Pretoria - Fifa is apparently no longer that concerned about accommodation in South Africa during the World Cup soccer tournament later this year.

Match, Fifa's accommodation agent, has already relinquished more than 450 000 of the bed nights it initially reserved to local hotels and guest houses.

Industry leaders claim that it's better to receive this news as soon as possible, giving owners the opportunity to advertise their rooms on the open market.

Vivienne Bervoets, Match's senior accommodation manager, told Sake24.com that 314 000 bed nights (in 6 883 rooms) had been returned to the market on December 11. At that point Match had more than 1.7m bed nights reserved.

The release of bed nights, according to Bervoets, came after the final draw, which gave greater clarity about each team's match venues and dates.

She says if Match had, for instance, foreseen from the schedule that it would need little accommodation in Polokwane over the last three weeks, it would have relinquished these rooms.

Brett Dungan, chief executive of the Federated Hospitality Association (Fedhasa), says it is a pity that the rooms had to be freed up, but everyone knew they might be - as in the case of any international conference. Match's communication with hotels has been excellent, he believes, and these rooms can now be marketed elsewhere.

On January 8 a further 140 000 bed nights (in 3 642 rooms) were released to timeshare owners.

Bervoets says timeshare is difficult to market because the concept is unfamiliar to foreigners.

In terms of the agreements with owners, Match has paid no cancellation fees. The contracts contain a schedule of dates on which rooms that the organisation fails to sublet can be returned to the market.

According to Bervoets the next release date is April 10, after which cancellation fees become payable and, the closer the tournament comes, the bigger the cancellation fee payable.

Kobus van Rensburg, director of African Space, which facilitated the letting of almost 199 000 bed nights to Match, expressed his disappointment at the release of the rooms.

He says the agreement with Match had been entered into in 2008 but accredited tour operators were properly briefed about the product only at a seminar on December 7 last year, following the final draw.

By the end of December, according to the agreement, Match was to have paid about R163m, representing the 2010 levies for the units concerned.

The timeshare resorts gave Match extension to January 15, but on January 8 Fifa's agent announced that it found the risk too great, and relinquished the rooms.

The total value of the bookings, including levies, owners' income and Match's commission, would have amounted to about R635m.

According to Van Rensburg the relationship between African Space and its partners and Match remains good.

The door is open should Match require the units at a later stage, and Match will allow African Space to work directly with its accredited tour operators and use the Fifa.com web page for marketing.

African Space will now also split each of the seven-day timeshare units into more flexible three- and four-day slots.

- Sake24.com

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