Sandton hotels gain most from Cup

It became increasingly evident ahead of the tournament that Johannesburg would receive more support than Cape Town and Durban.

These figures show how strong the support was in favour of the country's commercial capital.

Occupancy levels

International hotel data group STR Global said in a special World Cup report released yesterday, 19 July, that occupancies in Sandton rose 22 percentage points to 84% compared with the corresponding period last year, peaking on match days, when occupancies climbed 28 percentage points to 90%.

This drove revenue per available room (revpar) up 259% to close to R4000 for the period, and up 296% to nearer R5000 during the 15 match days in Johannesburg. Sandton in particular benefited from its proximity to the main stadiums - Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, and Loftus Versveld Stadium in Pretoria - and the easy access to OR Tambo International Airport, the main gateway to the country.

The demand for accommodation in Sandton spilled over to the rest of the province, with Gauteng achieving the second-highest occupancy - 81% during the tournament and 86% on match days - and the second highest revpar at R2379 for the period and R2610 on match days.

"Our two hotels in Johannesburg, The Monarch and The Saxon, were virtually full for the entire period, with our Cape Town properties not doing as well," Adrian Gardiner, CEO of hotel and leisure group Mantis, said yesterday.

"In Port Elizabeth and Durban occupancies spiked only on match days."

Low leisure and business travel

Danny Bryer, Protea Hotels' director of revenue management, sales and marketing, said that while Protea's Johannesburg properties did exceptionally well, those in Stellenbosch and the Garden Route were trading lower than last year. "Not only did they not get support from the World Cup but there was hardly any leisure or business travel taking place during the period."

While Cape Town did not do as well as expected, it was trading at far higher levels than a year earlier, Bryer said.

"I think some of us had too high expectations for Cape Town," he said.

In its report, STR said revpar in Cape Town increased 220% for the period and 245% on match days. "The driving factor was strong average daily rates."

Occupancy in Cape Town was lower than in Gauteng, with an average 67% for the period and 79% on the eight match days.

"Durban, host of seven matches, experienced the most significant difference between match and non-match days.

"During match days, occupancy reached 82% but only 61% during the full four-week period. The achieved revpar for Durban was R1286 for the World Cup period and R1919 during match days," STR said.

"The legacy of the World Cup should continue to provide an opportunity for South African hoteliers," said Elizabeth Randall, MD of STR Global.

Source: Business Day