What are the costs which contribute to the  price of hospitality?

The price you pay to make your booking is the end prove which is arrived at after considering a lot of cost lines which we will discuss below.

Value Chain Effect. 

Hospitality is part of a value network, for a hotel to serve a guest, it takes products and services from many other business operators. For you to enjoy the comfortable, luxurious experience and good meals, a lot of things are put together and they all come at a cost. Hardly is there something which you can point at in Zimbabwe and find it to be cheaper locally than in any other country. So it means the high cost of everything in Zimbabwe, builds up to the cost of hospitality, making it higher.

Interest Rates. 

Many hotels in Zimbabwe borrowed loans from financial institutions to refurbish, expand or carry other growth related operations. The local interest rate on borrowing is probably among the highest in the SADC region. Zimbabwe has an average interest rate of 25 percent; South Africa has 7 percent while Botswana has an average of 5.75 percent. This means it costs more for a Zimbabwean hotel to borrow money to improve facilities, and to recover, they have to raise their rates.

Rentals and Rates To City Councils

City Councils charge rentals and rates to every operating hotel, the  rental charge is based on the amount of space occupied and value of location. There are also rates paid for the services that the city council is responsible for providing; these include street lights, water, and refuse collection. Consider that many times there is no tap water, so a hotel will have to have an alternative supply. Also, many times the city council does no collect refuse, for one reason or the other, so hotels have to source other service providers who can pick up refuse so that guests can enjoy a clean environment. One local hotel is charged $14000USD per month for rent. For a hotel to raise that bill, it would have to have quite a lot of bookings to be able to covet that cost. 

Liquor License Fees.

To be able to serve you alcoholic beverages, hotels have to pay a liquor license for the hotel itself and for its separate bar. A liquor license costs nothings less than $600USD, and the cost can be higher for hotels. 

ZBC License and DSTV Subscription

Hotels pay licenses to ZBC, this is mandatory, whether guests watch local TV  or not. 

A subscription fee is also paid to DSTV for each television set in each room. Imagine how huge the bill is for a hotel with 100 rooms.

Broadband Subscription

Whenever a guest checks in to the hotel room, they want to have WiFi available, log in and start browsing for business or for entertainment. Hotels pay close to a million dollars for broadband costs. 

High Electricity Bill

One of the biggest cost lines a hotel faces is the cost of keeping everything switched on. To keep the lights in rooms, the computers for bookings, internet servers, kitchens, laundry machines, air conditioners and elevators comes at a huge cost. Some hotels are planning on switching to solar which is relatively cheaper.

Tourism Levies and License Fees 

To operate a hotel in Zimbabwe, regulatory procedures have to be followed through. License fees and levies have to be paid. These levies and fees are paid to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. Currently operators are required to submit a 2% levy on bookings. In comparison, a hotel in Botswana pays a levy of 0.2%. Earlier, a 15% VAT was scrapped off after stakeholders lobbied for its removal, this was anticipated to at least reduce the cost of tourism in Zimbabwe.

Cost of importing supplements.

A lot of the things you use when you get into a hotel are imported. The simple things such lotions, and shampoos are all imported as they are not produced locally. Linen, curtains, air fresheners and other products which make it comfortable for guests to stay in are imported. Importing means there are costs of transportation, and customs duty, which keep the cost high. 

Service and Maintenance Costs. 

These are costs which we will not likely see or think of, but hotels pay for maintaining facilities, keeping rooms cleaned — carpets and windows, keeping kitchen equipment running, servicing elevators, landscaping and cleaning pools. Since these costs are provided by local service providers, the value chain comes into play. If service providers charge high for their services, the cost will have to be recovered, and it’s through the price for booking. 

Hotel Pricing Strategy

Every hotel has its pricing model, based on its strategy. Some may choose to go for high volumes and low margins, expecting higher occupancy, whilst others may choose to go for lower volumes and higher margins. This may depend on the brand, the hotel’s target market, and the experience it provides. Some hotels sell exclusivity and elegance to their clients, so that attracts the high end clientele who pays more for a stay, whilst other hotels can sell convenience and access, which attracts  the middle and lower end of the market who can afford lesser budgets. There is no uniformity in hotel pricing, price will depend on the hotel’s strategy. As you go shop around for options on where to stay, familiarize yourself with this factor. 

Seasons: Peak and Off Peak Seasons

Laws of demand and supply work in the hospitality industry. Peak seasons are characterized by high demand, and when demand is high, prices will go up. When demand is low, prices are lowered — this applies to any other product or sector. When looking at prices, one should differentiate whether it’s the peak drown price or it’s the off peak price. In Zimbabwe, holiday periods like Christmas and Easter have high demand from leisure travelers, whilst the winters are usually off peak, making it cheaper to get a booking in that period. 

We hope after going through this breakdown of costs behind the scenes, you now understand how complex the pricing issue is. The bottom line is that for Zimbabwe’s tourism to become more competitive, a lot of macro and micro changes will have to be made, but it won’t be as easy as 1..2..3. 

There are some things you can’t control, but at a personal level, we are encourage you to take advantage of the special deals we share with you frequently. We are partnering with more hotels and soon you will be exposed at some amazing deals you never knew existed. Before you think of making your booking, check with us, we could have an amazing and irresistible deal! 

#TravelZimbabwe

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Digital Marketing

The internet has opened up so much space and room for youth to come up with digital products and services. Many local brands are still struggling to get an online audience for their brands, they need you to help them with their social media strategy, running their website, and keeping their sites optimized for search engines. They also need help with content creation too, if you have that spark for creativity, then you have an opportunity waiting for you, you have a space in the tourism sector! 

Branding

Most service providers are looking for ways through which they can create a distinctive appeal in the market. In some fields, there’s stiff competition, and the one who with the best brand and reputation usually wins.

The internet has made it easier for us to learn skills like how to develop a brand from scratch. Why not find someone who is starting up, offer them brand building, reputation management, and brand maintenance service; of course at a fee!

Tour Planning

We have met many people who want to travel, but don’t know where to start from, because they don’t have information on destinations, don’t know the logistical requirements of getting to a place, and also don’t want the stress to make calls to various service providers to put together a travel plan.

In your spare time, you can help people create tour plans, make life easier for them and ensure they get an unforgettable travel experience, such that they will always remember you and refer you to the next person, and most importantly that they find value in your work and pay you something.. It may not be much when beginning, but remember, we have to start from somewhere.

Transport Service

After planning a tour, the challenge is for someone to get from their home to their destination. Some don’t have cars, some do, but don’t want the burden to drive long distances, so someone has to serve them with transport. Usually people look for a transport service provider, who they can entrust with their lives and safety over the journey.

Look at Pamushana Africa, it’s an example of carving a niche and growing through it. It’s such a shining example, which we can take inspiration from and do great things in our own way.

Remember you don’t have to own it to use it… think about this before you say “But I have no car..”

Tour Guiding

At one point, we had a client and desperately sought the services of someone with a tour guide licence, even a learner was welcome. We searched on Google, and social networks, but couldn’t find someone. A lucrative opportunity was missed because no one could be there for it.

Zimbabwe receives visitors from outside, have you ever wondered who takes them around? Could that person be you?

Locally, people travel to various destinations, game parks, safaris and the likes. Going new places can be hectic; you just don’t know what to do when you arrive, which place to go and not to go, what things to do and not to do. Or how to react when you see a charging bull elephant, or a monkey staring at you.

Tour guides help people know about places, taking them through and ensuring they have a wonderful experience at a place. 

If you love interacting with people, love nature, love wildlife, then you could be the next best tour guide. Just make sure that you go through training, and have a license to be a tour guide. 

Support Services to the Value Chain

So the hotel needs cleaning, who cleans it for them? They need their lawn trimmed, who does that for them? The conference centre needs a catering service provider, who provides? The lodge needs its roof, beds, floors fixed.. who does that? There’s a new player who wants to do market research.. who does it for them? All these are opportunities which youth can fill in to provide services to players in the sector.

There are lots of services which add value and are an important part of the value chain which are always being sought by various service providers. Look at your skill set, passion and area of expertise and see where you can serve. You can’t be everything, but can find something which you do perfectly well and be known for it.

Business Consultancy

Business consultancy is another opportunity which youth can harness. So let’s say someone wants to start a business serving tourists with information and travel packages, but don’t know how to position themselves in the market and keep their business running, they will need someone who can help them understand the market and and come up with strategies which will leave them leading the market. So many other things make consultants relevant, for instance, Public Relationship consultancies are important when a crisis needs to be managed, tax consultancy when preparing books and more. 

Facilitation, and MC Service

Zimbabwe’s MICE sector has been performing well, until the COVID 19 pandemic happened. All the events being hosted need someone who can direct them. Facilitators, rapporteurs, moderators and MCs are important for keeping events flowing. If you have a nice fitting suit, confident before crowds, knowledgeable about relevant topics, and charismatic, you could have a chance waiting for you. 

That’s your opportunity! Take it.

Making and Selling Merchandise

Curios are good business, tourists are always looking for them, to buy for their beloved ones or to keep for themselves as souvenirs. 

It could be a printed T-shirt, a sewn scarf, a sculptured item, or any other item you make, there’s a potential to sell to either the domestic market or the foreign arrivals. Whilst travel may have been slowed down by COVID-19, there will come a time it will be back again to its true potential.  

You could get your next sale to someone from abroad, who will make your products go to places you never imagined yourself going. Amazing, isn’t it?

Photography

This is another amazing opportunity for those who have an eye for angles, who can capture things with the lenses. Resorts need pictures for their marketing. People need pictures of their travel experiences so that they can post to their Instagram! 

By now you must have realized that you have lots of space in the tourism sector and may not need as much capital. Don’t be limited to what we have written, there is so much more. Your skills, and talents, can be your stepping stone into becoming the next big thing in one of the most interesting industries in the world. Just have an open mind, and the heart to serve, and you will realise, there’s a lot you can do.

We wish you the best.

tinashe@travelzimbabwe.co.zw

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Define your Unique Selling Point. 

Your unique selling point (USP) is what makes your facility different from all the others. Your USP is what makes a traveler choose your resort in a market with many others. In simpler terms, your USP is what makes you get the USD. 

Your USP could be low rates, it could be elegant furnishings, it could be the history around your location, it could be the unmatched, breathtaking views, natural landscape, great customer service, or it could be accessibility to surrounding places which offer other exciting activities. 

You have to define your USP, and after that communicate it, so that customers know why they will be choosing you over the plenty of alternatives presented to them. A strong USP makes it easier for customers to make a choice, especially if it matches what they are looking for. 

After defining your USP, the next step is to define your target market. 

Defining your Target Market. 

The phrase “target market” is not new to many people in Zimbabwe, it is said when someone thinks something is expensive for them; “I’m not the target market..” is how they move away from an offering. It’s important to identify your target market. Easily defined, target market is the  is the type of person who you think likely to come to patronize your place. You can make use of your USP to determine who the target market could be; who will be attracted to your USP? 

An example of your target market could be the hyper active youth who want to enjoy heart pumping activities and have fun dining. It could be the conservative executive who wants a place they can break away from regular office life, unwind and reenergize themselves. It could be romantic couples who want to spice up their love in a different setting.

Many operators think that they are open to everyone, which is not feasible. People have different characteristics, traits, attributes and interests, you won’t be able to please them all. You need to select your target market, and focus on serving it very well, it’s a good recipe for success. 

You can use income, age group, lifestyle, interests and many more attributes to define your target market. 

This information is available to you, look at your past visitors, look at your offering, and look at the trends in the sector, it can help you to define your target market. 

Having a target market helps you to package your messaging, and marketing in a way that appeals to your target market. There’s better return on marketing investment when you have successfully set your target market. 

After defining your target market, next thing is to create a brand for your facility. 

Build a brand for your facility. 

Branding is the process of creating an identity which differentiates your facility from the rest in the market. Branding is basically the heart of marketing, a successful brand is one of the most valuable possessions you can own. For instance, when you are buying drinks for your place, there’s a drink that you pick from a fridge with over 10 alternatives, branding is one of the reasons why you choose that type of drink over others. If you choose Coca Cola, you probably can easily tell from the shape of its bottle, the lettering, the taste, and other associated messaging like “open happiness.”

Branding includes coming up with a unique logo, design, slogan, language, style and feel. A brand is also your reputation, what people say about you. It takes time to build a brand, and it also takes effort and commitment, it’s not a process which will happen on its own, you’ll have to make it happen yourself. When you have successfully built a brand, you’ve created perceptions and associations which come to mind whenever your brand is mentioned.

Branding is important, apart from helping your place stand out, it also helps you set pricing. One common statement is that people don’t buy things, they buy brands. Have you seen how people are willing to pay anything to get the latest iPhone, not because other phones don’t call, message and do the basic functions of a phone, but because someone has become loyal to Apple and iPhone, they can pay anything.

A lot of things are involved in building a brand. First and most important is defining the purpose of your business, coming up with a brand style, a language, creating visuals, consistently telling your story, and promoting the brand. 

The good thing about the digital era is that it gives you more platforms to tell your brand’s story, and to promote it online. 

Establish a Digital Presence.

One popular statement is that people no longer live in their homes, they now live online. This shows how people now spend much of their time online, enjoying the various features of social media like, tweeting, scrolling through facebook timelines, uploading pictures on Instagram, or chatting on WhatsApp. People are now hooked to their phones and gadgets, making it easier for you to reach them online. 

Your facility must have a digital presence, this includes active and responsive social media handles and up to date websites. This makes it easier for potential customers to interact with your place, find information on prices and booking processes. Social media is also a platform which enables you to engage in two way conversation with potential clients, listen to conversations which potential clients are having and get reviews, all of which are useful for your continuous improvement. 

A website also allows you to reach more people through optimizing your site for search engines. This makes it easy for you to be found when a potential client makes a search query on the web. A website also plays a part in creating a visual impression of your brand.

Before people get to meet your facility in person, they meet it online, make sure you impress on every interaction you make. 

Influencer Marketing 

A growing trend in marketing is influencer marketing. This is a strategy whereby you identify influential people who can help create better perceptions of your brand, and encourage adoption of your service.

For example, a celebrity can post images of them at your facility, which will lead to more awareness, and even bookings as people also want to get an experience which the influencer had. A couple of resorts have been making use of this strategy and has been a great way of driving traffic towards them.

Always make sure that you pick the right fit for an influencer, you need to have an influencer whose values and reputation will not affect your image. Influencers when well selected can do achieve incredible results, because they already have a following and an effective voice which if perfectly knitted with your marketing communication, success will be the likely outcome.

Offline Promotions

You can also promote your resort by creative efforts offline. This may include exhibitions at travel themed conferences, networking and billboard adverts, featuring in travel magazines and in newspapers among other methods.

These are done to create awareness to that segment of the market which is rarely online or believe in offline campaigns. A combination of having both online and offline methods is helpful to the brand as it solidifies a message and increase its reach.

Some think they don’t need marketing, but it’s not true, marketing is necessary. It will take you from the level you are to the next level. Marketing is a process, it’s the steps you take daily which will compound into lasting results. Don’t expect instant results, be patient with the process. 

For more tips and assistance with marketing your facility email on tinashe@travelzimbabwe.co.zw  

The post Marketing tips for resorts and tourist facilities. appeared first on Travel Zimbabwe.

Scrolling through their social media handles, you see them sharing information and features of their destinations, and on a couple of occasions, we watched as their posts stunned the rest of the world. When they posted Zimbabwean resorts, from the Majestic Victoria Falls, to the Ancient City of Great Zimbabwe, the balancing rocks of Matopos and the granite outcrops of Domboshava and more, the the world was amazed, which is always to be expected because Zimbabwe is a world of wonders. 

This has been good for our tourism, as it gives the world a sneak peek into what we have. It’s part of the process of creating awareness about our destination, and whilst not everyone may heed the call to visit Zimbabwe today, someday in the future, someone will want to visit, and they will remember that their trip to Zimbabwe began with a digital interaction which was initiated by the airline and they will connect with the airline to bring them to Zimbabwe, a place where many dream to be at. The world marvels at the Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the pristine safari experience and the history of civilization and culture of Zimbabwe which can be seen at the Great Zimbabwe as well as many other resorts spread across the country. 

RwandAir began serving the Harare route in April 2017, connecting Zimbabwe to the Rwandan capital, Kigali. They fly four times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays Fridays and Sundays. Travelers can always look forward to a great experience as they fly the dream of Africa, which is the airline’s tag line. 

The weekday service is good for business travelers who may have business to do in Zimbabwe throughout the week, whilst the weekend service; are a great offering for the leisure travelers who can enjoy the beauty of Zimbabwe throughout the weekend, arriving on a Friday and departing on a Sunday after a time of exciting activities and great memories spent in leisure, solo or with beloved ones. The flight schedule enables you to plan your itinerary and have sufficient time to go through exciting places in Zimbabwe.

Whilst COVID-19 has led to other airlines closing down their operations, RwandAir is operating, ensuring that those who want to travel are served. Bookings are done online via the web or through the RwandAir app, passengers are supposed to have a negative COVID-19 PCR test result obtained 12 hours before boarding, passengers are also expected to put on face masks, and practice social distancing. The Five – Step Health and Safety Guide adopted by the airline outlines what is expected of you at various points from booking your ticket to your arrival, this helps to prevent of the spread of COVID-19 and ensures your safety. 

The following are important links which you must take note of as your prepare to travel.
Flexible booking policy: https://bit.ly/310u7hP

RwandAir Travel Insurance: https://bit.ly/3pdfSzR

RwandAir offers great hospitality, they have a friendly crew and you are guaranteed of a safe and exciting flight to Zimbabwe. With their well trained hosts and hostess, you are in good hands. Their planes have great comfort, and impeccable ambience, you’ll enjoy the flight and want to do it over and over again.

To those who will be flying on the wings of RwandAir into Zimbabwe, we remind you that you are welcome, we look forward to welcoming you, and wish you a great experience of being in Zimbabwe. There is a lot to enjoy, from the warm hospitality of the people, the infectious smiles, inspiring stories of hope and resilience, art, beautiful landscapes across the country, marvelous sights and heart pumping activities, it’s never a dull moment in Zimbabwe.

tinashe@travelzimbabwe.co.zw

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Locals are very keen to travel, very much willing, however they meet one challenge: the cost issue. Most of the feedback we’ve received is that it is too expensive to travel in Zimbabwe, especially in comparison with our neighbouring countries which are competitive destinations like South Africa. 

This is a very valid argument. Before we go deeper into it, we first want to highlight that there truly are some affordable destinations in Zimbabwe, the unfortunate thing is that they are not known as much as the expensive ones. Probably it’s because they are not well marketed and we will be doing our part throughout the year to assist them with visibility. 

Going back to the issue of cost, people have given examples of hotels in Victoria Falls pricing over USD$70 per person per night for bread and breakfast. A couple spending two nights, would have to part with USD$280 on accommodation alone, this is before we factor in other costs like meals, and activities.

At one point, a price list trended, and one local hotel was charging USD$11 for breakfast; a few slices of bread, an egg and a cup of tea. There was so much backlash against them, although it would not lead to any change in the prices. In fact, it’s probably the realization that their outrage wouldn’t change anything which made people turn the whole issue into humor, coming up with suggestions of what could be bought with that amount of money. It just pointed at some prices not making sense to the local market. 

The Zimbabwe National Parks charges around USD$5 for conservation fees for each individual entering into the parks, and another fee if you are using a vehicle, USD$5 for ordinary vehicles. This is already a $10 cost that’s being built up to the travel cost. If you will be visiting a park like Nyanga National Park, where it’s definite that you can’t exhaust all its main features in one day, then you would have to double the cost. 

Activities at resorts also come at a cost. I’ll again give an example, a local going to Mutarazi Falls, would have to part with USD$40 to do a skywalk or USD$60 to do the zipline which are offered by Far and Wide. Many locals have questioned if it is not possible to lower the prices to encourage more people to do such activities. Most local tourists just visit the site to see the features, and can only cheer those who have deeper pockets. 

We also realize that the cost issue is also a product of the whole value chain or value network which consists of many goods and service providers which leads to the creation of tourism products we can enjoy. Generally, lot of things in Zimbabwe are overpriced, which leads to the tourism product cost even being higher. For example, research concluded that Zimbabwe had one of the highest data costs in the region, so the cost of broadband to keep hotel guests connected goes up, and it builds up to operational costs which the operator has to cover.

Whatever it is, we need to make some changes and accommodate locals in local tourism, as it stands they are the sector’s only hope. For now we can forget about many people flying in to visit Zimbabwe, the pandemic has cancelled that. We have to work with what we have, and that’s the locals. What is the point of having facilities opened but with no occupants, instead of coming up with a rate that’s reasonable to the local market and fill them up with bookings?

We cannot ask operators to lower their prices, without asking government to assist at policy and regulatory level. Taxes, levies, license fees which government and regulatory authorities are a cost which operators bear, and end up passing on to consumers. If these costs are high, then a high cost is passed on to the local tourist, who may not afford a bigger travel budget. Government has to help the tourism sector by making considerations on license fees, taxes and levies.

On our end, we will do our best to help you find the best deals within the market. All you need to do is to think ahead, so that we can help you plan and budget whilst there is enough time to get discounts, and also to enable you to pay in installments over a longer period of time,which makes it more manageable for you. 

We must not be comfortable in a situation where people want to experience Zimbabwe, but only see it in pictures on social media or magazines because they can’t afford. We must also never be comfortable in a situation where Zimbabweans prefer to travel outside our borders and not local because the price makes it better to spend outside the country than local. Let’s get the pricing right, and we will be amazed at what local tourism can do in Zimbabwe. 

tinashe@travelzimbabwe.co.zw

The post Domestic Tourism: Let’s Fix The Cost Issue. appeared first on Travel Zimbabwe.