Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Turn your house into a B&B

7 min read

Leswill-Sam Lewis and his sister Connie Solomons recently opened their own bed and breakfast (B&B), Golden Feathers Lodge, in Rondebosch East, Cape Town. The accommodation is aimed at the upper end of the market, which Lewis is able to maintain because he has years of experience working in five-star hotels in Gauteng.

Getting started

Solomons bought a run-down home and renovated it to a high standard with luxurious finishes. By using the house as collateral she was able to raise funds to convert it. Although she has subsequently bought another home, Lewis lives on the premises as the manager and Solomons comes in every day to prepare breakfast and to do the shopping. They bought an off-the-shelf company and registered Golden Feathers Lodge as its trading name. Each partner put down a lump sum and the rest was raised through a house bond. They hired an accountant to do their books and have applied for VAT registration — a process that takes a while.

Applying to the council

According to Lewis the Cape Town council is strict and demands high standards before awarding re-zoning rights. Lewis says when registering your B&B there are several things the council will look for:

  • Neighbours’ permission. Apart from getting permission to run a B&B, the neighbours also had to consent to the fact that the B&B was a double storey and guests could, therefore, look into their back yards.
  • Parking. The council wants to know that you have sufficient parking for the number of guest rooms.
  • The council will inspect your kitchen, scullery and rooms to ensure they meet certain standards and have enough plug points and ventilation. It also checks that your electricity meets industry standards.
  • The council prefers the owner to live on the premises.
  • The council asks for your rules, which must include a rule on smoking. According to Lewis, the council prefers non-smoking rooms with a special allocation for a smoking area.

    • Lewis’s experience was very positive and he found the council helpful and efficient.

    Applying for assistance

    Lewis and Solomons approached the Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP), funded and managed by the Business Trust, which is an organisation run as a partnership between business and the government to stimulate job creation and capacity building in South Africa.

    The TEP provided advice as well as financial assistance for all marketing material and promotions. “They were extremely helpful and provided some good advice. They met with me two days after I contacted them,” says Lewis.

    To receive assistance from the TEP your business needs to be a small medium micro enterprise (SMME). Seventy five percent of the number of transactions concluded under the TEP must be with historically disadvantaged enterprises and the third criterion to qualify is whether the potential opportunity or transaction can be considered part of the tourism economy.

    When an SMME contacts the TEP a visit by a business development consultant is scheduled. A site visit is conducted where the consultant meets with senior management and verifies the information provided on the registration form. The consultant and client will then jointly identify ways of addressing constraints to growth.

    This might involve the use of an independent fee-charging service provider. In such a case the TEP will make use of the Training and Technical Assistance Fund on a cost-sharing basis with the enterprise. Under specific circumstances the TEP can provide up to 50% of the cost of the activity and the SMME is expected to make up the balance. In Lewis’s case they agreed to assist with marketing initiatives.

    Once the business was up and running, Lewis applied to the Department of Trade and Industry for additional funding. The department has a programme that assists small businesses by providing a refund on your investment. Although you have to initially put in the capital, once you have established the business and have a business plan you can submit the total cost of your investment to the department and it will refund a portion of the start-up costs.

    With this money Lewis and Solomons will build a bar area with a Jacuzzi and install air-conditioning in the rooms. The department’s project falls under its subsidiary enterprise organisations and is called the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Programme. To qualify you have to have an SMME and have hard assets such as buildings, furniture or vehicles.

    The minimum or maximum the programme will grant depends on the value of your assets. The grant is paid out over 36 months as long as you meet your performance objectives. To qualify you must submit your application within 180 days of starting the business. However, it is important to note that the programme is coming to an end in December and applications have to be in by then.

    Getting graded

    Lewis believes that obtaining a tourism grading is extremely important, as is registering with the various tourism boards. Lewis has applied to the AA Grading Council, South African Tourist Board and the Grading Council of South Africa. “These ratings give your customers peace of mind when making a booking and, in addition, they list you in their marketing material and websites, which gives you additional exposure. It is a fairly expensive process, but I believe it is worth it.”

    Lewis’s tips

  • Pay attention to the small things. In Cape Town especially, having torches in the rooms is important. A nice bath foam or shower gel adds a personal touch, as do monogrammed towels and gowns.
  • Remember that a B&B is not a hotel. It must feel personal and relaxed, a home away from home.
  • Offer a driving service. In South Africa public transport is a nightmare so Lewis arranges to collect his visitors from the airport as well as drop them at shopping centres.
  • Getting your neighbours’ permission is very important, so you have to have a strategy to win them over. In his neighbourhood there was a great deal of curiosity about the new renovations so Lewis invited the neighbours around for a “showing” and prepared a special buffet for tea. Then he asked them for permission to run the guest house and got them to sign letters of agreement.
  • When marketing your B&B you need to remember that you are one of thousands that are approaching travel agents. Try to make yourself stand out, go and visit them personally, bring flowers or a cake occasionally. It is also important to have an open day where all the agents come to see your place so that they are confident in recommending it to customers.
  • Keep up to date with the events in the area. For example with the Cape Argus Cycle Tour, Lewis contacted event managers to get his B&B on their list. Being rated with the various tourism boards gave him the edge. There was also a recent mining conference in Cape Town and Lewis contacted the major stockbrokers and companies in Johannesburg that would be sending delegates — his B&B was booked out by a whole group.
  • Have a big opening ceremony where you invite the key people, usually personal secretaries and human-resource managers from the companies near you. They often have staff or customers coming to their offices for a few days.
  • Live on the premises. You need to be there when your guests return in the evenings or if there is a problem during the night.
  • Don’t accept cheques. In his experience at five-star hotels, Lewis saw his fair share of fraudulent cheques. It is also important to take the credit card details of the visitors when they arrive in the unlikely, but real, event that they leave without paying.
  • Word of mouth is your best marketing tool.

    • Contacts

    Tourism Enterprise Programme

    Call Wandile Lukuzo on Tel: (011) 804 5750 or e-mail wandile.lukuzo@eciafrica.com

    Small and Medium Enterprise Development Programme at the Department of Trade and Industry

    Tel: 0861 843 384 and ask for enterprise organisations. E-mail: smedp@thedti.gov.za

    Golden Feathers

    Leswill-Sam Lewis Tel: (021) 696 8972 or e-mail info@goldenfeatherslodge