CVO Schools
Restoring growth in tourism
The Homecare Foundation develops the www.rsastay.com booking platform to assist accommodation companies in South Africa.
South Africa is in a troubled position. (It is not only the Billions our country lost due to state capturing, the damage is far greater than one could imagine.)
The negative media about President Jacob Zuma and our police services resulted in a decline in the tourism industry. Numerous countries rely on tourism to build their economies.
The video clip we publish is just one example of how our country was joked about by well-known people abroad. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May host the TV Show (The Grant Tour) and this show is watched by millions across the globe.
The Grant Tour is a UK based programme. It is estimated that more than 26 million US based people watched this show.
In this video, even our police force was joked about. Tourists will always contemplate their own safety when they plan holidays. Travel agencies will also not recommend South Africa as destination when safety is a concern. We believe that media such as per example, had a huge impact on our tourism sector.
The reality is that our Police force are often talked about. Images where people on duty are found asleep will not help our cause.
The government will not acknowledge that media about our country had a devastating effect on tourism, which furthermore resulted in additional losses for other companies in the small business sector (Fast food businesses, restaurants etc also relies on foreigners to visit our country).
Violence towards tourists, strikes, everything negative broadcast abroad has a negative impact on our economy.
This results in enormous financial constraints that ordinary South Africans must deal with. There are numerous caretakers of bedridden patients caught in difficult financial circumstances. The only way to help these people financially is to implement software that can earn income for them, instead of an NPO begging for financial support.
The Homecare team develop software that will address many problems our country face, including software to help restore business in our tourism industry.
Tourism can restore growth in our economy
Our objective is to grow our tourism. Global companies such as Booking.com, Trafalgar, Travel Ground and Airbnb will never develop their software structure where they will firstly, help South Africa to compete better against other countries to grow tourism. The bulk of their income is generated out of other countries with stronger currencies. They cannot afford to develop software that will position one country above the rest.
We know that to successfully grow tourism; we need to ensure that guests experience exceptional service when they use accommodation facilities. To provide exceptional service, the business owners must be well funded so that they can employ enough staff who all focus on service delivery. We also feel that our South African business-people and our own holidaymakers should receive value for their money when they book accommodation.
South African based accommodation companies therefore need technology that can reduce the costs that guesthouses are forced to pay, just to provide services in their industry.
There is a lot of detail published for guesthouse owners on a separate section of our website, We just want to give CVO parents a summery of certain points that we feel is important to know.
Our country loose more than R2,7 Billion per year as a result of internet bookings. The bulk of these funds ends up in Europe and America.
Internet users do not have time to browse through every option presented to them on their screens. The Booking.com software will select several accommodation options per price range to expose in the browser.
The selection of accommodation options is also determined by the payment plan the companies choose. Accommodation companies willing to pay larger commission will be introduced to more internet users. Companies pay up to 25% to be on the first 4 pages when people search accommodation in Paarl. (Attached is a letter from Middelplaas Guesthouse in Paarl)
Booking.com also informed guesthouses about an additional Admin fee of 2,1% applicable from 1 October 2019 to collect and manage payments. This in the midst of the current economic challenges accommodation companies face. (Booking.com news letter)
The reality is that internet users will request accommodation from companies they view on their computer. They will start at companies being introduced first, if they are happy with the price being asked. Internet users will not spend 30 minutes to first go through all the options and then start to request if rooms are available. There is a good chance that companies who listed their facilities will not be viewed at all.
This platform only benefits Booking.com the best. They earn more commission when companies are under pressure to find clients.
Most people use their phones to search accommodation. The exposure on phones is actually more limited than exposure on a tablet, laptop or computer.
screen view on phone
We include communication between Pieter and Pierre du Toit from Loerie Lodge on this page.
Loerie Lodge is situated in George, and the guesthouse does not ctare for foreigners specifically. It focus more on South Africans and business accommodation. What is interesting to know that although they do not work with foreigners, South Africans still book accommodation via internet and Booking.com still take up a large portion of the guesthouse's income. https://www.loerielodge.co.za/
We publish examples of screen shots taken when a phone user search for "Accommodation".
The challenge is that large companies such as Booking.com invest millions per month in internet Ad campaigns. (If you search for accommodation in the Google search, chances of Booking.com being listed on top will be more than 80%.)
Their business model is to ask guesthouses such high fees and to pay a portion of those fees into the internet companies.
If we had to develop just a booking website, we will never be able to help our guesthouse companies.
The Homecare team develop additional software that will be used to help our accommodation partners. One of the Software platforms is our Enjoy Life Game which will be played on the phone app. This game will target Lotto players to play for prizes via their phones. (It is not a Lotto concept where luck determines if you get money or not… It is a game where you yourself play levels to win fairly large prizes. Sport people are involved. We cannot share all our development plans with readers right now.)
But what is important to know, is that we can engage with low income people, and by interacting with them, secure funds that we can use to help fund child protection services, bedridden patients and our social support plans.
The interaction with a larger population, who might never be able to book accommodation into guesthouses also give us the ability to allocate funds to growing tourism.
There is a lot of detail on the Accommodation section. We want to complete this page by explaining that the Homecare team spend a lot of time on research before any development per industry is being implemented. We need to understand all the challenges and shortfalls in each industry.
Tourism will for the next few months be under enormous pressure. We know that the software we work on will be in high demand once we completed it.
South African accommodation companies will look at any solution to help them restore their businesses.
The Homecare team will be able to convince South Africans not use google when they search for accommodation. The apps on their phones will reward them better.
Accommodation will also be at a lower cost for South Africans via the app.
The Homecare team will invest up to R40 million per month to position www.rsastay.com amongst the top pages when internet users use search engines to book accommodation.
Booking fees in the accommodation industry might also be shared with CV schools, if we for some reason struggle to secure the required R10,5 million per month out of the Security section. Lucia will be involved with the RSA stay management team.
What is expected from "Shareholders"?
The Homecare team will already have a large phone user base when we prepare the test of the www.rsastay.com booking platform.
We will invite additional phone users to support our “shareholders” in the “Beta Testing”. We will for example ask phone users in advance, to please all book accommodation in one town at exactly the same time slot, for example 21H00 on a Thursday night. We need to do stress tests on the software. The website must be able to handle large volumes of traffic.