The 2003 Hotel Industry Benchmark Survey conducted by Deloitte pointed to an average hotel-room rate in South Africa (R440 a night). But what is average? Taking the air-conditioned, en-suite luxury end of the market as five-star and camping in the veld with a cooler box and long-drop as one-star, average should equate to three-star, and a reasonably comfortable, double en-suite room close to amenities. But it is hard to find that for R440 a night — at least it is in Jo’burg.
I checked out the website www. cheapaccommodation.com for three-star hotels in the city. What I found was a list of fair-to-middling hotels such as the Don Suites at Johannesburg International airport, quoted at a rate of R955 a night. The Don Suites at Eastgate, on the other hand, were about R930 and for the Don Suites IV in Sandton, a whopping R1 160.
Perhaps the Don Suites are exceptional as three-star goes. What about the Holiday Inn Garden Court? Their Sandton hotel rooms are advertised at R892. For Sandton City add on another R200. Milpark is cheaper, at R726. But still nowhere near the Deloitte average of R470.
In fact, the only three-star hotel cheaper than R692 a night on the site was the Park Plaza near Sandton City at R359. Protea Hotels came in somewhere near the mark with the Parktonian in Braamfontein, rated four-star, whose prices started at the R475 a night mark. And the Protea Hotel Gold Reef City fared well with prices from R582.
Cape Town, surprisingly, fared better, with three-star establishments like the Tudor Hotel in Greenmarket Square quoting room rates from R575. Breakwater Lodge on the V&A Waterfront came in at R590 and the Holiday Inn Garden Court Eastern Boulevard at about R600). All of the above included a full English breakfast.
The problem is that traditionally, the domestic traveller doesn’t stay in places like the aforementioned hotels, which remain more the realm of the local and international business traveller.
Indeed, these are the sort of hotels you stay in when you visit Europe or the US, not at home. And this is where the survey really falls down. It’s just not possible to measure the South African domestic market against the trends in Europe and the US. While we may be competitive globally, our local traveller does not use the likes of the Holiday Inn Garden Court at Sandton City as a holiday hotel.
Our equivalent of a holiday hotel is an entirely different animal. A large portion of the population uses resort-type establishments for holidays. Typical of this category are the Wild Coast Sun (R1 350 a night for a garden facing twin room), or the Umhlanga Sands (R1 420 a night bed and breakfast) — both hotels in traditional holiday areas catering for families with a bit of something for everyone.
An equally large section of our domestic market go caravanning and camping. This sector does not appear to have featured in the survey. The tendency is to stay as cheap as possible and spend more on doing things each day — eating out, sightseeing or adventure activities. Or opt for a much more inclusive package, paid for upfront, and relax knowing that any additional expenditure is going to be on activities.
Let me leave you with the following observation: Seven nights in Mauritius in a four-star resort, flights included, with breakfast and dinner daily, free non-motorised watersports and waterskiing, and transfers from the airport can still be had for R 7 999 a person (that’s R1 142 a person, per night, including a portion for the flights) sharing a standard, double room.
According to its 2004 rack rate, seven nights at the Sun City Hotel and Casino in a standard room is R13 055, or R1 865 a night. This price is for the room only and does not include breakfast. For two adults sharing that’s R932,50 each a night without the cost of getting there and back, breakfast and dinner each day, and watersports apart from swimming.