03 Jun 2013

Tati River Lodge (TRL) has vowed to stay the course and fight for its market share, despite the current competitive environment in the hospitality industry,

Of late, there has been a mushrooming of new lodges and guest houses as Batswana respond to calls to diversify the economy away from the extractive industry, especially diamond mining to sectors such as tourism, which have been identified as new engines of economic growth.

Speaking at the just ended BOCCIM northern trade fair in Francistown over the weekend, TRL’sales and marketing manager, Mr Shasha Radinoga said competition for the market in Francistown was becoming fierce by the day.

But, Mr Radinoga said TRL was prepared for the challenge to retain their current customers, attract new ones and in the process stay afloat. “Our strategy is to deliver the best product and service to our clients and we believe we are doing that well,” he said.

Mr Radinoga maintained that they wanted anyone who visited their lodge to come back again. Consequently, he added that since the economic recession, expenditure, especially from government, went down and this had affected the hospitality industry as a whole.

 He said government departments gave them 90 per cent of business and the reduction in expenditure meant that they had to compete for the small market share with others.  However, he noted that they had managed to stay afloat by playing with their prices by giving discounts, value additions and Wednesday night ribs for P150, which was the first of its kind in town to be offered at such a lower price.

 This strategy, he said, was working as Francistown did not have something of this kind before they introduced it.  “The other thing that we do is to ensure that our service is not substandard as a way of keeping clients happy all the time,” he said.

On other issues, he explained that the number of rooms offered by Francistown had grown substantially compared to two years ago which called for them to up their game.  However, unlike tourism establishments in areas such as the Chobe and Okavango delta, Mr Radinoga said their peak periods were determined by events such as the BOCCIM northern trade fair and conferences and workshops hosted around Francistown.

On the issue of participation of locals in the promotion of tourism facilities such as lodges, the sales and marketing manager said the situation had improved as Batswana were embracing the culture of spending time in hotels as families compared to five years ago. Furthermore, he asserted that Tati River Lodge was well known for cooking the best and delicious meals in Francistown and this placed their restaurant at the top.

Their pub, he maintained was mostly frequented on Friday due to their happy hour promotions. On top of this, he explained that karaoke nights were now popular.

 “We have a calendar of events which also caters for children and twice in a year we host family fun days and also host a cultural festival as a way of attracting and retaining clients,” he explained.  Ends