DECEMBER 2009
This is the final edition of “From The Breakfast Table” for 2009 and when the next edition is out it will be the magical year of 2010. The excitement has been building, slowly at first from that day in 2004 when FIFA boss Sepp Blatter pulled the card from that envelope that had “SOUTH AFRICA” written on it and as the years have simply flown by the excitement has increased to the point where it is already almost tangible. Stadia have been built and are nearing completion and they are looking superb and everywhere you look there are road works. Guesthouses and B&Bs are being bought and expanded and even some new hotels are being built
2010 is going to be a big year in South Africa of that there is no doubt and almost every person in the country will feel the impact from the mother of teenagers who has no interests in football but who has her children out of school for virtually six weeks to the businessman who is going to find it very difficult to visit his office in Cape Town when he is based in Johannesburg because of the flights being so full.
There is little doubt that 2010 is going to be an exciting year so let’s enjoy it.
ACCOMMODATION PRICES IN MID 2010
Thanks to “This Tourism Week” and its editor Martin Hatchuel for this article in his issue of 10 November in which the following appears
A World Cup organiser has hit out at spiralling accommodation prices for the event.
Organising committee boss Danny Jordaan said inflated prices could damage South Africa's prospects of enticing tourists back after the tournament.
Mr Jordaan told Reuters news agency he was concerned to hear that some owners of hotels and private homes have inflated prices by up to six times during the past few months.”
We should not, he said “Look at the World Cup as a once-off, but see tourism over a period of time creating a stable and predictable basis. Otherwise you will get a huge influx of tourists into the country and they won't return. Unfortunately this is one of the things that has emerged around major events.”
PREMIUMS AND RATES
And some more good news!
Our insurers have agreed that as we go into the most important sporting year in South Africa’s history that there is no need for a rates increase for BnB SURE. Obviously individual policies will, as we have always done, be underwritten if the policy warrants it.
We have however been asked for a small increase to our excess structure in line with other insurers but this will apply only to the buildings and contents sections and only to the basic excess that will go up from R500 to R1000. Unfortunately the number of geyser claims has forced us to revert to the imposition of a geyser excess as we had some years ago.
WORLD CUP INSURANCE REQUESTS
What happens if the World Cup were to be cancelled or matches cancelled in various cities for whatever reason? Establishments would stand to lose a great deal of income. It is crucial therefore that policyholders have Revenue cover to protect them from such loss of revenue. We have recently come across two fairly significant claims where there is no revenue cover in place. This results in big losses to the insured. In many cases the insured will argue “it’ll never happen to me” but there is so much that can.
For the duration of the World Cup we will be removing the restriction of 25km relating to the cancellation of an event and this will now be “open ended” for that period.
BnB SURE CLUB
The number of suppliers to the BnB SURE Club is growing all the time and we are now at a stage with the “Club” where our policyholders using the facilities can now make meaningful savings to their bottom line. And we are proud that we have been able to avoid slashing rates and the cover that goes with it but at the same time give our policyholders savings on the bottom line by way of facilities on the Club and also by www.bnbfinder.co.za. We have recently heard of one of our policyholders in Port Elizabeth getting several bookings off the bnbfinder website and the booking resulted in accommodation payment of almost enough to cover the monthly premium. That certainly beats a premium saving of R200 per month and reducing cover to get premiums down. Encourage policyholders to use the benefits they have through BnB SURE. It’s in their interest – and yours!
SHORTAGE OF HIRE CARS???
One thing we should be bringing to the attention of BnB Sure policyholders is the fact that there is every possibility that cars will not be available for hire because of demand during June and July of 2010 and where B&Bs and guesthouses have bookings already confirmed and deposits paid for that time that the guests be contacted and cars hired before they are no longer available. Another wonderful way for policyholders to improve their bottom line simply by visiting their own listing on www.bnbfinder.co.za and making the booking.
ELECTRONIC POLICY WORDING
We are determined to go green – are you? Several years ago we took the first step towards this goal by going paperless in BnB SURE where we stopped using hard copy files and then some time later we started sending out schedules electronically and the response was well received as policyholders didn’t then need to store masses of paper. Next followed the Electronic Policy Wording (EPW) and we now ask the question on the proposal form if the insured would prefer this method of getting wordings rather than cutting down trees and now finally endorsements changing benefits have gone out to brokers electronically, and also well received!
BnB SURE is going green! Join us and help save the environment!
BRANCH OFFICES
We will be changing our office hours for two weeks at Christmas and New Year. The amended office hours will be on the answering machine in our offices during that time.
Contact details of BnB SURE offices are:
CENTRALISED PHONE NUMBER – 0861 BnB SURE (0861 272 7873)
FAX NUMBERS
Johannesburg - Fax No. (011) 886-1725
Cape Town office – Fax No. (021) 948-3582
Durban office – Fax No. 086 685 6509
East London - Fax No. (043) 721-3112
Bloemfontein - Fax No. (051) 447-4088
Nelspruit - Fax No. (013) 752-4831
Branch Managers: Johannesburg – Constance Sithole
Cape Town - Trudy Venter
Durban - Merran Johansson
East London - Lynne Reynolds
Bloemfontein - Dalene Lemmer
Nelspruit - Marinda Welgemoed
THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH
IF THERE’S A WAY TO DO IT BETTER………FIND IT!
THOMAS A. EDISON
“Any information or suggested structures for insurances are by way of example and based on general information rather than client specific information. Should any of these suggestions appear to be relevant it is vital that these are discussed with the specific requirements of the policyholder in mind.
Any information on the BnB Club service suppliers or partners is intended to provide basic information (including contact details where applicable) only. Any of their information is not intended to be an endorsement by BnB SURE of the service providers. It is the responsibility of each person making use of the BnB Club facility to conduct further enquiries as needed, to check on the suitability of the service providers listed herein.
Furthermore, BnB SURE cannot guarantee the accuracy of any of the information listed in any article written by a third party.”
