‘Available: Luxury house to rent for 2010 World Cup. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and pool. Starting at a daily rate of R15Â 000. Will take euros, dollars, pounds.”
Ads such as these are becoming a lot more commonplace in the run-up to 2010 as enterprising local property owners seek to lease out their homes to visiting football fans.
Rental services run by real estate companies such as Seeff Properties have also taken off, as have private listings on websites, putting fans directly in touch with homeowners.
According to Samuel Seeff, the company’s chairperson, the response to the offering has come from across the country and been ”very positive”. The majority of interested people have been those in their own houses, or who have a second house to lease.
Prices start at about R500 per bedroom per day and go up to as much as R5Â 000 a bedroom for a ”truly special property”, he says.
”The prices are also relative to the values of the underlying property if it were in a selling position.”
Some homeowners are considering throwing in additional services such as offering a domestic worker to take care of visitors, or the option to lease their vehicles for the duration of the visit.
The lucrative possibilities of renting during 2010 might well prompt owners who rent out property to shorten current or new leases, ensuring that their properties will be available for the event. But owners would have to weigh up the benefit of a full year’s fixed rental income against the money to be made over a short few weeks in 2010, says Seeff.
Owners of luxury properties in sought-after destinations such as Cape Town are already charging as much as R75Â 000 a night, the Cape Argus reported last week.
The World Cup rental market has started in part because of concerns that South Africa does not have sufficient room to house the expected 450Â 000 fans during June and July 2010, particularly in smaller host cities such as Bloemfontein.
But, according to South African Tourism’s Sugen Pillay, South Africa has enough rooms for 2010 — with more than 100Â 000 graded rooms available to visiting fans, there will be ample room.
Concerns about accommodation have also arisen because of reports of strife between Fifa’s accommodation booking agent, Match, and smaller accommodation providers. Match is still working to contract the total 55Â 000 rooms it needs.
Heather Hunter, the president of the National Accommodation Association (NAA), which represents smaller accommodation owners, says about half its members have opted out of contracting with Fifa through Match. Concerns were raised about the terms, such as the cancellation policy and the rates that Match offers providers.
Local accommodation providers have been critical of the company’s right to sell rooms to fans for a 30% mark-up on the contracted price. Fees for a provider signing on with Match are set at the 2007 room rate with a 16% allowance for inflation.
But according to Hunter this has been amended, allowing accommodation owners to use 2008 rates with the additional 16%, provided they are not too exorbitant.
Accommodation owners are also concerned about the ”attrition schedule”, which allows Match to pull out of bookings under certain circumstances — for instance, it reserves the right to cancel up to 15% of the bookings it has made with the establishment after April 10 2010, provided it gives 30 days’ written notice.
Accommodation providers that sign on with Match also need to become graded within a year of signing on.
Although the contract was negotiated with input from local bodies such as the NAA, Hunter says many members believe they can do better going it alone.
Paul Labuschagne, the owner of Lagai Roi lodge in Mooi Nooi, close to Rustenburg, Pretoria and Johannesburg, is marketing his accommodation directly overseas.
”The fact that there is no guaranteed occupancy is a concern,” he says of going through Match.
”There is a recession on and it is particularly severe in the United States and Europe, so there may be fewer people coming than expected.”
But Hunter, also a guesthouse owner, says that Match offers a full package to fans, including transport and transfers to and from the airport, which smaller operators may have trouble providing.
The risk of over-pricing accommodation is a big one, she says, and goes against the spirit of the event. It also means that people might not stay as long as they intended and might not return if prices are too high.
Such concerns from accommodation owners have left Match short of the reported 15Â 000 rooms it still needs.
”Negotiations between Match and accommodation owners have not gone as smoothly as everyone would have liked,” says Pillay. He is aware of the burgeoning business of letting out homes to visiting fans.
”This is a risky business, although this may be a business decision and homeowners may be driven by the possibility of better returns,” he says.
But the homeowner is not protected from unruly fans staying over and fans are not assured of decent accommodation, he says. ”We will continue promoting graded facilities.”
Property owner Keith Spicer is letting furnished Sandton flats for 2010 that each sleep four people for $500 a day, what he determined a ”reasonable price” during the event.
He has not had any inquiries yet but is confident this will change as 2010 draws near. He told the Mail & Guardian that he had considered signing on with Fifa, but the requirement to be graded made little sense because he simply rents furnished apartments.
Fifa did not respond to requests for comment.
