Establishments not clear about water crisis?
Failure to inform guests timeously about a water crisis in parts of the South Coast lands Beds at Sea in trouble
WITH signs at Cape Town International Airport and billboards beseeching travellers and residents to “Think Water” and “Slow the Flow – save H2O”, the Mother City’s water crisis has been widely publicised.
Visitors understand the Western Cape is in the throes of a crippling drought, so they can’t luxuriate in baths or expect freshly starched napery on the dinner table at a five-star establishment.
The impact on tourism has been marked, with tour operators noting a steep increase in cancellations as visitors are spooked by reports.
And residents (but not nearly enough) are “letting it mellow”, re-using their grey water, allowing gardens to turn into sandpits, and no longer topping up swimming pools.
The water crisis has affected many other parts of the country too, with Beaufort West becoming completely dependent on underground water in November already.
In KwaZulu-Natal, which has experienced sporadic rain in recent months, Umgeni Water warned last month that the biggest dam may dry up unless it receives “torrential” rainfall.
In October last year, a strike on the South Coast led to weeks of water interruptions. It was widely reported and only affected a small region, but a local letting agency has come under fire for not alerting guests timeously and accepting payment.
Urishka Surjoo, a Chatsworth attorney, contacted me about her client, only known as Melanie, who had booked a weekend stay for members of her family to celebrate her mother’s birthday through Beds at Sea.
She says they failed to disclose that there was a water shortage issue, despite being well aware of it.
“Our client had paid them the day before the scheduled holiday and Beds at Sea had still not advised of the water problem. When Melanie got word of the water issue on the South Coast, a family member contacted Beds at Sea.
“They then advised that they would drain water from the pool to fill JoJo tanks,” she explained.
This meant they couldn’t use the pool, would have to use pool water for ablutions and the party of 16 would be dependent on bottled water. Among the group were elderly and diabetic family members, a cancer patient and a four-month-old baby.
Unhappy with the situation, Melanie insisted on a refund. Beds at Sea relented, giving her R1 650, and telling her she should sue the owner because he’d already been paid the R8 100 for their stay and they’re merely the agents. But the contract was between Melanie and Beds at Sea.
“Beds at Sea knew there was a problem on that specific weekend and failed to advise our client of the water issue – this could have been done before our client paid in the monies for her holiday.
“Instead, Beds at Sea remained silent and waited for our client to make payment and only upon being questioned did they suggest draining the pool or providing the 20 litres of drinking water.”
I asked Grace Watson from Beds at Sea about the issue. She said they had experienced a water outage from the end of October to about the second week in November.
“UGU staff had downed tools and sabotaged many water plants due to some dispute. All residents and business where affected in a very negative way during this time as there was nothing we could do to change the water situation during that period. Water was off from Port Edward to Southport, maybe even beyond that.
“As a business we had to keep going and we were as pro-active as possible for this not to affect our guests negatively in any way.”
So, they instructed the properties’ owners to install JoJo tanks and pumps before Melanie arrived.
“I did not feel the need to scare the guests or put them off coming to enjoy their holiday as we had made provision for water for the duration of their stay”.
She said the pool was clean and still usable, and she had told Melanie about the issue on the Friday before they arrived, offering her an alternative date but Melanie wouldn’t budge due to the party.
“I was confident with the tanks we had installed and I knew that my guests had water in a time where no one else had.”
Watson also claimed the solution was acceptable to all her other guests. “My offer still stands for them to come and stay another weekend as they have paid for it. I am truly sorry that the matter has gone this far.”
Access to water is a material issue and while the JoJo solution might have worked for some guests, it was not acceptable to all.
Beds at Sea should have disclosed the issue – and the measures they were taking – to all its potential guests when bookings were made, before any money was paid. Failure to do so is dishonest at best.
It’s not an isolated complaint either, but Beds at Sea is still a member of Ugu South Coast Tourism. I asked its CEO, Justin Mackrory, about their conduct.
“(Their membership) is now going to be under review… It is our position that members need to be of good standing and recurring issues like this do put that standing into question.”
Hopefully, there will be effective sanction because deceptive conduct casts other establishments listed on South Coast Tourism’s site – and the authority itself – in a bad light.