Guest house | Guest house management is no walk in the park

By Corine van Dyk

If you are interested in this topic, take a look at our University of Cape Town Guest House Management course.

Guest house accommodation is the fastest growing accommodation sector in the tourism industry today.  Numerous legislative rules and regulations have a huge impact on the hospitality industry, but often very little is understood by guest house owners about their rights and obligations.  Owners have to comply with labour law regulations, town planning requirements, and relevant provisions of the Rental Housing Act, to name but a few.  At times it seems that everyone except the establishment owner must be kept appeased.  Guest house owners often think that they are covered by ROAR (“Right of Admission Reserved” and “Right of Admission Refused”). The reality of the situation is somewhat different.

It is against the constitution for any hospitality and tourism practise to discriminate against any person due to his race, gender or religion.  Should any discrimination or dissatisfaction occur, the owners can be reported, and taken to the Constitutional Court. It is worth mentioning that guests can cause a lot of trouble for establishment owners. The following story is a real example of a troublesome guest that put an establishment owner and his family through a traumatic series of events.

Story of a nightmare guest
The guest booked into the establishment; paid in advance for one month’s accommodation, and from day one, started causing trouble.  He wasted water and switched on every electrical appliance he could find; the stove, the oven, and everything that had a switch.  He left light bulbs burning day and night on purpose.  Within the first day he started to throw out all the carpets and furniture from the self-catering unit, and even tried to unscrew the headboards of the bed. The manager was instructed to place all the furniture into storage.  The maid that serviced the unit in the morning was kept so busy that she could not get through her normal daily routine, resulting in a near nervous breakdown.  The guest ignored the house rules and invited family and friends to stay over without asking permission or paying the required fees.

The owner had to report to the police station on numerous occasions to defend himself after the guest laid charges of various natures against the owner. The owner offered to pay the guest back his money if the guest was willing to go, but he refused to do so. The owners had to get the help of three attorneys to try and solve the problem. To cut a long story short, the guest stayed for the full period of a month and caused huge damage to the property and left behind a stressed out family.

The establishment lost out in the end. The guest packed up during the night and left the premises without saying a word to anyone.  He took the establishments remote and keys, left water running from all taps, left all the lights switched on, and left the doors locked with a chain.

What are the rights?
The question is, what are our rights in the guest house industry? In what way are we entitled to exercise our right of admission? How can one prevent nightmares like this from occurring in the first place? There is no specific law to protect hospitality industry owners as providers of short term accommodation. As in this case, the authorities see the establishment owner as a landlord, and the guest as a tenant.  It becomes evident that accommodation establishment owners need to familiarize themselves with relevant provisions of the Rental Housing Act, carefully draw up their accommodation agreements, and understand the course of action available to them should a difficult guest book into their establishment.

Owners and managers of small hospitality establishments are encouraged to educate themselves on their legal rights and obligations, as well as industry best practices in the establishment and management of a small hospitality establishment.

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license.