MATCH Event Services PTY (“MATCH”) is the company selected by FIFA to contract sufficient accommodation (both hotel and non-hotel) to meet the needs of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. This is the first time such a deal has been struck and there was great optimism that this would bode well for the industry.

Initially MATCH endeavored to ensure that it supported the South African government’s legacy objectives for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. To this end, they worked closely with the appropriate South African stakeholder organizations and groups, incorporating small, medium and micro enterprises within the accommodation industry into MATCH’s accommodation offering.

With this in mind, and confident of a throng of world cup supporters, Match secured a substantial proportion of available room inventory in all the major centers.  This was good news for the industry – and not a bad deal for Match and FIFA as they stood to make around 40% on all bookings.
However, the reality has turned out to be rather different and the flood of accommodation reservations has not materialised, particularly in Cape Town. At a meeting of interested parties last week Match attributed the reasons to:

•    the global recession (however, this did not suddenly happen in February when the writing of “no shows” was clearly on the wall!)
•    a perception of high prices (something that Match was clearly a party to)
•    the fact that South Africa is a long-haul destination (did they only notice that in February?)

Last week, Sandy Wilson of Cape Realty International attended a subsequent meeting with MATCH, who have since changed their game and focus somewhat. Not only did they cancel most of their prior contracts, but have decided to rather offer visitors hospitality packages which include, game tickets and even refreshments. However, this now leaves local stakeholders out in the cold, and is a far cry from what was initially promised.

When faced with the wrath of the small business owners, MATCH representatives threw their collective hands in the air and pleaded exhaustion in response to the many requests for explanation. And when faced with the question as to why FIFA didn’t clamp down on the exorbitant airfares that were initiated by SAA, the response was a mere shrug of the shoulders and the following comment: “Well, we have no powers to tell other people how to run their business!” What a joke coming from a FIFA rep!

So we guess it’s true what they say – FIFA will be running our lives and businesses for the months to come. We can only hope that the anticipated long term spin offs now materialize.