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  It is made even more complicated in respect of the rates charged per room type - small accommodation establishments do not quote “STO” rates, and tend to charge the same for all room types - the table requesting this information could be intimidating for a small accommodation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!

MATCH is not concerned about a shortage of beds in Cape Town during the 2010 World Cup, says its accommodation manager Vivienne Bervoets, according to a report in the Cape Argus yesterday.

MATCH, the FIFA accommodation agency,  has already signed up 7 020 beds in Cape Town, and has created a “Matchville” in the Garden Route.   Ms Bervoets is quoted as saying that there is no “need to panic”, and that there is sufficient accommodation “provided the room inventory is properly utilised and maximised”.   “Our target was 55 000 rooms, of which we have 40 000 contracted and a number of initiatives in the pipeline.  However, this does not include contracting private homes, (a claim) recently reported in the media.”

Many guest house and smaller hotel owners are selling their rooms directly to soccer fans, and are not utilising MATCH, due to the stringent booking guidelines imposed by MATCH on its contracted accommodation suppliers, calling the shots as to the cancellation policy, deposit and final payments, and the commission of 30 % it takes on top of the rate charged by the establishments.

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

Two celebrities, David Hasselhoff and Orlando Bloom, have been spotted in Camps Bay in the past two days, reports the Life is Savage blogsite.

Orlando Bloom was spotted at Cafe Caprice, one of Camps Bay’s hottest spots, on Sunday, while David Hasselhoff was spotted joining a game of volleyball in a red swimsuit on Camps Bay beach yesterday.   The weekend winter weather has been summer-like at about 26 C.

Camps Bay is one of the most desirable locations for tourists to stay in Cape Town - it has beautiful views, a selection of 25 restaurants, two hotels and a collection of top guest houses and B & B’s, and is 10 minutes to town and 15 minutes to the V & A Waterfront.

Photographs of both stars can be seen at http://mcsavage.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/orlandos-bloom-seen-caprice/

Whale Cottage Portfolio :  www.whalecottage.com

The IPL Championships were moved from India to South Africa in April, as the Indian elections in May were a threat to cricket players participating in the cricket tournament.  

The cricket championship was billed as the saving grace to prevent South Africa from sliding into a recession, due to the vast sums of money it would generate for the economy.

Rugby hero Francois Pienaar was charged with the marketing of the event - did he not have a day-job at FNB in Cape Town?   His marketing budget is said to have been R 150 million!  

One wonders where the billions went to, as they do not appear to have benefited the small accommodation sector in Cape Town,  if the guest houses in Camps Bay are anything to go by.  The Cape Town matches were played late in April, and in the ten day period not one Camps Bay guest house had a booking from an IPL cricket supporter.   Talk of the town was that the cricketers and their fans had received a special deal at the One&Only Cape Town in the V & A Waterfront.

During the time of the IPL championships, few Indians were visible in Cape Town.  A busload were seen leaving the Vintage India restaurant in the Gardens’ Centre, and in April a smallish party was seen having lunch at Salt restaurant in the Ambassador Hotel.

The IPL ended off with a kitsch Miss Bollywood IPL South Africa competition, broadcast live on M-Net last Monday.  Presenter Micheal Moll looked ill at ease and struggled over his words in hosting the show.   Ex-Miss Universe Michelle McLean and Francois Pienaar were included on the judging panel.

Last month The Franschhoek Month asked guest house owners and managers to provide feedback about the service levels of the restaurants in Franschhoek.   The outcome was that there are many good aspects about the service offered by the local restaurants, but criticisms were raised about the quality of service experienced by some accommodation establishments and their guests.  Guest houses fed back that they receive little acknowledgement for the business that they send to the restaurants.

We asked all the restaurants in the village to answer to the compliments and complaints that the guest houses raised, and the full article was sent to them.   In fact, 6 weeks ago every restaurant was asked to supply information to the topic, and a paltry three restaurants responded.   Two weeks ago they were requested to respond again, and follow up calls were made to many restaurants.   Calls were not all returned, and responses ranged from “we are so busy”, “if we had 5 minutes to spare, we would spend it on other priorities” and “we are so busy preparing for Topsi’s function”.   Once again, only three restaurants replied.

Can the restaurants be serious?   Can they have that little interest about a topic that should be of concern to every tourism player in our Valley?   We are known as the Gourmet Capital of the country – it is not only the food quality, but the service quality too that makes a restaurant outstanding.  

We salute those restaurants that did take the time and trouble to provide input to this article.  They reflect a care and interest in their customers which the silent ones do not appear to.

One of the newest restaurants is the Italian Allora.  Philip Aplas, the locally based owner, and co-owner of three other Allora restaurants in Johannesburg, is refreshing in his relationship building, and understated way in which he is building his business in Franschhoek.    He says:”We are grateful for every guest sent to us. We are having a dinner on the 4th of May to thank the guest houses that supported us during the season.    We are launching our Allora Miles program, to thank the guest houses that send business to us.”   The reward program will award miles for reservations made, and this will qualify the holders of the Allora cards to receive gift vouchers, and a variety of other prizes, depending on the number of miles they have ‘clocked’ up in referring business to Allora.

Haute Cabriere has been outstanding at recognizing the value of the relationship between itself and the accommodation establishments in the Valley, and hosts the establishments just before the start of the new summer season.   “Certainly from our point of view we appreciate the synergy between the many Franschhoek restaurants and the numerous accommodation establishments in the Franschhoek Valley. It is undoubtedly one of our main focuses when gearing up for a new season, to make sure that we take the time to thank these establishments for their support and brief them on any changes or developments planned for the upcoming season. On any given day during season I would say that the restaurant is 90% booked up with guests that have been booked into the restaurant by their local hotels or guest houses and we are certainly appreciative of this fact” says Haute Cabriere’s Nicky Gordon.

Gordon would like to see a reciprocal communication relationship between her restaurant and accommodation establishments:  “I do feel though that restaurants should be kept informed, by the guest houses, on a regular basis, about feedback from their guests. It is most beneficial to us to hear what comments are being received (both good but especially negative if any) so that we get an opportunity to rectify or improve on certain areas. It is certainly no help to any restaurant for a guest houses owner to just to stop sending business without phoning to follow up and hearing the other side of the story.”

Burgundy has an agreement with some guesthouses and referrals are done between them on a regular basis.  They receive feedback from the establishments as to how the customers enjoyed their meal at the restaurant.

“We do not rely heavily on Guest Houses booking at Rickety Bridge Restaurant as we are only open during the day. Our walk in trade has been really good and I think that if we were to open at night, our marketing efforts would definitely have to be more accommodation based” says Cindy Miller, of the company that manages Rickety Bridge, a popular wine estate, wedding venue and restaurant just outside the village.

“What I can say about the relationship between restaurant and accommodation is that when we launched a Tapas menu at the beginning of the season and invited 20 guest houses over two days (15 – 20 per day) to experience our Tapas– only 3 arrived”, added Miller.

Guest houses and self-catering establishments send their guests to the Salmon Bar for “great coffee, excellent breakfast - freshly baked artisan breads are a big part of this, lunch all day and dinner from Wednesdays to Saturdays.  We are seen as a breakfast and lunch venue of choice, and have more competition at night. We are relatively new (1 year) and are still building relationships” says Judy Sendzil, the owner of the Salmon Bar.   The Salmon Bar invites guest house owners who send clients to them for dinner, to thank them for the business received.

Aplas understands how vital service is, and staff training is an important foundation of his Allora restaurants.   “When we train staff at Allora, we always stress that the three most dangerous factors in the restaurant industry are complacency, arrogance, and fatigue.  All need to be managed carefully.   As the newcomers to the village, we are doing all we can to improve our service and quality levels at all times, and hope people will continue to take notice.”

Rickety Bridge has seen huge staff movement in Franschhoek.  “I think many of the points raised by the (accommodation) establishments are valid.  I have found a vast difference in the caliber of staff in Franschhoek compared to my staff in town – it has taken us ages to build a team at Rickety Bridge and we had to “import” some waiters from Cape Town and house them on the Estate!   During this time our service suffered (as did some of our guests) and it was a very painful birth from a staffing point of view. “

What I have personally found is that good waiters do the rounds – I have seen good front of house staff move around from one good restaurant to another in the time that I have been involved in Franschhoek and since I do not believe in poaching waiters and waitresses, we have endured the long road and trained from scratch” added Miller.

Gordon also talks about the challenges of staff recruiting and training:  “With regards to standards of service, this is always a huge commitment and task for any restaurant owner. We all employ largely local staff and the time and challenge spent training is often underestimated. Most of the staff have never eaten in restaurants themselves and have never heard of some of the menu items on offer that they are expected to sell to foreign and local tourists.“

“At Haute Cabriere we offer a tasting for staff before each new menu comes out and also focus on pronunciation of the dishes and a general test on the menu before it is launched. This is an ongoing and arduous task. The fact that for most of the front line staff, English is at best a 2^nd language provides even more challenges in this regard, especially when they are faced with foreigners with different accents and sometimes limited English.  These are all issues restaurants in the bigger cities do not often have to contend with as there are thousands of university students seeking part time and casual work and they are spoilt for choice! “

Restaurant owners and managers are also customers of the other restaurants, and shared their views about the service levels they have experienced in the local restaurants.   One restaurant owner wrote:  ‘Many of the staff of the restaurants that I have dined at have an attitude that is rather poor considering that they are in the service industry.   Most restaurants are manager run and it shows.   The general attitude is that they will be full with or without you. Service levels certainly aren’t up to scratch at the moment.’

Are guests and accommodation establishments too critical of the local restaurants?   The owners of Burgundy restaurants think that this may be the case: “We should keep in mind that each establishment has a character of its own. We cannot be everything to everybody.  We can only do our very best to give the customer a good experience. I have heard guests and guesthouses alike giving criticism and tearing apart top award winning restaurants in Franschhoek many times. I fail to understand this”.

“I’ve often read that the credit crunch will bring about a new order, where true service will be paramount. It is maybe time for us in the service industry to remind ourselves of the meaning of the word ’service’, and thus what it means to serve another person.   Franschhoek in general is in need of an attitude adjustment towards its patrons. Tourists aren’t here because of Franschhoek businesses, Franschhoek businesses are here because of tourists.     A continued drop in standards will kill Franschhoek as a tourist destination, and will affect us all” says Aplas.

Burgundy’s owners would like to make a difference, “but we keep to ourselves and conduct our business quietly, ridicule and backstabbing took care of that.    We are willing to work with anyone who reaches out to us. It is my personal opinion that this stunning little town still suffers of a “small town mentality” and that this will hamper its efforts to overcome the difficult times ahead.”

Gordon sees it differently:  We are very fortunate in Franschhoek to have a set up that is ultimately beneficial to both the restaurants and accommodation establishments. The food and wine reputation of the valley without doubt brings in hordes of tourists to the area and fills up both the accommodation establishments and as a result the many restaurants. A win win situation for us all!

“Is it not possible to create a tourism awareness campaign that is aimed at all residents across the spectrum, to educate and remind us all on how important tourism is (directly or indirectly) to each one of us?” a most relevant question asked by and challenge coming from Allora, which we will ask Jenny Prinsloo of the Franschhoek Wine Valley Tourism Association to address.

We need to safeguard our priceless marketing point of difference in Franschhoek in being the Gourmet Capital of the country, an attribute that is unique and unprecedented for such a small village.   We do not own this attribute for the sake of it, and will have to work very hard to have more restaurants on the Top Ten Eat Out restaurant list at the end of the year.  It is not the food quality alone that is rated – service quality, from the call being taken for the booking, the service efficiency in the restaurant in serving the food and beverages, to the speedy presentation of the bill, is also an important criterion. 

The poor response to this vital topic from the local restaurateurs is most worrying, and reflects a degree of arrogance from our local restaurants, the exact arrogance that Aplas warns us about, combined with the small town politics Burgundy’s owners write about and have been experienced by many, that can lead to our downfall in Franschhoek as far as our gourmet reputation and therefore tourism future goes.

This article was written by Chris von Ulmenstein and first appeared in The Franschhoek Month, May 2009.