Trusting the quality of a vacation rental property

Vacation rentals is a fast growing industry around the world. From beach front villas to city studio apartments, a private home atmosphere is more and more in demand from travellers.  For owners of vacation properties or second home investments, having people to pay and stay in their properties becomes a viable financial option.

Searching through Internet social sites, sites dedicated to traveller’s feedback and with the advent of Maps, people seeking a vacation rental villa or apartment can see exactly where they will be staying as well as have opinions from others.

However, owners of well situated vacation properties, especially with the advent of South Africa’s Consumer Protection Bill, need to ensure that everything promised is delivered and there is no better way to do this than have a qualified and reputable hospitality management company to manage the property and guest services on their behalf.  And as a quality assurance guide for their guests, owners should also seriously consider Star Grading with their Tourism Grading Council or authority. In South Africa the Tourism Grading Council recently launched its international Star standards and lists all graded properties on its website.  This is most re-assuring for travellers as grading assessments take place annually and so the chances of what they see on the web being a reality is closer to the mark. There is nothing worse than seeing pictures that show a stunning -looking new villa or apartment, and then travellers finding that those visuals were 10 years out of date and the place is worn-out , threadbare and broken down.

South Africa’s Tourism Grading Council has been a quality “partner” for Home from Home Hospitality Services for the last 9 years. As a high-end tourism management company for privately owned apartments at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, the standards of the TGCSA have been strictly adhered to by all owners – and Home from Home has provided back up guest service support and the upkeep of the standards on owners’ behalves.  So from 3 star studios (equipped to 5 star standards) to 5 star luxurious penthouses with private pools, vacation rentals in Cape Town’s Waterfront have become a favourite for returning guests year after year.