Interview with Clive Hubbard, SABookOnline.com founder
24. Aug, 2009
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Tell us about yourself, when were you born and where are you based?
Born in Zimbabwe, spent most of my youth in South Africa, followed by 8 years in London and I am now based in Sydney, Australia.
What is your business all about and what inspired it?
As a South Africa establishment owner with technology capability I realised the need in the market for an online offering which concentrated solely on providing independent quality graded establishments with a mechanism to market to and provide accommodation booking services to guests in a cost effective and independent manner.
What were you doing before launching your business and when was it launched?
I am an entrepreneur so I own or owned at the time a number of companies ranging from software development capability to a coffee bar/restaurant.
How did you know there is a market for your business?
Being an establishment owner I was able to gauge the online market interest from guests and how other competitors were servicing it for establishments.
What planning did you engage before launching?
A considerable amount of preplanning around cost of marketing versus cost of development the systems and infrastructure and assessing this against the time period we expected to take to become a recognized player in the market place.
Clive Hubbard, SABookOnline.com founder
SABookOnline.com homepage screen shot
How are booking engines impacting on your business model?
We are in essence a booking engine, with systems for the establishments to cover booking and marketing, so the impact in our case is positive.
How many people do you employ?
We have a small physical footprint of between 6-10 staff depending on seasonal load in South Africa.
How many portals do you own, besides SABookOnline.com?
We also own TravelerBookOnline.
How important is Search Engine Optimization to your business?
Moderately, we find that paid keyword advertising is far more important these days given the changes Google and its competitors have been introducing to how much free information is shown from search engines on the 1st page of a result.
I agree with Clive on paid keywords (safe to say, I discovered his website from a Google advert, while searching for something else).
Which sectors of the tourism industry do you feel still presents untapped business opportunities?
There are always opportunities in the market, I feel the specialist niche market areas around green, social and adventure still have growth capability.
Do you use social media in your business?
Yes, but it forms a minor part of the business.
In your opinion do tourism blogs add any value to the industry?
Yes, but only if from credible sources and are also seen to be independent and moderated.
How can you change a lowly rated domain name, into a premium domain?
I am not sure I understand the question; all I can say is that the online world of business has very similar dynamics to the growth of traditional business in the real world, so you have to focus heavily on marketing, customer service and having a service offering people need to become a premium player.
What is your opinion of ETEYA, does the industry benefit from it?
I have not followed it much so difficult to pass an opinion.
What are your short and long-term business plans?
Consolidate our growth in the South African market and continue our organically growth internationally.
Does your business participate on the Sho’t Left campaign?
No.
How do you keep abreast of industry news on a daily basis?
A variety of sources in South Africa and from key international locations.
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 
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