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

Having trawled through literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of Holiday Accommodation details I’m still bemused to find that owners think that advertising their holiday rental accommodation is similar to advertising a washing machine on Ebay. The recipe goes like this; add a few photos taken with their mobile phone, write a small ’sellers description’ and then post it on as many random (and hopefully free) sites as they can hoping for someone to ‘make them an offer’.

I even encountered a very proud owner who rejoiced in the fact he hadn’t updated his website in 10 years and that guests were ‘amazed’ at how much better the establishment was in real-life. This is the same as buying an old Toyota on Ebay and pitching up to collect it to find you actually bought a New Mercedes Benz. Yes, you’d be surprised too!

The holiday rental marketplace is crowded, particularly in Cape Town, and competition is fierce. The only way you will be successful is by being smart and being ‘better’ than the person next door. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be offering tips and advice for getting you to the top of the tree and in turn increase your enquiries and bookings. It’s not rocket science and we won’t be asking you to learn anything new, we’ll just be pointing you in the right direction to kick-start your business and move it into the 21st Century. Stay tuned or even better sign-up to receive our updates in your inbox, that way you won’t miss a trick.

Here’s the rather disturbing advice and Travel guidelines from the British Government for UK travelers to South Africa. You can read it in full by clicking this link. And if you’re planning on traveling to South Africa don’t be too disturbed by this advice, the government are quite rightly telling us all the bad stuff we should be aware of. (I’ve read the one for Spain and France and it’s equally disturbing!).

• There is a high level of crime, but most occurs in townships and isolated areas away from the normal tourist destinations.
• The standard of driving is variable and there are many fatal accidents.
• More than 460,000 Britons visit South Africa every year (Source: Statistics South Africa). Most visits are trouble- free. The main types of incident for which British nationals required consular assistance in South Africa in 2007 were for: replacing lost or stolen passports (over 750 cases); deaths, mainly from natural causes (over 50 cases); and dealing with arrests or detentions, for a variety of offences (17 cases). You should keep photocopies of your passport with you in a separate place to your passport.
• There is an underlying threat from terrorism. Attacks, although unlikely, could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.
• We recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling. You should check any exclusions, and that your policy covers you for the activities you want to undertake.
• South Africa authorities state that officially only one blank passport page is required for entry. However, recently several visitors have been refused entry and sent back to the UK as some officials are insisting on two blank pages. We advise that you have two blank pages in your passport on arrival.

At onelocation we try and check ALL the properties and owners on the site but as well as us checking here’s a few precautions you can take to make sure the 3 bed holiday villa in Camps Bay or the Cape Town guesthouse actually exists. Believe it or not there are some dodgy people out there who post adverts on sites and then take the holidaymakers deposit and run, never to be seen or heard from again. Read more