Sophisticated treats
03. Jun, 2009
2 Comments
Boerewors. Biltong. Rugby. Cricket. It’s all “lekker”! Lekker (pronounced lacquer) is a staple must in South African vocabulary. The word sums up positive affirmations perfectly and needs no expansion. Lekker SA is a website that does the same, and would solve your search for accommodation in a heartbeat. The site offers visitors a central space to search a plethora of high-end hotel options countrywide.
Guests can choose regions to start with by navigating through the clearly marked options down the left hand side and see intro’s and payoff lines to hotels in the main section. Once interested and having selected any one in particular, readers are presented with extended information, maps, room features and the clincher – pictures.
The site is informative, clean and offers more choice than you will know what to do with.
Relevant banner ads on the left offer visitors options on car hire, and a rather odd looking button takes you to an interactive blog for the seeking-and-sharing of information with other readers – from how to find designer iPod Nano cases to tips on using a digital camera. Vast, but there’s always someone looking for random facts.
The site presents options in clearly marked tabs and offers readers information on rates, facilities, rooms and points of interest for each establishment. The only element I’m not wild about is the header. I think it belies the genuineness of the site and might not be the best way to attract people and make them want to stay. Such an elegant treatment of the information and pictures deserves a face to match. Whoever said that people don’t judge a book by its cover was lying. Trust me.
A site that got this so right is Urban Hip Hotels, with the intention to redefine accommodation and bring a “completely modern styling to the African continent”. Their site certainly lives up to that target and looks like something you want to wade through. Tastefully designed and easy to navigate, leaving the site without booking a room is no easy feat.
The group offers apartment style accommodation in the main hubs (including Port Elizabeth) and assures you of the kind of comfort and space you create in your own home – while away from home.
Check out rates, conferencing facilities and significant specials and promotions including draw-card packages for renowned events like the J&B Met, the Two Oceans and the Argus. Planting a seed for an idea with a surfer is definitely going to lead to more business, and with their Gauteng Grand Prix, romantic getaways or Christmas specials, Urban Hip Hotels is right on the money. And on the subject of money – their rates are pretty inspiring.
The conferencing section cleverly cross-markets their other venues for comparative purposes, always offering you all the information you need before you even know you wanted to know it.
Contact numbers for every hotel in their group can be found, or visitors could simply fill in the query form and they will get back to you.
The site markets itself toward a trendy client-set and is a sophisticated treat to browse. I don’t doubt for one second that everything about this group is quality rich and service oriented – without having entered any of their establishments. I just get that feeling from their site which is therefore paying a considerable portion of their PR budget – and that’s a good thing!
To me, a websites that maintains our attention, answers our questions and provides valuable and relevant information is a successful website. Pretty straightforward stuff, but not everyone gets it right. The Urban Hip Hotels site does and proves that the people at JD Consulting are obviously very good at what they do.
Next week: the quest for what to do when and where in the mother city, and its rival Gauteng, solved by 48Hours and JHB Live. Or is it?
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 
keep them coming!.. x
Dylan you back and the way in which you word ones emotions is angelic to say the least.
After reading your post I finally feel the tinge of 2010? Shouldnt I be feeling it already? Well, no because I suppose its not me who is putting up hotels, car rentals, and websites to attract “aliens” to our country. But your post has made me realise there is activity beyond my day to day job and its the activity of 2010!
nice to have you back! Were you on holiday travelling checking out all the sites only to come back and write about them?