2010: hotels taking it in stride

Cape Town - A lot of people underestimate South Africans and what they are capable of doing. People also overestimate the difficulties involved in supplying accommodation and entertainment for the fans arriving in 2010 for the soccer World Cup.

Andrew Hubbard, chief executive of the Queensgate hotel and leisure company (QHL), comfortably reckons that looking after the World Cup visitors will not be too difficult.

"We entertain and accommodate 10 million people per annum," he said in an interview on Wednesday at his company's Radisson hotel in Sea Point, Cape Town. "The World Cup is taking place out of season. We will be having another season, out of season."

He denied he was being complacent about it, saying the industry has to be prepared, but he insisted: "We have the ability to produce a classy product."

He admitted that it wouldn't be as smooth as it was in Germany, "but it is African, and people expect that".

Hubbard, whose company was listed this year (really rotten timing), warns against the temptation to profiteer. "We need to be very careful," he said, "though of course we are going to charge a premium. You'll probably see about double the rack rate. But there is a limit to it."

Looking after clients

The main opportunity provided by the World Cup will be not to make an instant killing, but to build goodwill for the future. "It's about winning people over for a long time, winning people's hearts and giving them a good experience.

"If you send people away with a sour feeling having been ripped off, I don't think they'll come back again."

He is confident however that the South African industry does understand that the World Cup is a wonderful platform to promote the country for the future.

And because there may well be a shortage of beds in some cities, Hubbard says he is planning to look after his long-term clients - those tour operators who have been loyal to his company over the years.

"We are not going to say to them: 'Although you've been loyal to us for years, we are not giving you rooms because we are getting four times the rate elsewhere.' We are using our rooms as a tool to build long-term relations."

He said that there is a lot of panic among tour operators who also see the World Cup as an opportunity to make some money, and though he is prepared to be nice to those who have supported his company in the past, there is no guarantee that he can devise that will ensure that in return they will support it in the future. "That is a risk we take," he said.

- I-Net Bridge