Commenting on the fact that Match, Fifa's accommodation agent, has dumped another 300 000 bed nights on the market, following on a previous 450 000 bed nights being released plus bed nights in Mauritius and neighbouring countries, and that Match now holds 600 000 of the 1.9 million bed nights it originally reserved for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, FEDHASA Cape Acting Chairperson Rey Franco comments thus: "It is obviously disappointing and yet we are offered a golden opportunity for the hospitality industry to charge the most reasonable rates we are able to charge, to offer a value-for-money 2010 Fifa World Cup, given that we are a long haul destination with expensive flights, albeit now at a reduced rate, which we commend."

Franco supports FEDHASA National CEO Brett Dungan's suggestion that the industry consider marketing their products through the website www.rooms4u.travel - a website set up with the support of the Department of Tourism as a counter to inflated accommodation rates.

"Hospitality industry leaders made a point of insisting that original contractual release dates with Match be brought forward to prevent hotels standing empty during the 2010 Fifa World Cup as occurred in Germany in 2006. While not every available bed night still retained by Match may be used every night of the tournament, it will be paid for and we must note that this accommodation is mostly in the host cities in three, four and five star hotels situated close to the stadiums," Franco continues.

"As for those who underwent extensive renovations planning ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, while our office has not been fielding dozens of calls in this regard, there would of course be disappointment that indeed the numbers expected for the 2010 Fifa World Cup are less than forecasted. It is a pity that high costs were incurred such as renovation costs and the best that such establishments can now do, if bookings have been less than expected in their particular instance, is to ensure their staff are brilliantly trained and that they offer exceptional service and value for money in an attempt to recover some of these costs," Franco notes.

He says: "Let us not beat about the bush that Cape Town's performance over this past summer season in the light of the economic recession has been less than satisfactory. But as always with challenges, for those who think out of the box and offer creative value-for-money packages matched with excellent service, challenges in fact present much opportunity to lure in visitors.

At the moment, there is a sense of scaling down of accommodation for June and July but this in absolutely no way is the final say on the matter and it would be premature to comment ahead of June and July, especially given that a great number of hospitality establishments have been working hard behind the scenes with their own back-up plans set to roll out.

Franco comments that with regards to pricing in the lead up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup, he notes that according to Nic Thorncote, a consultant at Grant Thornton Strategic Solutions, their study recently completed for the National Department of Tourism revealed the following about the rates of all accommodation establishments (B&Bs, Guest Houses, etcetera included) in Cape Town and the Western Cape during the World Cup period: Cape Town has a surprisingly low percentage of operators charging a price premium of more than 50%. This is attributed to a number of occurrences that have influenced the local market of late, including the large supply of new hotel rooms that have recently opened. The rates that hotels are charging for the World Cup period are described as follows: the Premium column represents the percentage mark-up on normal (non-World Cup) high season rates in 2010. The percentage of establishments column represents the percentage of all establishments that are charging rates that fall into the corresponding Premium (mark-up) bracket. The rates considered are the rates charged by the establishments themselves and exclude any mark-ups by tour operators, etcetera."  

Premium	% Of Establishments
0%	13%
0%	44%
1-25%	20%
26-50%	9%
51-75%	5%
76-100%	4%
100%	4%
0%	13%
0%	44%
1%-25%	20%
26%-50%	9%
51-75%	5%
76-100%	4%
100%	4%