Local businesses highlight the impact of lockdown
FOURWAYS – Local hotels, bed and breakfasts, guesthouses, self-catering accommodation and conferencing venues have battled to keep their establishments afloat during lockdown and its various restrictions.
Lockdown and its restrictions on alcohol and travel have had a devastating impact on on many businesses since March this year. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that from26 March, there would be a restriction on all businesses to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. These restrictions have since been eased, since the country moved to Level 2 on 18 August. Fourways Review chatted to local businesses to find out how they were managing to cope during this time.
Pepper Tree Bed and Breakfast
Pepper Tree BnB, located in Paulshof, said business at their establishment dropped almost overnight following the president’s address in March. Owner Paul Gibbon described this as an unpleasant shock. “It was a pretty tough time. Our objective has been to just break even and survive,” said Gibbon. He added that while the business operated at about 25 per cent of their normal capacity, rates and taxes did not stop and neither did various projects to maintain the establishment. Gibbon explained that initially a few travellers were trapped in the country and stayed on at their bed and breakfast at a reduced rate until they were repatriated, which did help them. “We just got into survival mode. Another big shock was people wanting their money back for their bookings, which meant that we paid many of them back. We thought they would be able to postpone, but generally, that was not possible. This became a double whammy for us. We didn’t break even.” Gibbon said when provincial travel reopened, they had a slight burst, and things were a bit busier now. “We are crossing our fingers that things will continue to improve for us. We are at 50 per cent of capacity now.”
Indaba Hotel
Group marketing and sales manager Sharon Hunink said the hotel closed its doors at the end of March as per lockdown legislation, but hosted an essential service call centre team for the month of April and opened as a repatriation site in May for guests during their mandatory quarantine stay. Hinink added, “This has been an incredible journey for the team with most having to quarantine on-site with the groups to ensure all protocols were followed… This experience has allowed us to fine-tune our Covid-19 protocols and service delivery.” Hunink explained that under Level 2 they would allow a phased opening of conferencing venues, restaurants, spa and gin school, and look forward to welcoming regular guests and new visitors to the hotel. They also hope to see a surge in domestic travel. Hunink also mentioned that the opening of provincial borders could mean they see an upsurge in business travel. The Level 2 restrictions do however still impact on their business. “With the current restrictions on lockdown Level 2 being a maximum of 50 people in any one venue, we will unfortunately not be able to maximise this market – this will also affect our room occupancies and will have a knock-on effect on the local economy.” The hotel has, however, adapted their offering to include a virtual conferencing studio allowing for professional presentations to be broadcast to a larger off-site audience. They will use multiple venues to accommodate this using video link-up, ensuring all safety protocols are in place.
Santa Monica Guest House
Roger Santos, owner of the Santa Monica Guest House located in Fourways, said already in January the business began to take a knock. “In January, we began to notice challenges and people started cancelling or not wanting to travel. We were at about 25 per cent of capacity then,” said Santos. He opened the guest house in January last year and hoped that by now it would be running itself. “We completely shut down in March and haven’t had any guests since then. It has been very tough. People think that now that we are at Level 2, things will immediately improve, but that’s not the case. I think it will take a while before things start happening again.” Santos said it was difficult to maintain the house when he wasn’t receiving a return on investment. He added that when the guesthouse was at full capacity, he employed six staff to assist him, but now it was just him and one other staff member. “Guests need to be assured that we are sanitising and keeping them safe and this requires some additional costs. I want to make sure that my guest feel safe. We have to be looking after others.” Related articles: https://www.citizen.co.za/fourways-review/357858/vodacom-tackles-gender-based-violence/ https://www.citizen.co.za/fourways-review/357824/joburg-north-residents-flock-to-bottle-store-amid-closure-concerns/
