Holidays in Cape Town more affordable this Summer

We find that our affordable accommodation in Cape Town is usually booked for the peak holiday season of Christmas and New Year more than six months before the start of the summer, by people who can easily afford to pay the required advance deposit to secure their Cape Town holiday accommodation. Things are definitely looking up in the travel accommodation business and we have been experiencing a steady increase month on month since the early part of the year of enquiries for self catering accommodation cape town. What has puzzled us is that so many requests for reservation are not confirmed in spite of the fact that the person making the enquiry has obviously viewed our accommodation and the rates on the website before submitting the enquiry. We have drawn the conclusion that the requirement to pay the 50% securing deposit which is standard in the industry becomes a problem for ordinary working people.


During the month of November as well as early December we have been experiencing a flood of enquiries from the website as well as telephone calls for people looking for affordable cape town accommodation during the peak season after having tried without success elsewhere. It seems that most South Africans from upcountry are determined to have their annual holiday at the seaside but have left the booking too late to take advantage of their expected annual bonuses. We have also noted in the search terms used by visitors to our website that large numbers of people are looking for budget accommodation in Cape Town, cheap self catering accommodation in Cape Town and similar terms. No one in our industry, particularly those who have been graded by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa or other associations that bestow status upon accommodation want to be associated with the term “ cheap accommodation” and all that it implies, but we used the knowledge that was gained on the market to offer prospective guests the opportunity to pay the securing deposit for a reservation in monthly instalments to suit their budgets and also to similarly pay the balance of the accommodation fee in monthly instalments before the start of their holiday.

Those who have taken advantage of this opportunity have said that being able to take advantage of this flexibility has meant that they will have their annual bonus available to spend during their holiday in Cape Town instead of having to use it to pay for accommodation and dig into their savings. In their latest newsletter Cape Town Tourism has reported that the survey amongst their members showed “cautious optimism” about the summer season ahead. One of the factors that is undoubtedly resulting in reservation about the prospects for a bumper season is the strength of the South African Rand. Luckily for many of us in the non-hotel accommodation sector, the largest numbers of our guests are from within our own country and they are not adversely affected by rates of exchange.

Horizon holiday cottages plans to take advantage of this by offering its clients an instalment plan to make holidays in Cape Town more affordable by allowing guests to book up to 12 months in advance and pay any amount that suits their budget and circumstances. We have no doubt that the fact that we have experienced record numbers of bookings for the summer months; stretching right into the Easter school holidays is due to this flexible and innovative payment plan, for securing affordable accommodation in Cape Town .

By : Dennis : Horizon Holiday Cottages

http://www.horizoncottages.co.za/