My top 10 pointers for Soweto B&B operators
25. May, 2009
6 Comments
My desire is to see Soweto B&B owners getting their properties booked throughout the year. Notwithstanding the value of collaboration, they currently operate on handouts from sympathetic tour operators and it is about time they become independent and identify business opportunities on their own. By their virtue of operating within a busy tourism route, they should have guaranteed business throughout the year.
I’ve worked with Soweto B&B owners for over 5 years and made attempts to steer tourists in their way through my portal www.accommodate.co.za before I re-launched it into a booking engine powered travel portal. They struggle to secure bookings, thus propose the following pointers as a guide to any new entrant including the existing owners on how to get rid of the clutter and run a successful B&B:
1. Don’t personalize it
Just because you love clutter, doesn’t mean your guests will be impressed with a cluttered guest room. Remove all unnecessary decorations (yes, that family picture collection on the wall) and retain only what the guest will need.
2. Keep it clean – no foul smell
A stale guest room is a huge turn off. Nothing is as annoying to guests as entering a guest room with a bad smell. This signals to the guest that everything in the house is dirty. Ensure everything in the guest room is clean and don’t use a guest room as your store room when not occupied.
3. Form a cooperative – there is power in unity
Competition is healthy but not to the detriment of business. Infighting among B&B operators should stop as there is power in unity. There are numerous business opportunities that can be accessed as a cooperative – B&B cohesion. B&B owners should work as a team in an organized manner with regular meetings and full participation.
4. Invest money to make money
Freebies – handouts don’t work in business. The least you could do is a barter deal, instead of expecting free services without any contribution on your side. The very basis of being in business is to make money…the rest follows.
5. Buy PR services
Once you operate as a unit, then buy public relation services from a PR firm (if it doesn’t exist, then recruit a recent unemployed PR graduate to form a PR agency) within Soweto to handle all your PR activities and related matters. The PR agency will build your brand and ensure it grows through media coverage on all your campaigns/projects that you get involved with throughout the year. You’ll each contribute an agreed minimal monthly retainer for the PR services rendered.
Press releases on any developments taking place with each property would be prepared and distributed to the media. There is a lot to learn from other tourism networks like the Midlands Meander (inviting them to share their knowledge would be a great start), since they own a publication and is distributed in various platforms like CountryLife magazine. You could twist Sowetan/CityPress to do an annual focus on your network…though that would be easy once you’ve built a reputation.
6. Calendar events
A starting point…Hector Pieterson Museum is within a walking distance from your properties, which provides an opportunity to create a themed promotion for June 16. Nelson Mandela Museum is another crowd puller within your vicinity, creating a themed promotion around the old statesman birthday/release from prison etc, etc, etc would ensure guest book into your properties and you in turn sing the Madiba praises during their stay.
7. Network portal
An individual website per property would be shortsighted in my opinion as opposed to running an effective network portal which would profile all B&B’s. Getting this managed by the same outsourced PR agency would be ideal and avoid further expense, since the PR firm would update it frequently and maintain a mailing list. Each property would be profiled with high quality images (they do the selling) showcasing the facilities offered. Adding YouTube video clips per property would be an added bonus.
Each property profile would have a press zone where their respective press releases and coverage would be published. Each profiled property would have its own contact details so guests are able to directly make bookings.
8. Internet connection
Internet cafes are not the solution to running your property. Investing in a broadband internet connection is a must and affordable (fixed monthly rate) compared to a fluctuating dial-up connection. To secure bookings, potential guests expect a reply to their email enquiries within a couple of minutes/hours at the latest and not after a few days/weeks. Remember you’re competing for the same guest with loads of other properties, even outside Soweto.
9. Credit Card payment facility
International travellers don’t carry cash with them, therefore offering a credit card payment facility for your bookings is an investment. Unfortunately local banks offer a credit card merchant account which is very expensive and not a solution to B&B operators. There are various online based credit card payment providers and would highly recommend www.setcom.com which I use for my freight exchange portal www.bid2load.com and they charge a minimal fee compared to their competitors.
10. Booking engines
Booking engines like www.hostelworld.com, www.safarinow.com, www.booking.com, www.hotelscombined.com all offer another avenue to spread your wings in promoting your property to new markets that you would otherwise not have reached with your own resources. The beauty about them, it’s free of charge to join and only pay commission on all bookings generated through their websites.
Lastly, a budget conference venue within Orlando West accommodating 20/30 delegates would be ideal. Converting one of the B&B’s into such a facility would also compliment the lodging facilities as they is a need for a small and affordable business meeting venue within the tourism route. Serving of meals could be done by the existing eateries.
My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
Great article. Another online booking site that is specifically geared towards getting B&B’s bookable online is the whl.travel network. In the Gauteng area: Destination Johannesburg is the local site operator. Drop Zunaid and his team a line and get listed with them. They offer a very detailed website template that allows venues to market more than just beds, but the whole experience of staying in Soweto. It operates on a similar basis, no upfront costs, only a commission on business generated.