BnB SURE’s Dave Jack has this position he takes whenever he talks about the cost of insurance. South Africans, he’ll say, have been conned into believing that you can judge the effectiveness of a policy by its price. But if you think of policies as pots that are fed by everyone who’s bought into them, it’s easy to understand why it is that the less you put in, the less you’ll be able to take out when crunch time comes.

Cheap insurance has no choice: it’ll more often than not be forced to leave you up the proverbial creek when it comes to paying out on claims. And when you’re dealing with guests, that can cost you. Big time.

BnB SURE, though, has found a way of offsetting the cost of insurance without compromising the value of the cover.

The solution? The BnB SURE Club – which negotiates discounts from many of the suppliers that accommodation establishments use most often.

All policy holders automatically become members of the Club, and, used properly, membership can improve your bottom line – and you could land up saving more overall than you spend on your insurance.

It doesn’t cost anything more than a bit of effort, either: just quote your BnB SURE policy number when buying from any of the partner organisations, and it’ll quickly add up – because these are all suppliers that you’re used to using. Brochure Management services, for example, which offers a 10% discount; Miele Professional Appliances (between 10 and 15%); and AA Quality Assurance (10%). And you can even get discounts on membership of organisations like the NAA (and this works in reverse, too: as a member of the NAA, you get a price benefit on your premiums with BnB SURE).

The list goes on and on.

Beds, electrical fittings, flooring, computer software, couriers, training solutions, web site hosting, telephone usage, gas, linen, safety equipment… if you save between 10% and 20% on all of these things, it’ll more than cover the cost of your premiums. (And you can make money out of all of this, too – because you can earn commission when you book car hire on behalf of your guests…)

Also, the Club runs competitions from time to time. The owner a 4-star guest house in Rustenburg recently won a Sealy bed worth R6,800.00 – or the equivalent of 31% of her annual premium. And the HTC Tattoo (it’s a kind of cell phone that’s worth R 4,000.00) that the Club gave away in its Vodacom competition? The equivalent of 36% of the winner’s annual premium.

And why do I personally endorse BnB SURE? Because this is a company that really makes a an above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty contribution to tourism: besides the BnB SURE Club, and its BrokerFinder service  (BnB SURE insurance can only be bought via a broker), it’s also set up:

  • The BnB Seal of Insurance – which guarantees guests that their accommodation is adequately insured; and
  • BnB FINDER  – which helps potential guests to search for the best bed and breakfast accommodation establishments in South Africa by province, city, or business name, or by their positions relative to routes or places of interest.

Oh. And I truly believe that it provides the kind of insurance my clients need.

HEADS UP

  • Go here for more about the fourth annual Hospitality Investment Conference Africa (HICA – in Johannesburg from 31 October to 2 November 2010);
  • Go here for more about the 3rd annual E Tourism Africa Summit, a two-day Online Tourism Conference and Travel Technology Exhibition (Cape Town – 25 and 26 October)
  • And there’s a review of ‘Touring South Africa’s National Parks’ – a new book you really ought to have in your guest library – at the BarefootBookshop