LOURENS SCHOEMAN

The 1999 AA Travel Guides and South African Airways Accommodation Awards programme is now open ù and Eastern Cape establishments are expected to do well again.

Now in its sixth year, this programme is the only consumer yardstick whereby the quality of tourist accommodation in South Africa is measured.

It makes provision for a wide variety of accommodation, including hotels, guest houses, holiday apartments and bed & breakfast establishments.

Eastern Cape establishments fared particularly well in the 1998 programme and now have the opportunity to prove once again that accommodation of the highest standard is on offer in the province.

Establishments in the province won five of the sixteen categories of accommodation in 1998.

They were The Cherubs B&B in East London, Woodall Farm in Addo, the Andries Stockenstr÷m Guest House in Graaff-Reinet, Die Tuishuise in Cradock and Diaz 15 in Jeffreys Bay.

Awards programme convenor Vanessa Sand says the responsibility for maintaining high standards in tourist accommodation does not only rest on the shoulders of the proprietor.

"Owners and managers have to rely on feedback from guests in order to monitor and judge their performance, hence the growing popularity of this programme", she said yesterday.

The programme provides for comments by guests on aspects such as friendliness, service levels, cleanliness, food and the location of establishments.

According to Ms Sand every accommodation establishment that participates in the programme receives guest feedback from the AA Travel Guides, whether positive or negative.

"In this way, establishments obtain priceless management information which assists them in marketing and managing their operations more effectively," she said.

Awards will once again be made in at least fourteen categories next year to cater for the great variety of accommodation on offer in South Africa.

Close on 10 000 entries were received in the 1998 awards programme, giving information on some 650 accommodation establishments.

Guests can obtain questionnaires from the establishments in which they are staying, or from publicity associations and AA Auto Shops countrywide. Entries close on January 15, 1999 and the finalists in the different categories will be announced at the end of March.

Entries received are processed according to methods devised by Markinor and audited by Fisher Hoffman Sitole.

The awards will be made at a gala ceremony which will be held in Durban in May 1999, to coincide with the annual Tourism INDABA.