restaurant Reviewer receives harsh reviews about review

               6.   Cape Town parties through the World Cup

               7.   World Cup match attendance: staying on the FIFA ball

               8.   Cape Town blows the largest vuvuzela

               9.   Cape Town drowning in hotel beds

              10.  World Cup puts SA into focus, some bad, most good 

Tags (blog-speak for keywords) too are of interest, and reflect the world’s focus on the World Cup, and the following were most used tags, connecting Google and other search engine users to the Whale Cottage Portfolio website:

               1.   USA Today

               2.   Minister of Tourism

               3.   World Cup 2010

               4.   Confederations Cup

               5.   Fan parks

               6.   Grant Thornton (the tourism consultancy that did forecasts of World Cup attendance)

              7.    Ivanka Trump (who spent her honeymoon in the Cape earlier this year)   

              8.   Vuvuzela

              9.   2010

              10.  Prince William (attended the England versus Algeria game)

Ten days ago the Whale Cottage Portfolio Whale Tales Blog was registered with www.amatomu.com for  the first time, a Top SA Blogsites site measuring web traffic.   The growth in traffic has moved the Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog to the top 20 list, being in 16th position of all blogs in South Africa today.

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

The newly built Cape Town Stadium faces its biggest test today, when the fourth event will be held this afternoon, a friendly soccer match between the under 18 teams of Ghana and Brazil, with a capacity crowd of 68 000 spectators expected.  

 Three previous events have been held at the Stadium, and each of them had more spectators than the previous event, so as to test the ability of the Stadium management company and of the facility to cope with a crowd of attendees.  The most recent event was a prayer rally attended by 50 000 participants.  The stadium will be at full capacity today, the last time before the first World Cup Match between Uruguay and France kicks off on 11 June.

One of the dignitaries to attend the match is the German Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle, who is on a three-country Africa tour, reports the Cape Argus.   Westerwelle says he is visiting the country, to build on the already strong political, economic, social and sporting relationships with South Africa.  Interestingly, German TV channel ZDF has not reported on his visit.

Westerwelle has spoken out strongly in favour of the World Cup talking place in South Africa, in contradiction to some if his country’s soccer administrators and trainers, who have questioned FIFA’s wisdom in hosting the World Cup in this country.   Says Westerwelle: “The Confederations Cup in June 2009 was a resounding successful dress rehearsal.  I’m firmly convinced that we’ll see a very special World Cup.  We’re glad that we can play our part in this: we have been engaged in an intensive exchange of information on the World Cup with South Africa, covering many different areas such as organisation and police co-operation.”   Germany will be hosting a training camps for Bafana Bafana shortly, says the report.

Given the number of spectators expected at the Cape Town Stadium today, streets in Green Point in particular have had ‘no parking’ signs erected this week, leading to the residents of the suburb reacting in anger to the parking tickets they have received for parking in spaces they have parked in for years.

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

2010 World Cup soccer fans coming to South Africa next year will be the target of overpricing of car rental, hotel accommodation and air transport, according to a number of travel industry players interviewed by Travel News Weekly.

Tour operators and travel agents complain about the “2010 rip-off”, and many have been quoted double the normal accommodation rate by hotels.  Showing their greedy side, the hotels are also cutting the commission percentage they are offering agents, given that they expect to be fully booked.   “It is great for those making the money, but in the long run, it is going to reflect badly on South Africa.” said an agent.  Others have decided to not be part of the ‘rip-off brigade’, and Dorienne Levitt of African Stay said as follows: “I have decided to not be part of that and am only dealing with providers who offer reasonable prices.  I will try my hardest not to use vendors who are acting without integrity, during 2010 and thereafter”.    In addition the conditions set by hotels with minimum stays of 8 - 30 days are too stringent, agents say.   Protea Hotels has contracted 80 % of its rooms to MATCH, at prices ranging between R 950 - R 4 500 per room. 

The Travel News Weekly article also quotes Brett Dungan, the national CEO of FEDHASA, as saying that his organisation would not “associate with nor support hotels that were not affiliated to MATCH and were “ripping off” clients.  The reason why we have been working so closely with MATCH is to eradicate the issue of price gouging”.  But it is MATCH that is ripping soccer fans off, by adding 30 % commission on all its contracted accommodation rates!

Transport costs too have soared, with car rental prices doubling from the already high 2009 Confederations Cup rates levels.  Avis says it will increase its rates by 15 - 20 %, justifying this on the basis of “the expected demand and additional work required”!

Airfares for 2010 too are a rip-off, for both incoming and outgoing flights, and for domestic travel, that is if any tickets can be found to be available.  Most airlines have not released their seats for the World Cup period.    Domestic flight tickets are likely to cost double the normal fare, reports the Weekend Argus, at about R 3 800 for a return airfare between Johannesburg and Cape Town on SAA, and at R 5 300 on BA/Comair.   International flight prices are set to triple, the airlines milking a money-making opportunity after many years of tough trading.  

Coach companies too have imposed “crippling conditions”, agents say.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio www.whalecottage,com

As a small operator, it has often felt like David versus Goliath when WhaleTales has criticised MATCH, FIFA’s accommodation agency, in its terms and conditions of wanting to do business with small accommodation establishments for the 2010 World Cup.

Whale Cottage has been vindicated for its brave public stand against the MATCH terms, which it first wrote about in a WhaleTales newsletter dated June 2007, soon after MATCH did its first presentation to the Cape Town hospitality industry at the Cape Sun.  

An in-depth article in the Sunday Times of 13 September says what Whale Cottage has been saying for the past two years - that MATCH is a rip-off as far as accommodation for visitors to South Africa is concerned in 2010, and that many other accommodation establishments are saying so too, and are not contracting with MATCH.

Initially MATCH set very stringent criteria for hotels, and for small accommodation establishments, the latter being an accommodation category not previously utilised by MATCH, but necessary due to the 55 000 beds required for the FIFA officials, the media, VIP visitors, and package purchasers.

The major complaints from small accommodation establishments related to the setting of the rate, initially dictated by MATCH as being the 2007 rate + 16 %, of which MATCH would take 30 % commission.   There was to be one uniform cancellation policy, despite the poor track record MATCH has in cancelling hotel rooms in Germany in 2006, without compensating the establishments.  MATCH dictated that 80 % of an establishment’s rooms were to be made available to MATCH.   Payment would only be received on the day of arrival of the guest, by means of a sealed cheque, which the accommodation establishment could only bank the following day.   No deposits were to be payable upfront.   Whale Cottage tried to reason with the MATCH authorities whilst it was a member of the FEDHASA Cape Board, but little attention was paid to the needs of and feedback from the small accommodation sector, given that FEDHASA is an hotel association looking after its large hotel member needs first and foremost.

Regular criticism of MATCH and its terms, and the company’s inability to sign up the required number of beds - it is still about 15 000 beds short of its target - led MATCH to relax its conditions, in that the cancellation policy has been relaxed somewhat, in that establishments may set their own “fair” accommodation rates, and that MATCH will take 30 % on top of this rate as its commission.   From the outset MATCH, and FIFA’s PR machine, has stated that 30 % is an average rate of commission paid by the accommodation industry, which is blatantly untrue, given that the norm is 10 %, and at most 20 % for operators with whom one has done business for a long time.

Accommodation establishments in Cape Town, especially along the Atlantic Seaboard, are receiving a steady flow of 2010 bookings, and therefore do not need MATCH to sell their rooms.   The accommodation rate norm is to use the summer rate for 2009/2010 and to add 10 % to set the 2010 World Cup rate.   These establishments are receiving the cashflow benefit of 50 % deposits at a time when the credit crunch is still making itself felt.

What is most interesting about the Sunday Times article is that it stated that one of the directors of MATCH Hospitality shareholder Infront Sports and Media is Philippe Blatter, nephew of FIFA President Sepp Blatter. MATCH Hospitality was contracted in 2007 to sell tickets and suites for FIFA matches, for the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  MATCH Hospitality is said to have paid $ 120 million for the rights to provide hospitality services at the FIFA events.

MATCH Event Services belongs to Byrom PLC, a British company, says the Sunday Times, selling 55 000 rooms, transportation and tickets as all-in-one packages, which will make it far more difficult for soccer fans to see how badly they are being ripped off.   In the Sunday Times article, for example, angry Kruger National Park regulars state that they cannot book the Kruger Park accommodation, as it has all been contracted to MATCH, at prices 400 % above the normal rates.

The Sunday Times article contains quotes from the CEO’s of Southern Sun, City Lodge and Protea Hotels, all praising and supporting MATCH, and downplaying the size of the MATCH commission.   Given that these are the largest hotel groups in the country, which will benefit greatly from its MATCH bookings, they cannot but sing the praises of MATCH. 

What has also been confirmed by the Sunday Times article, and is something Whale Cottage has been concerned about, is that the bulk of the commission which MATCH will be making, plus FIFA’s profits generated from the Word Cup, will leave South Africa.    On the accommodation side alone this could easily amount to R 330 million at a most conservative estimate.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Statistics SA has confirmed what all in the hospitality industry have been experiencing - income from accommodation fell by 5 % in the April - June period compared to a year ago, reports the Weekend Argus.

Had the Confederations Cup and the British and Irish Lions Tour, and to a far lesser extent the IPL, not taken place in this quarter, the drop in accommodation revenue would have been even greater.  June showed positive growth of 6 % on average, compared to the negative growth in April and May, proving that the IPL did not live up to its promised contribution to the economy and protection against the recession!   June has been the only positive growth month this year so far.

In Cape Town RevPAR (revenue per available room) increased by 14 % in June, the first month in 2009 with a positive figure, based largely on two rugby matches in Cape Town, with rates having been increased to R 880 per room on average over the match days, and occupancy increased to 51 %, the first occupancy increase in the 12-month period.

Stats SA also records the “number of stay nights” to have decreased by 10 % compared to 2008, with hotel income dropping from R 1,99 billion in the second quarter of 2008 to R 1,86 billion in the second quarter this year, a 7 % decline.   Guest house income grew by 2 %, and that of caravan parks and campsites by 8 % in the same period.

Whale Cottage Portfolio : www.whalecottage.com

The City of Cape Town and the FIFA Local Organising Committee (LOC) signed a Service Level Agreement this week, for Cape Town to host the FIFA Final Draw on 4 December, reports www.goal.com.   The Final Draw will determine which of the 32 teams play at which venues.

Mayor of Cape Town Dan Plato and LOC CEO Danny Jordaan agreed that the Final Draw will take place in the Cape Town International Convention Centre, and is to be attended by 2 000 guests and 800 media representatives.   The FInal Draw is expected to be broadcast in 200 countries. The ceremonial signing was accompanied by Minstrels.

“The impetus of expenditure and investment in infrastructure for 2010 could not have come at a better time to counteract the effects of the economic slump. While not every individual or suburb of Cape Town will benefit directly from the World Cup, improved facilities, services and infrastructure will benefit all indirectly,” said Plato. 

Whale Cottage Portfolio www.whalecottage.com/blog

British Airways has confirmed that its prediction that South Africa will be its most popular long-haul destination has been proven correct. The airline has increased its market share to the country by 4 % by increasing the number of its flights, to Johannesburg in particular, at a time when the credit crunch has reduced the airline’s capacity on other routes, says an article in Business Report.

The airline’s Ashley Cowen, General Manager for Africa and Asia-Pacific for the airline, says that it has achieved “fairly good passenger loads”, utilizing special offers. The Confederations Cup and the British and Irish Lions rugby tour created good additional support for the airline.

Whale Cottage Portfolio:  www.whalecottage.com

FIFA’s Secretary General Jerome Valcke has rated South Africa as 8/10 on its readiness to stage the 2010 World Cup from 11 June to 11 July next year, reports the Cape Times.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter downsized the score to 75 % at the conclusion of the Confederations Cup.

The FIFA rating is based on the country’s current organisation and hosting of the Confederations Cup, for which the final was played on Sunday evening.   “The organisation from the LOC has been really top class.  What is more pleasing is the players are returning to their countries with a good opinion of South Africa, the people, fans, stadiums, hotels, and training facilities.  That is the best advert we could hope for”, Valcke said.

Blatter added that the Confederations Cup had been well run and that FIFA is looking forward to a “hugely successful 2010 World Cup”, reports the Cape Times.

Incidents such as a strike by volunteers at Ellis Park, and the alleged theft of cash from the Egyptian team players’ rooms have been effectively dealt with.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said that crime could happen in any country:   “Players being robbed  is sad, but it can happen anywhere in the world - even in the United States.   We take as many precautions as possible, but I am satisfied fans, teams, and the public will be safe during the 2010 World Cup.”   At the media briefing at the conclusion of the Confederations Cup, Blatter did not refer to crime as one of the issues that need to be addressed for the 2010 World Cup.

Blatter said that he hoped to give South Africa a score of 10/10 in 2010.

Further problems which the Confederations Cup highlighted is a shortage of 15 000 beds in Bloemfontein, and problems with the park-and-ride system in Johannesburg.   FIFA has also highlighted that it does not wish the new soccer stadia to become “white elephants” after 2010.

Valcke said the the teams, the players and the officials who are part of the Confederations Cup will be South Africa’s best ambassadors for 2010.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Given the embarrassing start to the Confederations Cup, with a near-empty Rustenburg stadium last Sunday, FIFA is to hand out free tickets to schools, soccer clubs and youth organisations to ensure that the remaining matches are played to full stadia, reports the Cape Argus.

FIFA Media Head Nicolas Maingot has said that “And if we look at previous Confederations Cup tournaments, South Africa is not doing badly at all.   He compared average tickets sales per match to the 2003 Confederations Cup in France in 2003 at almost 31 000, and over 37 000 in Germany in 2005.   Current Confederations Cup attendance is 33 170 per match on average.

Trade union federation COSATU has encouraged South Africans to buy Confederations Cup tickets.  “The low turnouts at some matches have been a serious embarrassment to the country and must be improved upon” said COSATU spokesperson Patrick Craven, probably one of the more intelligent statements made by the trade union in a long time, as reported in The Times.

Rich Mkhondo, spokesperson of the Local Organising Committee, has continued his bizarre media comments:   “We have informed the people and marketed and organised this event, but we can’t force people to buy tickets.”   He confirmed that the LOC would not cut ticket prices for the Confederations Cup.

FIFA has announced that South Africa’s favourite soccer noisemaker, the plastic vuvuzela “trumpet”, will not be banned for the 2010 World Cup, despite heavy criticism of the noise it makes from journalists and players currently attending the Confederations Cup games in South Africa.

Blatter has agreed that it is a noisy instrument, but said:  “But that is what African and South African football is all about - noise, excitement, dancing, shouting and enjoyment.   When we go to South Africa, we go to Africa.   It is noisy.   It is something else than in the rest of the world.”

Spanish star Xabi Alonso said:”That trumpet?  It is not nice.   I think Fifa should ban it.  It’s not really distracting, but it’s not a nice sound to hear”, reports The Times.   Alonso was reacting to the vuvuzelas used at Bloemfontein stadium, where its usage is said to have been “restrained” compared to at other stadia at which the Confederations Cup games are being played.  

Brazilian Robinho complained about the noise, saying that he could not hear the instructions from his coach when they played the United States.

A soccer fan was quoted by USA Today in saying that the vuvuzela is ”a part of my life”.  Another said: “This is our voice.  We sing through it”!  

Spanish Santi Cazorla said:”It’s true that they make a lot of noise, but we’ll just have to get used to them”.