All of a sudden the leaves are turning brown and winter is upon us. How the year has flown. Our Annual General Meeting was held in February and our guest speaker was Amanda Reid from Sunshine Girls, who spoke about the importance of calling the professionals in when you are faced with a death in a hotel.
In March we attended Hostex which is held every second year in Johannesburg. We had a very successful 3 days and thanks to the numerous Housekeepers that came by the stand to say hello. The winners of our lucky draw were: Jansie Bruwer winning the spa day for 2 sponsored by Mowana Spa, Robert Sharman was the winner of the breakfast for 2 kindly sponsored by The City Lodge Group and the winner of the weekend away also sponsored by the City Lodge Group was Annette Adams. Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you to our sponsors.
The highlight so far this year has been an invitation to attend a housekeepers convention in Botswana. The event was organized by Contemporary Linen of Botswana as there was a definite need to get housekeepers and suppliers talking the same language when it comes to ordering linen supplies, chemicals for cleaning etc. The convention was well attended by housekeepers from various hotels and lodges from all over Botswana and we even had some housekeepers come from Zambia and Zimbabwe to attend. Suppliers to industry were also present and they were able to show off their goods. The convention was opened with a talk about grading in Botswana, how it works and what an important role the Housekeepers play in ensuring that the hotel or lodge achieves the grading targets that they set for themselves. Simone Lobetti then took the housekeepers through very important topics that influence their daily tasks. The day ended with a gala evening. The guest speaker for the evening was Lily Rakorong who is the CEO of HATAB (Hospitality & Tourism Association of Botswana). We danced the night away to the music of local musicians and DJ’s. The following day we presented Eat that Frog which was very well received and the day ended with a very interesting tour of a local bedding factory. This was definitely a very successful event and one that will be on the calendar yearly. Thank you to all the sponsors that made this a success.
