Tell it like it is. That’s the request from the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa, which has launched a new tool in an attempt to encourage consumers to spill the beans, for better or worse, on their experiences at graded accommodation establishments across the country.
The new tool — a consumer feedback survey that will allow people quickly and conveniently to report firsthand on good, or bad experiences — comes in the form of a vibrantly colourful “Postage Paid” postcard featuring an attractively simple questionnaire that will take guests only a few minutes to complete. It will be distributed to all graded establishments in South Africa and also be visibly displayed in other tourist high-traffic areas such as tourism information bureaus, airports, train stations, bus terminals and taxi ranks.
It is not the first time the council has asked for feedback from international and domestic travellers, but a comprehensive range of other feedback mechanisms already put in place have borne little fruit. Indeed, there seems to be a level of apathy among tourism consumers.
“The star grading system was designed to incorporate a consumer feedback mechanism [CFM],” explains the council’s executive director, Dr Salifou Siddo.
“Information received from [the] CFM is vital to monitor service levels and intelligently inform the re-grading process that takes place every 12 months.”
Siddo says that a call-in number and a web-based facility have been provided to encourage feedback but a sustained communication campaign using print media, radio, the Internet and plasma screens in airport terminals to create awareness of the CFM, has so far failed to elicit significant response.
“For some reason, people appear seemingly disinterested in making use of these facilities to report back on their experiences at accommodation establishments. Generally speaking, they tend to use the [council] as a higher body, almost like an ombudsman, consulting over serious problems and issues which management and operators of the establishments concerned have either been unable to deal with or have failed to address.”
But does this lack of feedback show that the management of tourism establishments and tour operators are dealing with problems?
“It’s hard to tell,” says Siddo. “There is a tendency, especially among South Africans, to not complain or raise issues for fear of rocking the boat.”
Siddo goes on to say that South Africans do not have a culture of complaining the way, say, Europeans do. He says it is a mindset that needs to be addressed, because a complaint is actually a positive thing in that it leads to improvement by illustrating shortcomings.
On the other hand, feedback does not necessarily have to be negative.
“We want the good news too. We want to hear when an establishment goes the extra mile or exceeds the parameters of its grading,” says Siddo.
Customers can comment on their experience by calling Tel: 0861 472 333 or via the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa website at www.tourismgrading. co.za