Blog - Cape Town Holiday Accommodation - Places to Stay in South Africa

Here’s a few facts and figures from Fifa.com regarding the first phase of ticket sales for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

• 1,862,319 tickets requested from 205 countries
• 555,871 tickets allocated to lucky winners in first ballot phase
• 245,948 tickets allocated to South African citizens (44%)
• Other top countries allocated were: USA 69,208, UK 39,421, Germany 29,330
• Most popular team was England with 228,822 team-follow requests (ie tickets for all England games) with only 8,895 tickets available.
• Most popular match category was 4.
• Most over-subscribed match was the final by a factor of 3,000%
• Number of oversubscribed matches was 52

For those lucky enough to receive tickets in the first phase they will be notified by the end of this month (April). They originally said 3 days but I guess even their mailing system is struggling with demand. Would be good to hear from anybody who has received tickets already, I’m still waiting for mine!

Yesterday we gave important safety tips and numbers for holidaymakers to Cape Town. A couple of friends have said they’ll forget all that before they arrive and is there a place they can get this information when they arrive at Cape Town International Airport. And the answer is yes. There is a Cape Town Tourism kiosk in the arrivals hall where you can get a handy credit-card sized safety information leaflet. As you walk out into the airport from the luggage carousels look straight ahead, it’s just to the right of the cafe. Failing that visit any Cape Town Tourism office and pick one up. The kiosk also has a great little ‘Cape Town official visitors guide’ which contains stacks of info on safety, things to do and see as well as places to eat and stay. If you’re staying in self-catering accommodation in Cape Town then ask your host for safety information. They should all carry details in their accommodation welcome packs. (Owners: If you don’t have this info then add it .. quickly!).

Following a news report on the BBC last night about crime in Cape Town, particularly focussing on gangsters and the underworld of drugs in Grassy Park I thought we’d share some safety advice for overseas travelers to our lovely City of Cape Town. Read more

Tickets from the first phase ballot will be drawn from the FIFA hat today. All successful applicants will recieve notification within 3 working days by email. If you’re not one of the lucky people this time you can always apply in the second phase of ticketing starting on May 4th, 2009. However, unlike the first phase, the second phase will be on a first come first served basis so you’d better have quick fingers and your credit card at the ready on the stroke of midnight to stand a chance of getting the tickets you’re after. There’s also a 3rd, 4th and 5th phase of ticket sales with the latter being conducted at the point of sale. This will only happen with any remaining seat still unsold after the first 4 phases so more than likely it’ll be the expensive tickets for the ‘not so great’ games!. You can read more on the Fifa.com website. AND remember to add your property to onelocation if you haven’t already. There’s a few more free places left and in about 3 days thousands of lucky ticket winners will start scouring South Africa for World Cup Accommodation.

As I was driving back yesterday from the Coke Zero Fest I started thinking about the difference between the two headline acts and why one outshone the other. Oasis vs Snow Patrol. I’m a big fan of Oasis, have been for years where-as Snow Patrol I’ve never really listened to. Not my cup of tea, a bit MOR (Middle of the Road) for my liking. So the odds were stacked heavily in Oasis’s favour even before we began. Read more

Nobody likes to think they will get sick whilst on their holidays. But preparing holidaymakers with emergency phones numbers and advice is essential. And make sure this information is clearly marked and easily accessible in the event of something going wrong. Include emergency phone numbers that are available 24/7 and also emergency phone numbers and directions to local emergency hospitals. Hopefully your first aid kit and emergency information will never be used but it’s good practice to be prepared for any eventuality.

Take a look at your availability calendar (if you have one). Are you fully booked? Do you expect to be fully booked? For all those empty bednights why not cut the price and offer a late deal. Work out the the lowest price you’d except to make it worth your while. Factor in your changeover costs such as maid service, paperwork, welcome basket etc Decide what you’re minimum stay would be. For some holiday rentals offering Late Deals is only cost-effective when 2 days or more are booked. Then all you have to do is:

1. Register (if you’re not already) on onelocation.com
2. Login and click ‘Add Late Deal’ (You can only add late deals to properties that are live on the site)
3. Enter start / end dates, select the offer price and hit submit.

That’s it. There’s no approval process so your late deal listing gets published instantly and the great thing is you can edit the offer price as the day of the booking gets closer with the click of a button.

We’ve all done it. Been to the estate agents, given them our details and taken home a whole bunch of leaflets and sales particulars of potential properties. A couple of A4 sheets with room sizes, features and a short line of prose telling us that this is a very exclusive sought after property in one the best streets in Town. We then sit at the kitchen table and narrow them down to the ones we want to view. Then with sales particulars in hand we visit the properties only to find that pinocchio had a hand in writing them … hmmm. Read more

You looked at the location, bought the house, villa or guesthouse, decorated it, bought the furniture invested in satellite TV and upgraded the swimming pool. But how many of you know you’re accommodation as well as you think you do? Have you ever stayed as a paying guest? Have you ever opened the fridge after an 11-hour flight with children to find nothing in there. Have you tried to figure out how the pool pump works so that it doesn’t come on in the middle of the night? Read more

Yesterday Bullet for my Valentine pulled out of the Zero Coke Fest citing studio commitments as the reason. Zero Coke Fest is an annual rock festival in Cape Town and Joburg hosting some the world’s biggest bands, this year Oasis and Snow Patrol are the headle acts. Tickets for the event are around R600 for the Golden Circle (the mosh pit area!). So the point is that hundreds of Bullet for my valentine fans have scrimped, saved and borrowed to get a ticket to see their idols up close and personal. They’ve committed their time and money to support them and now they’ve been jilted at the altar. Ask any one of those fans whether they would rather the boys spend the day in the studio so they could hear the new album 1 day earlier or share a day of excess and loud live  music with their loyal fans and guess what the answer would be? Read more