Innovations

The Unique Hospitality Village Concept

Village & Life's innovative hospitality concept was created in 1994. The concept was first introduced in De Waterkant and was known as "Cape Town's First Guest Street," evolving into a unique hub named De Waterkant Village. The idea of creating a centralised reception for self-catering guests to still benefit from the services and facilities of a reception and concierge, whilst enjoying the independence of self-catering accommodation, defined the village concept.

Traveller's Places

Hotels and hospitality venues often have unused space or ?odd rooms? that end up being used as storerooms or filled last, resulting in an unhappy guest. These rooms also don?t fit into the standard room classifications and thus cannot be marketed with confidence. We classify these rooms as ?Traveller?s Places,? and market them at specific rates to a definite target market. Traveller?s Places attract the ?discerning millionaire backpackers? wishing to stay in the best locations at a reasonable price. The end result is that the forgotten rooms now become desirable and highly marketable. www.travellersplaces.co.za

Owner participation

Village & Life developed an owner participation model which allows private property owners the opportunity to invest in property and participate in the dynamics of the tourism industry, earn rental returns, engage in hassle-free ownership as well as private occupation when required. Owners are advised to prepare the properties according to detailed specifications and are classified and individually marketed as part of the ?village? destination.?Rental returns are accounted for individually, not pooled. Due to the success of the model, owners are not locked in for longer than 6 months. The detailed structure also allows considerable tax benefits and advantages.

Overnight Packs

One of our innovations at Village & Life is the ?Overnight Pack,? for our self-catering guests.?Presented in an attractively designed carrier, the recyclable pack contains every little essential item that a guest could need for their first night and the morning after.?The pack includes ground coffee sachets, with milk portions, sugar, sweeteners, Ceylon tea and Rooibos tea.?Besides for being stocked with necessities such as toilet paper, a pen, a notepad, serviettes, matches, a dish cloth and dishwashing liquid, the pack also includes an indigenously inspired toiletry range of shampoo and soap.

Multi Purpose Hooks

Self catering places are offered a laundry service every third night, fourth day. Problems are experienced with the drying of wet towels on a daily basis. Often the housekeepers do want to hang the wet towels over the dry ones in the bathrooms. The bathrooms also tend to be damp after use. The result was that towels were sent to the laundry on a daily basis, which we all know has a detrimental environmental effect. There were no such hooks available on the market.

We developed, designed and manufactured a solution according to our specifications, being a stainless steel multi-purpose hook to hang towels, gowns or any other wet items of clothing. Multi-purpose hooks are put up where towels can dry naturally through wind and the draft coming from a door or window.