This Tourism Week. 13 April 2010

Serving The Tourism Industry. No, Really Serving The Tourism Industry

You have to wonder about some people and some companies. They think that over-promising and under-delivering is quite OK. (Like when the ads say “Free on-board meals!” and the hostess – er, sorry, the Cabin Attendant – says “Yewwanna pakkerrra peeenuts?”)

But every now and then you get the exception to the rule – and, hooooh boy, it’s refreshing when you do.

I suppose it’s true that the most expensive thing you can buy is cheap insurance. (The 19th century English art critic and social thinker John Ruskin put it best when he said: “There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man’s lawful prey.”)

That’s why trawling the net for insurance must be a bit like hanging your hand in a bucket of piranhas. And in tourism, which requires specialised insurance indeed, a fully packed bucket of very hungry piranhas. Starving piranhas. Starving piranhas with legal degrees…

But, even if you have what you think is enough insurance, you very often don’t realise that enough isn’t really enough until claim time – when you find the cover you thought you had isn’t there.

And suddenly your cheap insurance becomes very expensive.

But, mindful of the advice in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (“Don’t Panic”), there is one company in South Africa that’s doing remarkable things for the tourism industry – things that go way beyond insurance, and that (choke! gasp! this’ll be the death of capitalism as we know it!) can’t be classified as profit centres.

Ladies and Gents: BnB SURE.
BnB SURE’S philosophy is succinctly stated in its pay-off line (‘More Than Just Insurance’) – and in case you’re thinking that I’m hitting you with a whole make-up case worth of PR puffery, lemme assure you that I truly believe what I say when I say that this is one company that actually does live up to its promise.

What impresses me, here, is the fact that many of BnB SURE’S services are offered free of charge to anyone who wants them. Not just to the company’s policy holders (or ‘Tourism Ambassadors’ as they like to call them). And some of these services – like the BnB Finder,  and the My Bed and Breakfast site – www.mybedandbreakfast (with invaluable guidance and resources for existing and prospective B&B owners) – are really useful, too.

Useful and free.

Besides selling insurance that’s designed specifically for the accommodation sector, BnB SURE  offers the following services to both the demand and supply sides of the industry – which means (because sometimes even I need to translate my own jargon for myself) both the owners and actual and potential guests of the accommodation establishments that the company insures:

  • BnB Finder – www.bnbfinder.co.za – is a free reservation website on which all policyholders are listed. So guests can find you. And book on line with you. Easily.
  • The BnB SURE Seal Of Insurance assures guests that your establishment carries the kind of insurance that will protect them when they need it (this is the only service of its sort in South Africa).
  • The  BnB Find-a-Car service enables you, as a guesthouse owner, to arrange rentals for your guests – and earn your deserved commission in the process. (It’s 10%, by the way. And, as BnB SURE’S Dave Jack said: “There has been a case where a commission on car hire actually exceeded the policy holder’s monthly premium. So effectively – courtesy of BnB SURE – there was nothing to pay that month, although full cover remained always still in place.”)
  • BnB Finder Travel (with general accommodation listed here,  and specials and packages listed here)  helps guests to book with the right accommodation establishments – through the services of travel agencies.
  • The BnB SURE Club arranges discounts on many of the goods and services that you as an accommodation provider regularly need to buy (translation: The BnB SURE Club saves you bucks on your purchasing). So, for example, you can buy things like generators at reduced prices – a bonus when you consider that electricity supply is expected to come under pressure this June and July, and, indeed, right through the coming winter…  and then there are discounts on subscriptions to the National Accommodation Association (NAA), from suppliers of linen, from suppliers of internationally recognised emergency evacuation signage – the list goes on and on. All of which makes for a wonderful way of saving money without having to slash your rates. (Which, in turn, could force you to reduce the amount of insurance cover you carry. Which would be kind of self-defeating, wouldn’t you say?)
  • My Bed And Breakfast – as I’ve said – is a site that provides information to existing and prospective establishment owners; and
  • The Broker Finder site will help you to find an – um – guess what? – broker in your area (actually, I’m being snarky, because many people do need this service – especially as BnB SURE does no direct selling. Everything goes through a broker. And believe me, having recently had really good and really bad experiences with insurance – it makes sense to have a broker on your side).

BnB SURE will shortly also be offering a discounted self-monitoring Risk Management Analysis that will comply with the newly revised Companies Act. (And that’s a  requirement with which every business in this country – irrespective of size – has to comply.)

Finally, BnB SURE works on a simple, workable 10-Point Service Promise to its policyholders and brokers. And, judging by the number of my clients and friends who are happy to be clients of BnB SURE – it’s obviously a Service Promise that works.

Like I said, this is one company that’s making a difference. No, really making a difference.

If only there were more of its kind…

Now go away on holiday. It’s in the economy’s best interests.