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Hiring a car is really not straight forward. Here are some things to be aware of, it may all be old hat however I thought I would cover a few aspects I feel are important.

• You need a credit card unless you have organized a bill back, this means the onus and responsibility is borne by the Travel agency who gives you the voucher. Now if you have a cheque card that is visa or MasterCard, you can generally use these for online purchases however for car hire they are not accepted, you must present a credit card
• If anyone else is going to drive the car besides you, you must have the other drivers added to the policy, general cost aprox R175 for the hire of the vehicle.
• You are not permitted to drive the car on a gravel road. Yes I realize with the amount of raodworks going on this is really difficult not to do, just wanted to point it out. So NB if you are in an accident or cause damage from a gravel road then you are not covered and then liable for the full cost to repair or replace the vehicle.
• Under the influence – Not covered! Yes have a beer and you are no longer covered in your hire car. This may sound drastic however believe it, it can happen and it does.
• When in an accident if you caused the accident or not you are liable for the towing costs of the vehicle! New to me and I am sure this does raise a few eyebrows.
• When taking out car hire be aware that there are various levels of insurance cover at most agencies.
• Check the car before you get in walk around the car and report any damage immediately! Also check the glass ie windscreen for any cracks or chips, even small ones!

During my trip on the weekend I stayed at 2 different hotels both 4 stars in Cape Town belonging to the same hotel chain. While at the hotels I noticed a few things that I felt were untoward. The service at the hotel is impeccable and will definitely stay there again. I do however feel that they need a bit of a wake up call as a team working together. The reason I say this is that at a hotel the entire staff from the valet driver to the cleaner, from front desk to the manager should all be working together to improve and maintain their establishment as this is really where their name lies. Here are some examples of what I mean.

Have a look at the following picture – It is a picture of the cupboard in the breakfast room. Note a few things, the door of the cabinet does not even close properly and the draws are missing 2 handles. I assure you this did not just happen. Have the staff reported it to maintenance? Why have they not fixed it? Not in the budget at a hotel that costs around R2000 a night?

Ok here is another example, have a look at the shower door in this picture, it does not close properly. Now again has house keeping reported it to maintenance? Now should this really be maintenance or is a poor installation that was not checked?  The hotel paid for a service to have the shower door fitted and installed however it is by a substandard contractor, maybe? Then why was it not signed off prior to payment to the contractor? Have a look at the pic:

Ok now this next pic is surely a contractor that did a sub standard installation and got away with it? Why?

Maybe I am justing being picky? However surely this is team work? They are surely lacking somewhere, not to mention the fact that the door handle did not fit flush against the door, again poor workmanship that has been left to slide in a hotel that costs R2000 a night. Here is another pic which is a prime example of things being over looked.

The flag for the hotel with it’s logo has been hoisted up side down! No further comment I believe the above illustrates my point on this hotel. Now with the next hotel from the same group although a better “finished” hotel I still found the lack of team work and communication a problem. Really looking forward to a sauna I checked into the hotel and proceeded to their gym and suana. Now this is what their website advertises:

This is a screen shot from their website, guess what? No Sauna, it was closed I quote “not to sure I think a few months ago”.  Nice guys! One last criticism – again maintenance – there are 10 lights in the room and 2 did not work, the hair dryer had a faulty switch and for clients in a rush to get done and check out it was not pleasant to wait 45 minutes for maintenance. Are the rooms not checked and feedback given to the rest of the team? Or do you wait for feedback from your clients before things are done? Come now….

OK this may seem a bit of nit picking however I do think the hotel chain needs to hear it and get some feedback.  At both hotels they have some great additions and ideas on the go in the hotel, like the following:

OK it may look like much however it really makes it bearable showing in a bath without the curtain sticking to you. Well done! In closing I want to reiterate that the service was phenomenal I enjoyed the hotels and will use them again, I just feel that team work and communication is lacking.

This weekend in Cape Town I had the opportunity in taking a Great Guide for a test drive in Cape Town. For those who do not know what it is: It is a GPS with a built in tour guide. Here is a link to the website: www.greatguide.co.za . The professionalism and responses from their team in setting up the guide with my planned activities was excellent. The GG was ready for me when I arrived in Cape Town. The GG was easily installed and hooked up in the car, the little carry bag contained everything we needed. GG did take some getting used to as I use a Garmin when I am at home however it was quick and responsive and we found what we needed to do and learned how to navigate the devise with ease. Following directions into Cape Town and on to our hotel could have got a tad confusing with various people talking to you at the same time, this however is not the case as the GG uses a few *characters* to guide you on the area through which you are travelling as well as a very definitive voice for giving you directions.

Over the 3 days we had the GG we put it through it’s paces. For finding your way around town and beyond to places not listed in their list of tours or a deviation from your itinerary you will wish you had your Garmin. We decided to take a drive up to Hermanus which was  a spur of the moment change. We spent over 15 minutes trying to navigate the device for Hermanus and finally found a police station in Hermanus and used this as a point of reference to get us to our destination. Well this is what we thought anyway. Just outside Cape Town you are presented with a choice to go the high road or the coastal road. Being tourists in our own country we opted for the coastal road. The GG did not like this at all and for the following 10 kilometers it continued to tell us to do a U turn (I guess to take the high road) we eventually got fed up with it and requested us to stop giving directions, we did however leave the guide part on where we learned interesting info on the various attractions we passed on our travels.

On the return to Cape Town we took the high road and had no problem on the return. The hotels we were staying at were pre programmed into the device and selecting one and clicking take me there was child’s play. The unit is no Garmin, (guess I have been spoiled in the past) you can however look past these issues as well as the tiny text of the unit in lure of getting a great informative guide for the city in which you are travelling around.

The drop off is at the arrivals hall and with the chaos that you find Cape Town international airport in you are reminded to drop the device on your way to departures. There are no internal links between the buildings and the commute between check in and arrivals can be a bit of a pain.

GG uses at least 3 characters to narrate the info on the device, the info is informative and well done. The narrators are not over empowering, they sound friendly, the language used is easy to understand so even the tourist with little english vocab will find this device useful. There really is a ton of info on the GG, it is like having the internet searches you want for various activities pre searched and categorized for you.

If you are a tourist or want more info of the city in which you are visiting then the Great Guide is a a winner for you!

Just returned today from a long weekend in Cape Town. What a pleasure flying from Lanseria with Kulula. This was my first Kulula experience and find their interesting take on service and communication very entertaining. Although Kulula is a low cost airline it is easy to list the differences between flying SAA or BA compared to Kulula. From the loud large collared shirts, to the amusing flight perpetration address it was very interesting and found it amusing as a first time Kulula traveller. They may be a low cost carrier however their level of service is anything but. The checkin was smooth and professional, the hour delay was not great however great communication and efficiency from all levels seems to show great concern and interest in getting the journey started.

Flying from Lanseria is great and well done to Kulula for recognizing the need and capitalizing on it. The flight was full to Cape Town and back. As it was a long weekend the parking lot was packed, the rate for parking is reasonable however the huge plus must the quick exit: the transition from landing  to driving out of Lanseria (with checked in baggage) was done in less than 30 minutes. I am impressed, Lanseria will see me again!

Well I am sure that with more investigation into the 2010 one will see more and more people holding out. Here is one prime example, I chose some random flights on Kulula to Cape Town from Johannesburg and you know what, either they are sold out or they are holding out? which one is it? They sold out for most of the month already?

Screen dump:

While we are on this topic we received a note from Emirates that all groups where on hold around this time, well they are now quoting again , here is one sample:

Group size            : 22 PASSENGERS
Date of Departure: 10 JUN 2010
Date of Arrival     : 28 JUN 2010
Routing                : JNB-DXB-LGW-DXB-JNB (MAX 3 MONTHS)
Fare (ADULT)        : ZAR 11 999.00 Nett (EXCLUDING ALL AIRPORT TAXES)

OK to give you some indication this is generally double on what you can get at other times of the year it really is crazy, brings new meaning t0o supply and demand!

Well Nigeria has been a hugely bureaucratic embassy to deal with. Now they have just made things tougher. If the inadequate payment system would not put you off applying for a visa how about the new requirement instituted by the embassy in Pretoria:

First-time visitors to Nigeria will pay a repatriation fee of R6 000 (refundable).

Is this just not the craziest thing that you have ever heard? Questions that need to be raised are:

• Why is there a variation between Pretoria and Johannesburg?
• How easy will it be to get your refund back and how long will it take?

With the recession and the current world economic client one would think that embassies and countries would be making travel to their country easier? Surely it is for the benefit of the country to facilitate visitation as much as possible?

Some news here from the US Consulate General:

Here is a link to the info

Now that you have read the above information, if you determine that you are eligible to register with ESTA and that you do not need a visa, please register at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/.  This is a secure website.  Please return to the site a day after you register, print out the approval notice, and staple it into your passport.  It is valid for two years.  If your registration is denied, you will need to apply for a visa to enter the United States.

American Airlines New Baggage Policy:

The revised baggage policy takes effect for tickets purchased on or after Sept. 14, 2009.
The changes apply to transatlantic travellers on any flight operated by American Airlines for travel to, from or through India, as well as the following European countries – Belgium, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Customers who purchase certain economy class tickets on or after the effective date will be able to check one bag for free and will pay $50 for a second checked bag.

Exceptions will apply, please see www.aa.com for the complete list.

Well this week I have some first hand examples of why specials change and why they are available and why not. You see generally specials include getting to your destination and in many instances this makes up 70% of the fare. Now further to my explanation on availability and load control, you will notice that specials and fares change depending on availability. Now we must also be very aware that as the load on the aircraft changes and the yield management comes into effect you may find that today there is no availability however on Monday they might be.

Here are two examples:

Quote one:

Quote two:

See the difference in the packages is over 10%. This can be higher as and when the yield management does not work in your favor. Now bear in mind that the adverse can happen as well. Ie you decide to wait till something opens up and while you are waiting the flight fills up and their ends up being no availability!

Need somewhere to sleep in during June 2010?

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Do you own a property or have a bed to rent for June 2010?

This is the site for you? For a R79 once off fee you can have your bed/house or flat listed on this site. Once your listing is in place we will leave it there until you remove it or until August 2010 whichever comes first. For your R79 you get the listing of your choice on the website where people are able to access and view your offer from anywhere in the world. The enquiries are sent directly to you with no intervention from agents or anyone from this website and offers direct contact between the people who offer or want accommodation.

We wish a happy and festive 2010 to all users of this website, business owners and fans alike.

www.june10beds.co.za