Aftermath of Sadc on the hotel industry

The just-ended Sadc meeting which took place from the 10th to 18th August in Lilongwe has been described as successful by some hotel owners while others say they never saw any change to their business performances.

About five hotel managers we interviewed say they experienced a surge in the number of customers who patronised their hotels.

Pacific Hotel sales and marketing manager Pike Msonda said they were fully booked from July 31 to August 19.

“This was one of our busiest times. We even disappointed some of our customers because we were fully booked and we had no spare rooms. What we experienced during that meeting is very unprecedented,” said Msonda.

Sogecoa Golden Peacock hotel manager Harvey He agreed with Msonda that business during the Sadc meeting was impressive and they got good returns.

“We charge our rooms $150 per night about K60 000 and all the 247 rooms that we have were fully booked on the 17th and 18th of August. We are very happy as an organisation because it is not all the time that you can have all your rooms fully booked,” said He.

He said he was surprised that even after the summit, business is still performing well.

“We had fears that after the meeting, we will experience a huge slump, but that has not been the case. We still have a lot of guests and I want to assure our customers that we will always give them the best of service,” he said.

Crossroads Hotel business manager Kele Zidana said the hotel was fully booked during the period of the Sadc meetings and most of the guests commended them for good services.

According to Zidana, a room at the hotel costs $145 (about K47 000) and during the Sadc meeting, business flourished.

“We  had good business across all the days the meeting was in progress and the surge in customers is what we will remember the Sadc for,” said Zidana.

However, some hotel owners did not benefit much from the Sadc meetings, as their patronage was normal according to one hotel owner who opted for anonmity.