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

Bed in a Tree offers a handpicked selection of 27 weird and extraordinary hotels from around the world each offering an unforgettable and original place to stay. Hotels include the Ice Hotel in Sweden, an actual bed in a tree in South Africa, an aeroplane in New Zealand, a snooze in a suitcase in Germany and even a night in a stone pineapple in Scotland! The guide is written by Bettina Kowalewski, a travel writer and photographer as well as a television producer and director, who has developed a passion for seeking out the most unusual hotels from around the world and discovering the astonishing stories behind their creation. You’ll find practical advice on getting to each hotel as well as three interesting and often unusual activities to do nearby. The guide features venues for a memorable forty winks for all budgets and levels of luxury with a 10% discount at many of the selected hotels. Bed in a Tree is the perfect gift for anyone looking for a unique travel experience.

Dorling Kindersley - £8.99. Buy it now

BA have announced that they will be following the lead of many budget airlines and charging passenegers to pre-book their seats. The prices will range from £10 to £60 depending on which seats you require. Passengers will be charged £10 on short haul flights, £20 on long haul or business economy and £60 on long haul business flights. Seats in an emergency exit row will cost £50 and can be booked between 10 and four days prior to departure. The good news is that if you don’t reserve a seat when you make a booking you will be able to book your seat, free of charge, within 24 hours of departure. Read more

In the last few days budget airline Ryanair have announced that they will be introducing smokeless cigarettes for passengers. Smoking has been banned on commercial flights since the 1990’s but in a recent suvey 24,000 of their passenegers indicated that they would like to light up during a flight. The smokeless cigarettes, which ironically you don’t light up, release a small amount of nicotine to the user and produce no harmful chemicals or toxins to those around them.

Personally I’m slightly bemused. I can see that it would reduce stress levels of die-hard smokers who find it difficult spending two hours between smokes but there are hundreds of patches and chewing gums that deliver the same nicotine hit without the physical presence of a look-a-like cigarette. Instead of selling them a pack of smokeless cigarettes for around £5 why not give them some nicotine gum. I also object to the visual aspect of smokeless cigarettes, they look like toys .. my children will be intrigued, they will ask questions and although the smokers will be idly unaware due to the relaxed nicotine state, I will be two rows behind explaining to my children for the entire flight what they are and why they can’t have one. Ryanair should, in my opinion, conduct another survey of irritated parents then maybe offer free nicotine chewing gum instead.

zoofish.com have just launched www.sunrisebeachvilla.com - a personal Holiday Rental website for Sunrise Beach Villa in Muizenberg, Cape Town. The site was designed, built and launched in just 7 days (which included switching ISP). We think it looks fab and Melanie Gardner who owns Sunrise Beach Villa in Muizenberg, Cape Town thinks so too. Here’s what she had to say …

WOW !! … zoofish are brilliant. I am so so happy with my new site.
This time last week I didn’t have a website. In just 7 days I now have a brilliant site and zoofish did all the work. They helped write the copy, chose great pictures and helped me set up my email, in fact they held my hand throughout the whole process. To say I’m happy is an understatement … I can’t praise them enough. They delivered much more than I ever imagined and for a very affordable price. They are brilliant. 5 stars from start to finish.
Melanie Gardner - www.sunrisebeachvilla.com - September 2009

Contact zoofish.com to see what they can do for your Holiday Rental website.

I’ve been asked many times to give my opinion on how much extra Vacation Rental owners should charge during the month of the World Cup in South Africa. The answer is a simple case of supply and demand but how do you work out what the supply and demand will be? Here’s some pointers.

1. How many extra visitors will there be?
An estimated 3.5 million people will be traveling to and from the 9 World Cup stadiums during June and July next year. A conservative estimate of 300,000 extra visitors will visit South Africa purely for the World Cup, mainly from Europe and the US. The draw for the finals takes place in Cape Town on December 4, 2009 and this will, in many respects, dictate how many visitors there will be in each of the 9 locations. Look out for England, Germany, Italy and Spain. All of these teams carry a huge following and will create a big demand for bed spaces.

2. How close are you to the stadium?
This is very important. The closer you are the more you can charge. If you are within walking distance then you could possibly charge 100% more than your normal ‘peak’ rate. This rate tails off the further from the ground you are. For example in Kommetjie (35km away) you could be looking at a reasonable 25% increase on your normal rates.

3. How many available beds are there given the time of year?
This is the most interesting factor. For large tourist destinations such as Cape Town and Durban there will be plenty of choice and availability. (Even despite it being popular with visitors from Gauteng at that time). Availability is generally high and depending on the draw, demand for bed nights could be lower than expected, so be sensitive to this factor when selecting your ‘World Cup’ rates. On the flip-side smaller towns like Nelspruit and Rustenburg could be overun with extra visitors, especially if 2 big European teams are drawn to play there. These towns could expect an extra 60,000 visitors for a single game and availability will be scarce. This is actually a concern of the organisors and for the casual renters it could be a great opportunity to make a killing.

And that’s it in a nutshell. Be wary of the draw. Predict the migration of visitors between games and don’t be greedy. It’s best to get an extra 25% than nothing at all. And also fill the beds early. If you decide to leave it to the last minute thinking you can charge a premium then my advice is don’t. It’s a risky strategy and you could be left empty handed particularly in the major towns.

Tags: Cape Town, Nelspruit accommodation, Rustenburg accommodation, World Cup, World Cup Accommodation
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