Today we celebrate the opening in Hermanus of the first Whale Cottage 14 years ago.   Having an all-women team of staff, it is even more special that our anniversary co-incides with Women’s Day today - I salute my ladies, and thank them for all they do for our guests.   Whale Cottage Hermanus has been heavily booked for the long weekend, and all Whale Cottage guests have been served sparkling wine with their breakfast this weekend, to celebrate our milestone.

Filled with nostalgia, I look back at the early days of running our Whale Cottage Hermanus, then located on Main Road - a great location initially in terms of visibility (we had a blue-and-white striped roof in those days, similar to our Whale Cottage Franschhoek).   Our inspiration for the name came from the Victorian cottage in which we set up our first Whale Cottage in 1996, and in honour of the Southern Right whales that became so popular, and put Hermanus on the map, in offering the best land-based whale watching in the world.

There was no internet in our world of guest housing in those days, and we all only advertised in Portfolio’s Bed & Breakfast Collection, which cost us around R 12000 for a third of a page in those days.  We all hated Portfolio, largely due to its dictatorial and unapproachable owner Liz Westby-Nunn.  Their power was tremendous, as they introduced the first attempt at “grading” our establishments, giving them a yellow, purple or red shield, implying different levels of luxury.   The annual visits for their inspections filled us with fear, and we were not allowed to question their instructions as to what had to be changed.  One dared not speak against the company (even though we were paying advertisers) nor argue their directives, and we parted ways with Portfolio when their greed extended to charging commission for bookings on their website, in addition to the ever-increasing cost of their advertisements.

The internet opened up to us at the same time, and it was a huge relief to see how well we did advertising on the accommodation websites SA Venues and Cape Stay, and the former still holds.  Networking with fellow guest house owners became an important source of business, especially in Camps Bay, where we run the Camps Bay Accommodation Association, and we pass all overflow enquiries to our 24 members.  We also share industry information with each other.

After we opened the seafacing Whale Cottage Camps Bay in 1998, we received feedback from our guests that they were missing a seaview in Hermanus, so we set upon the search for a new property to be set up as a guest house, with a seaview.   We found such a property on Westcliff Drive, on the way to the new Harbour, with a magnificent view of Walker Bay, and opened it in 2002, selling the Main Road property.   Barry Lewis was our long-standing manager, and we are delighted that we have his sister Carole Cessano working with us now, with the faithful Juliette at her side.

From June - December the whales attract visitors to Hermanus, who have not found a place in the world where they can see whales as they can do from the well-developed cliff path, running from the new Harbour to beyond Voelklip, all along the ocean.   But Hermanus has wonderful beaches too, that are warmer than those on the Atlantic Ocean of Cape Town, and also has outstanding wine farms in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley area, including Hamilton Russell Vineyards, Bouchard Finlayson, Creation, Hermanuspietersfontein, and more.

Whale Cottage Franschhoek opened five years ago, and Whale Cottage Plettenberg Bay two and a half years ago.   With Whale Cottage Hermanus and Whale Cottage Camps Bay, they make up the unique Whale Cottage Portfolio, welcoming our guests to “a whale of a stay!”.  One of its unique features is the Whale Cottage Loyalty Card, which was introduced from the start in 1996, offering our Whale Cottage guests one night free for every 10 nights that they stay at a Whale Cottage, and this has become a very popular incentive to return to our Whale Cottages.  Nine years ago we introduced our WhaleTales newsletter, which is sent to our Address Book of 25000 every 6 weeks or so, and is written as a tourism newsletter, described by many as the only newsletter which summarises what is happening in the tourism and hospitality industry.  We have never been afraid of being controversial, and of writing the truth.   This policy of independent tourism reporting is also the foundation of this WhaleTales Blog.

We thank our Whale Cottage guests, suppliers, colleagues and friends for their loyal support of our guest houses, and of our WhaleTales newsletters and Blog.

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

Never in the history of World Cup soccer has a “player” made world TV and newspaper headlines as has Paul the psychic octopus.   We nominate him for the Golden Ball Award for being the most on-the-ball player of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, having correctly predicted Germany’s four wins and two losses.  

Paul lives in an aquarium in Oberhausen in Germany, but is British-born.  He started duty in the UEFA Cup final in 2008, but made an error when he predicted that Germany would win against Spain.   He was a little known player then, especially due to his incorrect prediction.  But since the start of the 2010 World Cup he has been spot-on with the results of each match, predicting Germany’s wins over Australia, Ghana, England and Argentina, and its losses against Serbia and Spain.  

All eyes will be on Paul as he predicts Germany to take 3rd place against Uruguay in Port Elizabeth today.   He has also bravely stepped out of his league in predicting the winner of the World Cup Final to be Spain, in its match against Netherlands tomorrow.

Poor Paul is being heavily taxed, in that he is now being asked to predict all sorts of other things, such as whether German coach Joachim Loew will renew his contract.

Paul has become such a talked-about VIP that he has his own Twitter page now (@PPsychicOctopus), and boy can he Tweet non-stop, usually putting some “biped” down when he/she make comments he does not like, and just in general, when he feels like it.  He is a cheeky opinionated chap!   He attracted 422 followers in just 2 days, and is hoping for 1000 by tomorrow.  He picks up almost every mention about himself on Twitter, and then replies to it. He has been featured on CNN, ZDF, BBC and SkyNews, and made the front page of the Cape Times and Germany’s Bild, and no doubt many more international and local newspapers.

While I am having fun, I am awarding some other unofficial 2010 World Cup awards:

Goldie Locks Award: goes to Diego Forlan of Uruguay, who has beautiful blond hair kept in place with a blue aliceband, and has the most beautiful blue eyes, for sure the most beautiful soccer player in the World Cup (on the other hand, Wayne Rooney has already been selected by the media as the ‘ugliest’ player of the soccer tournament)

Golden Trend Award:  Cristiano Ronaldo receives this award, for his black nailpolished toes, as seen on German TV station ZDF yesterday

Golden Coach Award:  superstitious German coach Joachim Loew wearing his beautiful blue jersey at every match in which Germany played, and refusing to wash it to not break the luck of his team, that is until it lost against Spain this week.    He was by far the best looking coach of all teams.

Golden Moneybags Award without a doubt goes to FIFA and its President Sepp Blatter, for taking all its money out of South Africa, untaxed as per its contract with the South African government, especially all the MATCH booking monies.  Ticket sales will have largely been received by credit card in Switzerland anyway.

Golden Service Award goes to the 25 000 or so volunteers at 10 stadiums and at the Fan Parks in Host Cities, as well as at airports and FIFA-designated hotels, who worked for a pittance of R 100 per day, irrespective of how long their working hours were.   Volunteers were specifically forced to sign away their rights to protection under South Africa’s labour legislation, such is the power of FIFA!   Volunteers were not even allowed to receive a copy of their 4-page contract.  Volunteers were the machine that made the running of the World Cup smooth and largely incident-free, in offering Spectator Services, Language Support, Transportation, Accreditation, Hospitality, IT and Telecommunications, and many more services to make the World Cup happen.   The ridiculously low “stipend” has to be taxed, at least 30 % being deducted, even for the meal allowance when it was first paid into the bank, while FIFA patted itself on the back for its 25 % increase in its media and marketing income for this World Cup, and announcing that millions of dollars will be paid to Football Associations and its executive.

Golden Aches Award goes to the World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC), for forcing its 25 000 volunteers around the country to spend half of their R 120 daily meal allowance at a McDonald’s close by, for the past 40 days.  The Green Point branch, which is right at the Stadium, made a fortune from the Cape Town LOC for daily vouchers to the value of R 60 - it could easily be R2 million - out of a blind loyalty to the fast food company’s sponsorship of the World Cup.

Golden Handcuff Award goes to the S A Police Services for safeguarding South Africa and the soccer fans, and for taking over the security services when Stallion Security staff striked in Cape Town and in Durban at the start of the World Cup.   They were patient, dedicated and worked in the pouring rain in Cape Town at three of the matches, and in cold winter conditions for the other five matches, as well as on non-match days, checking bags and other belongings, keeping everyone inside the Stadium safe.

Golden Key Award goes to FIFA and the LOC, for forbidding its volunteers to criticise the two bodies whilst they were on duty, as per the volunteer contract.   What they did not understand was the power of word-of-mouth, aggrieved volunteers talking to each other and posting comments on the Cape Town Volunteers blog  www.ctvolunteers2010.wordpress.com.    E-mails were sent to other volunteers, and one even approached the Weekend Argus about the McDonald’s forced-diet, that uniforms were not supplied to all volunteers in the 5 weeks of them doing duty, prejudicing some in not working inside the stadiums and therefore not seeing all the matches, and that transport problems meant that volunteers stood in the rain and cold waiting for transportation to take them home after matches.

Golden “Gees” Award goes to all South Africans, who become ‘Proudly South African’ in the past month, becoming soccer fans (who was it that said that ‘White’ South Africans do not support soccer and do not watch local matches?) in addition to loving rugby; who went to watch the Stormers and the Blue Bulls play at Orlando Stadium in Soweto (I mean, have you ever?!) and loved the “gees” there just a short while prior to the start of the World Cup; for walking the Fan Walk  (153 000 in Cape Town last Saturday alone) and calling for the Fan Walk to become a permanent feature, locals requesting Capetonians to walk it once a month; for the loyal support for Bafana Bafana, a team we scorned and mocked prior to the World Cup, but who did us proud; and made us proud Africans, supporting BaGhana BaGhana when this was the last African team left in the tournament.

Golden Liquid Award goes to the beer producers and all the staff at pubs and restaurants around the country who made sure that soccer fans remained liquid, either to celebrate or commiserate their teams’ performance!   Vaughn Johnson’s Wine Shop sold 10 000 beer cans in the 4 hours prior to the England versus Algeria match in Cape Town, he says.

Golden Balls-Up Award goes to ACSA Durban for damaging the image of the country when flights bringing German and Spain fans to Durban on Tuesday after the match had finished, due to a congestion of aeroplanes at the new King Shaka airport in the city, reportedly due to private jets clogging up the parking bays and refusing to move their planes, the FIFA one being one of them!  Not surprisingly FIFA and the LOC have distanced themselves from any responsibility for this mess-up.     

Golden Fans Award goes to all the wonderful soccer fans, both local and international, that became infected with the “gees” of the World Cup, who got to endure the vuvuzelas and even bought their own, for dressing up in wigs, painting their faces, and proudly wearing their country’s flags - I can see a whole new fashion trend in proudly-South African colours.   They brought their dollars, pounds and Euros, and bought beers, ate at restaurants (manly pizzas, burgers and steaks), stayed at good value guest houses and did some sightseeing locally.    They showed up FIFA’s MATCH by making their own accommodation bookings (at non-MATCH guest houses) and by buying their own match tickets, instead of falling for MATCH packages.

Golden Rip-Off Award goes to MATCH, the hospitality and ticketing agency of FIFA, which conned the accommodation industry for a second World Cup, promising good accommodation returns, forcing establishments to give 80 % of their rooms, promising not to cancel rooms as it did in Germany four years before, and for adding an unjustified 30 % commission to accommodation rates, giving South Africa an unfortunate image of “rip-off pricing” in the European and English media, thereby keeping soccer fans away from the country.   As if this was not bad enough, the unfortunate accommodation establishments that signed with MATCH received the majority of their rooms back, just a few weeks before the start of the World Cup.

Golden City Award goes to Cape Town, which to date has had the highest number of goals scored (22) of all stadiums, and has achieved the highest occupancy of stadium seats, said Cape Town Stadium Venue Manager Terral Cullen at a Volunteer Farewell Lunch earlier this week.  The Stadium was moved a few meters and a new one built, for the benefit of the view from it onto Table Mountain.   Ironically it was not the mountain that became the focus of the world media, but it was the Stadium itself that formed the backdrop for report after report about our beautiful city and the matches that were taking place.  Even the sport commentators would refer to the beauty of the city during their match commentary.   President Zuma claimed it as the best World Cup city, and FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke said the Cape Town Stadium had the best pitch and was the most perfect stadium, so much so that the Olympic Committee has requested Cape Town to bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.  What an accolade!   Sepp Blatter has taken IOC President Rogge around Cape Town, and personally has recommended the city.  We know that what President Blatter wants, he gets!

Golden Card Award goes to the World Cup referees who loved the red and yellow ones, waving them at players at great regularity, and influencing outcomes of matches as a result - Klose and Mueller’s red and yellow cards were examples for the German team.

Golden Flop Award goes to all soccer players who collapsed every time another player bumped into them - from a distance many of them looked like primadonnas, hoping for a free kick whenever they flopped onto the grass

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

In what is an unprecedented attack on FIFA, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the South African Minister of Tourism, has blasted FIFA over the low number of international visitors coming to attend the World Cup in 18 days from today, reports the Cape Times.   It is the first attack on FIFA by a member of the South African Cabinet.

Van Schalkwyk told Parliament that only a quarter of the 44000 tickets which had been allocated for Africa (excluding South Africa) had in fact been sold, and he blamed this on the lack of internet access for bookings to be made by soccer fans in African countries, and the exorbitant prices of the tickets.  “This is what I will tell Fifa to improve on when they next host the cup in developing countries: ‘Look at the way you sold tickets in Africa’.  ’Africans do not buy tickets on the internet”, he is said to have added.

Van Schalkwyk’s outburst is interesting in that S A Tourism, the country’s national marketing tourism marketing agency, did little to make South Africa attractive to international soccer fans - other than some ads on CNN and SKYNews there was little visibility of advertising for this country.  Many soccer fans are not English-speaking, or from the UK and USA, and would not have seen the advertising.  The pay-off line for South Africa “It’s Possible” is hardly inspiring, exciting or informative about what South Africa stands for as a tourism destination. 

Van Schalkwyk also criticised MATCH, the FIFA ticketing and accommodation agency, about its strategy to book accommodation at small accommodation establishments, and then cancel the majority of these bookings as late as two months before the start of the World Cup.   “I think the escape clause in the contracts for accommodation is unfair to small operators.  We raised this issue with Fifa from the start”, he said.  

This writer criticised MATCH about the legally worded contract and the MATCH cancellation policy, which did not allow establishments to set their own cancellation terms, whilst a Director of FEDHASA Cape, via this WhaleTales Blog, and via the WhaleTales newsletters since 2006.   For the first time in its history, MATCH booked accommodation at ‘non-hotel’ establishments, at guest houses, B&B’s, and self-catering establishments. 

POSTSCRIPT:Poor Minister Van Schalkwyk is having a bad time - on Fin24.com today he is quoted as saying he was pained and embarrassed that guests were handed scarves with a “Made in China” label on them at a media conference, at which he outlined the country’s tourism strategy going forward, two days ago.

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

The boom projection of foreign attendance of the World Cup of 483 000 has been revised to a still-optimistic 373 000 by Grant Thornton, the tourism consultancy that created the original projection about 3 years ago, a drop of 23 %, reports SA Tourism Update.

The Grant Thornton estimate contradicts the FIFA estimates that the number of international soccer fans attending matches in South Africa has dropped by almost half, from 500 000 to 220000, reports The Times.

Based on the original optimistic international soccer fan attendance, the hospitality industry saw $-signs , and actively renovated their establishments, and put excessive price tags onto their properties.  Private home owners did quick renovations of their properties in the major cities, and planned to travel overseas during the World Cup period, spending their rental income, only to find the rental market being almost non-existent for the World Cup, given the over-supply of accommodation.

MATCH, the accommodation and ticketing agency for FIFA, also greedily added a 30 % surcharge onto the accommodation it contracted, and will have added similar commission rates to transport, flight and ticket prices, giving South Africa a dreadful label of “rip-off” pricing in the international media.  It is the fear of the excessive costs as well as the soccer fans’ fear of the perceived crime risk, that has kept soccer fans away in the main, report the international media.

Grant Thornton only revised its international attendance projections in the last month, when it became clear that MATCH could not sell all its contracted rooms, and gave them back to establishments, and that more than two-thirds of the tickets sold to date are to South Africans.  Even World Cup sponsors and football associations have not been able to sell all their tickets, and have returned them to MATCH.  

One wonders why it took Grant Thornton such a long time to revise the estimates, as its first estimate set the expectations for the hospitality industry.   The tourism consultancy now blames the credit crunch (which has been around for 2 years) and the distance of our country from the qualifying nations as the main reasons for the poor international bookings.  It also says that accredited Tour Operators also did poorly in selling packages.   Such Tour Operators had to pay $ 30 000 for a licence fee per country in which they were looking to sell packages, reports The Daily Maverick.

MATCH cancelled 1,3 million room nights out of the 1,9 million it had originally contracted, reports SA Tourism Update.    Many of the rooms released were in Zimbabwe, Mauritius, and in smaller local country towns (e.g. Plettenberg Bay, Hermanus).  The Protea Hotel Group has had 60 % of its rooms returned, in Cape Town, Durban and smaller towns, having originally been forced to allocate 80 % of their rooms to MATCH.  The Kruger National Park had 25 000 room nights returned.

Grant Thornton is trying to put a positive spin on the tourism benefit of the World Cup, by claiming that the average length of stay now is 18 days as opposed to 14 days as estimated originally, and that the average spend per trip would be R 30 200 as opposed to the originally estimated R 22 000.  On average, international soccer fans will watch 5 World Cup  matches, as opposed to the 3 previously estimated.

Attendance by African soccer fans has fallen to an estimate of 11 000, in what was meant to be an “African World Cup”, reports Business Report.    High ticket prices and lack of access to credit cards and the internet in other African countries has been blamed on the poor support from this continent.   It had originally been estimated that 48 000 African soccer fans would attend the World Cup, which still would not have been a satisfactory attendance level.

Grant Thornton in 2007 estimated the impact of the World Cup on the economy of R21,3 billion, with 159000 new jobs created.   International consultants Morgan Stanley published an estimate two months ago, of 350000 international fans attending and the local economy benefit being R15 billion.  The government has spent R33 billion on the tournament, for the building of stadiums and upgrading its infrastructure around the country to date, reports The Times. 

Grant Thornton now says that no new jobs appear to have been created due to the World Cup, but that it has prevented job losses, reports Business Report.   An estimated 2,5% – 3,5 % growth in the GDP of South Africa has been drastically reduced to 0,54 %.   Many fans have chosen to book via the internet, and are booking at B&B’s and guest houses, rather than hotels, and therefore are not booking via the “official MATCH-hosted channels”, says  Business Report.

FIFA President Sapp Blatter will be staying in the 5-star Michelangelo Towers during the World Cup, while the rest of his FIFA entourage of 200 will be accommodated at the Michelangelo Hotel next door, reports The Times.   Herr President’s requirements are a minibar stocked with South African wines, which is a good boost for the local wine industry, but the ice cubes in his fridge must be made from Evian water.  He will be protected by 5 bodyguards.   While sponsors’ products are meant to be used, which would mean that Blatter would have to drink Coca Cola’s Bonaqua, he is breaking protocol by drinking imported San Pellegrino mineral water.

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

The Grant Thornton survey about World Cup pricing, conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, shows that “most World Cup accommodation prices have increased by a reasonable amount, despite persistent concerns about profiteering, South African Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Friday”, says a Reuters report.

The survey found that the accommodation pricing of the 2479 accommodation establishments, including hotels, guest houses, B&B’s and self-catering establishments, that participated in the survey, were charging a premium of less than 50 % on their 2010 summer rate.  However, the rates premium in Gauteng, which sees Johannesburg hosting the opening and closing matches, is more than 50 % for more than two-thirds of the establishments, according to the survey.

According to a media release from Cape Town Tourism, the survey results show that fewer than 20 % of accommodation establishments in the Western Cape are charging more than 50 % of their 2010 rate, reflecting this province’s call to responsible pricing.

Van Schalkwyk is quoted as saying that ”The majority of accommodation establishments in South Africa are very responsible, we know that 74 percent will be charging prices during the World Cup that are very reasonable” at the news conference.

The Tourism Minister said that rate increases were to be expected during major events, but warned the industry about the damaging effect exorbitant prices could have on the World Cup legacy.  ”We will continue to do everything to discourage excessive premiums when these do occur.  I am satisfied that by far the majority of accommodation establishments are acting responsibly and are sensitive to our warnings about price hiking and its effects” said Minister van Schalkwyk.    The Minister encouraged soccer visitors “to shop around to get the best deal”. 

The Tourism Minister’s “praise” of the industry was to be expected, in that the survey conducted on his Department’s behalf could not have come up with any other finding for South Africa, to save face in the face of international criticism about “price gouging”.   However, praising price increases of “below 50 %” is not commendable, as the accommodation industry guideline for World Cup accommodation rates was the 2010 rate + 10 %.  The ‘under 50%’ rate that lies between 11 - 49 % is equally rip-off as is that which lies over 50 %!  

The Gauteng accommodation industry is profiteering from the demand versus supply in Johannesburg, and it being a central point for matches at a number of stadia.   The two-thirds of estabishments charging an add-on of more than 50 % should be ashamed of themselves for charging excessively.  

The sample size of just more than 2 400 establishments is small in comparison to the many thousands of accommodation establishments in the country.   One would assume that the more price compliant establishments would have been more likely to have responded to the survey, therefore skewing the results.

Minister of Finance, Tourism and Economic Development in the Western Cape, Alan Winde, has threatened to name and shame the Western Cape “overnight accommodation establishments” that charge excessive rates during the World Cup.  The Minister would be advised to check on restaurant and transport prices too, as reports of excessive pricing have also been levelled against these sectors, reports Eye Witness News.  

Flaws in the Grant Thornton questionnaire design may also have skewed the results - read our criticism of the study questionnaire here.

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

The accommodation industry is up in arms about the 83-page document they have been sent by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa, asking it to comment on the proposed new assessment criteria to be used by assessors for their annual assessment from October onwards, to confirm the maintenance, upgrade or downgrading of their star allocation within a very short period of time. 

Initially accommodation establishments were given only six days to comment, but the Council has extended its deadline for the feedback to 9 April due to the furore which the document has caused.  It appears that assessors themselves may not be happy with all the proposed changes.  The final assessment criteria will be announced at Indaba in Durban on 8 May, reports the Southern African Tourism Update.

The majority of the criteria are as before, and this should be good news to owners of accommodation establishments.  However, some of the requirements are radically stringent, and as they imply costs in meeting the new criteria, they are highly contentious, especially given the poor state of the economy and the precarious financial situation that many establishments find themselves in.  The reaction of many establishments in seeing the criteria is that they will withdraw from the grading system, which is the opposite to what the Tourism Grading Council would be wishing to achieve with the new criteria.  Establishments in the lower star grading bands and B&B’s may be especially tempted to withdraw from the system.

The document does not state how much time establishments have to adjust to the new criteria, if they are an established business.   Feedback from the National Accommodation Association (NAA) indicates that properties will be given 2 years to implement the new criteria.  New establishments will obviously have to meet the new criteria from October onwards.

The new assessment criteria were compiled with input from accommodation owners, as well as research which consulting firm KPMG conducted to benchmark South Africa’s grading criteria against international standards (mainly UK, New Zealand and Australia).

The document was assessed in this post from a 4-star Guest House, B&B and Country House perspective, for which the criteria are the same, with the emphasis on Guest Houses:

1.   The practicality of completing a 66 page document is questioned, meaning that the current two-hour assessment visit will double in time, given the large number of aspects to be assessed.  This can only imply that the assessment fees, already around R2000 per visit, will have to increase.

2.   Guest house owners/hosts must live in a separate entity if they live on the property, but may not live more than a 10-minute drive away for check-ins.  Breakfast must be served every day, rooms must be serviced daily, and a guest lounge and breakfast room must be available for guests’ exclusive use.   All these criteria appear fair.

3.  All three accommodation types must meet “minimum entry requirements” before they can be assessed: 

      *   public liability insurance

      *   the safety and security of guests, which includes lockable doors and secured windows

      *   the visual privacy of guests from the street

      *   the booking service must be available all year

      *   “health and safety certificate - fire and building regulations” (the exact requirement in this regard is not clear)

       *   must be registered as a business with the provincial authority (no such registration requirement is known in the Western Cape)

       *   ”no lawful discrimination on the basis of race, gender, citizenship, physical and mental conditions, etc” (the word “lawful” seems a contradiction!)   

       *   clear and visible signage (this could be contentious, as many establishments, B&B’s in particular, wish to remain low key about their existence)

       *   staff dealing with guests must be professional and courteous at all times

4.   The marks awarded from the assessment are to change in determining the star grading, meaning more 4 and 5 star establishments potentially, as the mark requirement has dropped.   This contradicts the previous tightening of the percentages, as it was felt that there were too many 4 and 5 star establishments (this should be generally acceptable to establishments) :

        *   1 star 30 - 43%

        *   2 star 44 - 58 %

        *   3 star 58 - 74 %

        *   4 star 74 - 88 % (currently is 85 - 94 %)

        *   5 star 88 - 100 % (currently 95 - 100%)

5.    The assessment allows for the establishments’ Universal Access to be evaluated at no extra charge, and for a bronze, silver, gold or platinum plaque to be awarded to establishments that cater for guests with disabilities.  Establishments will not be penalised for not offering these facilities.   The evaluation for the Universal Access takes up a large part of the space on the assessment questionnaire, making it feel longer and more onerous than it is if the Universal Access is not evaluated.

6.   Some of the key requirements are the following:

      *   One off-street parking bay per bedroom must be offered, but can be up to 2 rooms per bay in “urban areas” (this should be what most establishments have already)

      *   Staff must be on 24 hour call as far as safety and security is concerned (this probably is in place in most establishments)

      *   Contentious could be the minimum room and bathroom sizes specified, given that the current dimensions of rooms in existing establishments cannot be altered: a 4* guest establishment must have a size of at least 30 sq. meters for the bedroom, bathroom and landing.  The bedroom must have at least 9 sq meters of “free floor space”, and the bathroom 2 sq. meters of such space

      *   All 4* and 5* establishments must offer a safe fitting a “17 inch” laptop - this could be very contentious, given that most guest houses have built-in safes for valuables already.  This could be a very costly requirement change to meet

      *   Each wardrobe must have a minimum of 14 clothes hangers in it (one wonders how they came to this number - surely 10 can do?)

      *   All 4* and 5* establishments must have airconditioning - this is the most costly requirement change, and will create resentment amongst those establishments that do not have airconditioners, especially for B&B’s, as well as for those that do, given the punitive electricity cost increases

      *   Each bedroom must have a “master lighting switch” at the beside, something which requires installation at building stage, so this too can cause controversy and cost

      *   Mirrors must measure 120 x 40 cm, and may not be on the back of the door.  Most establishment mirrors are on the back of the bedroom door!

     *    Bathrooms may be open plan to the bedroom, but the toilet must have a lockable door.  Guests must be informed about open plan bathrooms when they book.

    *    Towels have to be changed every day - this is very controversial, given water shortages and punitive electricity charge increases from 1 April.   Bed linen must be changed every 3 days.

    *   A hot and a cold breakfast choice must be offered, and the breakfast time must be at least three hours (this is a fair requirement).

    *   A laundry service must be offered on at least 5 days a week (this is a fair requirement)

    *   An internet service must be offered in 3*, 4* and 5 * establishments (this is a fair requirement, given guest needs, but will add to the running costs of the business).

    *   The MOST controversial requirement is an 18 hour Reception service, from 6h00 - midnight, in 4* establishments.  Guest house staff work an extremely long day, and given the recession, this is a most irrational and expensive requirement.  Staff working until midnight without their own cars cannot get home if they do not live on the property, given the lack of public transport at that time of night!

The full document regarding the proposed Tourism Grading Council grading criteria for Country Houses, Guest Houses and B&B’s can be read here.

POSTSCRIPT 1: The deadline for comments has now been extended to 27 April, reports South African Tourism Update on 31 March.

POSTSCRIPT 2 : The accommodation establishments will be given one year to implement the new criteria, says an e-mail sent to them by the Tourism Grading Council on 31 March, and not 2 years as the NAA wrote.

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

Having been a market researcher for a large part of my career, I completed one of the 5 questionnaires received yesterday from Grant Thornton, a consultancy contracted by the Department of Tourism to conduct a survey amongst accommodation establishments, with shock as to its poor design.  The results of the survey will be used to prove that South African accommodation is not ripping off soccer fans for the World Cup.

Given that the consultancy will stand to make a good income out of the survey, it is surprising that Grant Thornton have got the survey design so wrong, meaning that much of its survey will be meaningless, being based on incorrect or missing information.  It is pretty clear that Grant Thornton does not know how the tourism industry operates, despite its work it conducts in the industry!

The survey problems are the following:

1.  The survey shows that it is hotels that have been used as a model for the survey.  Guest houses, self-catering establishments, and B&B’s outnumber hotels by far.

2.  The questionnaire becomes intimidating when one has to state one’s room types - again the design is for hotels, and the various room types do not match those of guest houses/B&B/self-catering establishments.  Surprisingly, single rooms are not listed as an accommodation type.

3.  It is made even more complicated in respect of the rates charged per room type - small accommodation establishments do not quote “STO” rates, and tend to charge the same for all room types - the table requesting this information could be intimidating for a small accommodation establishment.  “Not applicable” options are lost after the first question, and one is not told how to deal with pricing of room types one does not have.

4.  A bigger concern is the time period used for the study - the industry has been admonished for “price-gouging”, and FEDHASA CEO Brett Dungan has pointed a finger at the industry, telling it that the World Cup runs from 11 June - 11 July, and that it should therefore charge normal winter rates from 1 - 10 June and from 12 July onwards.   However, the survey asks for one World Cup rate only, from 1 June - 31 July, thereby condoning this pricing policy.

5.  The question that shows that Grant Thornton is not in touch with the industry is the one requesting information about current pricing - it obviously wants to compare the World Cup rates charged with those charged currently and the year prior - however, it defines these as “2010″ and “2009″.  In the accommodation industry generally, and this would include hotels, one quotes 2008/2009, 2009/2010, etc, giving that the rates usually change from the start of the summer season of every year, i.e. October.   The information generated about current rates would therefore create confusion and potentially incorrect answers, importantly required as a benchmark for the World Cup pricing comparison.

It is inexcusable that a company of Grant Thornton’s stature could have got a survey, which could have been made so much more simple and more meaningful, so wrong.

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

The Horwath HTL Hotel Performance Confidence Indicator survey for the fourth quarter of 2009 paints a mixed picture as far as Occupancy, Average Room Rate Performance and Total Revenue are concerned.

Overall, 53 % of accommodation establishments expect a decrease in Occupancy, with only 19 % expecting an increase.  Average Room rate is expected to increase for 51 % of establishments, while almost equal numbers of establishments said that their Total Revenue would increase, decrease or stay the same.

Comparing their performance in the first 8 months of this year with that of last year for the same period, Occupancy had clearly declined, by as much as 15 %, for 74 % of all establishments interviewed.   Worst hit were 4-star establishments, with 21 % having lost 15 % or more in occupancy.   In the Western Cape only 19 % of establishments expected an increase in the 4th quarter of this year.   Occupancy is more likely to increase in lower graded establishments in this province.

Average Room Rates increased for 59 % of establishments, by up 5 % for a third of all establishments, and by up to 5 - 15 % for a further 26 % of establishments. Five-star establishments, and the ones with 151 rooms or more, did better than their 3-/4-star  smaller counterparts on this measure.  In the Western Cape 56 % of hoteliers expected the Average Room Rate to increase, especially the lower graded hotels.

Total Revenue decreased for 50 %  of the establishments, especially for 3 and 5-star hotels.  Those with an increased revenue did not see an increase of more than 5 % on a year ago, but small boutique hotels saw their revenue increase by as much as 15 %.

The study was conducted amongst 104 hotels throughout South Africa.    If Whale Cottage Camps Bay is a sample of one, a very different picture emerges for guest houses - November and December are almost fully booked, thanks to the FIFA Final Draw on 4 December, and the New Year period.

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

The Sweet Service Award goes to the Greek Fisherman restaurant in the V & A Waterfront, which generously hosted members of the Camps Bay Accommodation association, as well as other guest house owners, for a dinner earlier this week.   Partnering with Asara wine estate, who sponsored the wines, the restaurant kept a steady flow of Greek specialities such as souvlaki, calamari, mussels, spinach and ricotta ravioli, haloumi cheese, and prawns coming to the tables.   Efaristo!

The Sour Service Award goes to the V & A Waterfront, for its lack of customer care.  As if its lack of concern about the regular feedback in newspapers about its high parking fees, and the resultant public declarations from locals that they will not return to the shopping centre, is not enough, it now has a new way to ensure that Capetonians will stay away from the Waterfront for the next month.  An upgrade of its airconditioning, which commenced last week without warning to customers and tenants, is scheduled to last until 16 November.   During this period an operational level of 20 % airconditioning has been promised.   On Sunday evening a customer picked up the incredible heat in the passage near Melissa’s, as if one had entered an oven, and was told by the Melissa’s staff that the airconditioner was broken.  Thereafter the customer bought a movie ticket for the 3,5 hour long ‘Last Night of the Proms’ at the Cinema Nouveau, and was not told by the staff that the airconditioning was not working there too.  The staff referred the cinema-goer to the notice from the Waterfront’s retail management company Lexshell 44 General Trading (Pty) Ltd., which was stuck on each movie house door.   The Manager at Cinema Nouveau, Liziwe Maningjwa,  was not interested in discussing the matter with the cinema-goer, and in fact told the customer to go to the media, as she was not interested in sorting out the problem.   A visit to Belthazar on Wednesday evening was unbearable, in terms of the extreme heat inside the restaurant, despite all efforts by the restaurant to open all its doors to cool things down.  The restaurant’s biggest concern is keeping its customers, but also importantly its large and expensive stock of wines, cool.  A call from the V & A Marketing department expressed surprise that the customer’s message should go to the media, and communicated that a media campaign is to be launched, to explain to customers that there is a problem with the airconditioning, and that the retail center will set up 25 temporary airconditioners for the next month.   These units have yet to be installed!   The aircon problem affects the whole of the “old” section of the shopping centre - i.e. the wing that was developed originally.  This includes the Red Shed, the food court, both the Nu Metro and Cinema Nouveau movie houses, the offices, restaurants such as Belthezar, Cape Town Fish Market, Krugman’s Grill, Haagen-Dasz, San Marco, Sevruga, Santa Ana Spur, Wang Thai, 221 Waterfront, and Ocean Basket, the Post Office, and all the shops in this wing.   Not only is the V & A Waterfront ripping customers off in terms of parking fees (it cost R 30 for the parking fee to see the movie), but now one can also endure a free unwanted sauna in the V & A Waterfront!