I am enjoying your newsletter every week. And I have also experienced the price gouging when trying to book accommodation for my clients.

And I have another suggestion for the winter holidays for South Africans. Come To Namibia! We have a lot to offer and we are right next door. Please have a look at
http://www.acacianamibia.com

Regards
Dietlind Dietterle

I am surprised at your surprise…and completely disagree with your “Huhs”.

We are part of the 5.94% hotels who responded.

(1) “4.88% said they were doing no advertising, but were just hoping for referrals”: totally sensible if you are not even sure you will still be around for the WC. Trust me: more than 4.88% of establishments are not going to make it and are being liquidated as we write. I am surprised so many continue to market themselves with funny cancellation policies but cash flow is king… that’s scary! Huh?

(2) “9.77% were charging up to 100% above their current peak season rates; 4.67% were charging up to 200% above their current peak season rates; and 2.97% were charging more than 200% above their current peak season rates”: and you’re surprised as most try to survive 2 disastrous years, tourism bodies who are so inefficient it is criminal and watching Match for the last 8 months has been a farce which culminated in the release of 30000 rooms in the Western Cape recently…Huh?

(3) “almost 5% of respondents said they were doing no advertising, but were just hoping for referrals”: well yes because it was the closest answer. As for many we hope to get the stragglers who will pay any price. Because we may not even be here and not sure we should be spending money with zero visibility on our future. Look at the reasons behind our “weird” behaviour. You may find it is perfectly reasonable based on what is happening. 9 of the 15 closest guesthouses in our valley are closed or for sale and this has happened in the last 6 months. What’s surprising? Huh?

(4) “And 64% said they were using an accommodation portal or their local tourism office website (and yes, I understand that they were probably using other channels, too, but…). Triple Huh? Who’s doing their own, you know, marketing?”: you try paying R20-30,000 a month for decent marketing when you are making losses and trying to avoid retrenching your entire staff… Triple Huh?

(5) “but that’s price gouging. Peak season is peak season, whether it happens every year in December, or once in a lifetime in June and July”: Sure. And what have the Government, FIFA, Tourism Bodies, Buses, Airlines done in terms of prices and price control? N.O.T.H.I.N.G.! but you expect we should do it. Well we thought exactly like you 8-9 months ago. Since then we think like the majority respondents: So we should accept 2007 prices +10% minus a 30% comm to Match…In your dreams. Huh? Huh?

(6) “So - given that we don’t know WHO’S coming, HOW MANY OF THEM are coming and (to a certain extent) even WHY they are coming (IF they’re coming) - under what circumstances did those apparently intelligent product owners make their (crazy) pricing decisions?”: Think about it: you can always come down on price but you certainly cannot go up. You won’t be able to get transport, tickets, restaurants, etc… all coordinated at the last minute so only the very wealthy who can afford to pay any price will make it. And tell me this is not the case with all the smaller STOs and smaller establishments? Trust me: no chance. Not for the smaller establishments.

(7) “damage that price gouging will do to us as a destination in the long term - all of this points to a serious lack of depth in management - wouldn’t you agree?”: Damage? Of course. It’s terrible and will hurt SA. But what do you think of a Council (City of Cape Town) who can impose new zoning conditions without asking the establishment, Provincial authorities who pass the buck although they made the final decision and tourism bodies like SATSA who simply do not give a hoot about small establishments and their problems (Thank G, we just stopped paying). In our case City of Cape Town simply took away 48% of our sales turnover since December 2009 when they finally notified us unofficially of a Provincial decision taken 1 July we had never heard of. We had to retrench the entire staff, are searching for some kind of survival mode and are too busy trying to make month end to even think of the WC. Huh? No… Quadruple huh?

(8) I read your newsletter religiously and appreciate it but I am really disappointed by the lack of research on this article and the boring repetition of all the platitudes recently written in the national press… and immediately taken up by the international media.