By Wezi Tjaronda
WINDHOEK
The Bed and Breakfast Association of Namibia (B&BAN) has come up with an initiative to assist its members into attracting clients and the general public to use the B&B sector for their holiday and travel requirements at discounted rates.
The association joins a few other tourism institutions that offer discounted rates especially to domestic tourists for them to afford the services that a study recently said were too expensive for local travellers.
The association conducted a survey which found that most accommodation establishments offer very high prices to regular guests.
The survey also found that self-drive or individual tourists prefer this type of accommodation.
B&BAN looked at possibilities of rewarding regular guests by making it attractive for the self-drive/individual tourist to make all their reservations among member establishments and also by attracting the general public to start using this sector.
The association introduced the Loyalty Club/Membership which allows its members a 15-percent discount on the basic rate for accommodation at any one of the B&BAN member establishments and also between 15 and 33.3 percent discount on meals taken at any one of the B&BAN members that offer meals other than breakfast.
“The B&BAN then decided that the best possibility for this was in the form of a Loyalty/Club membership that is simple, straightforward, easy to run and allows for maximum benefits to the Loyalty Membership holder,” said B&BAN chairperson, Neville Neveling, who owns a B&B in Otjiwarongo.
The club has now implemented the initiative, and the first membership card was awarded to the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Willem Konjore, as a birthday present the same day when he launched the Moonlight Walks on the Etosha Pan last month.
About 290 people, including regular tourists and locals, have registered for the club membership, which costs N$300 for 18 months.
Neveling said these benefits are only applicable to the membership holder and may not be transferred.
He said companies would have to obtain membership for all those who travel if they want all their personnel to enjoy the advantages, especially on accommodation. B&BAN members are situated from L??????’?????’???????????’??????”?????????????