Tourism Update Online has been alerted to rumours circling amongst South African-based travel trade that Queensgate Hotel and Leisure is in financial difficulty.
Tour operators that are currently holding bookings for rooms have been told that Queensgate is no longer holding a lease agreement for the Park Inn/Inn on the Square property in the Western Cape and as a consequence must repay their deposit and claim their original deposits back from Queensgate.
Craig van Rooyen, Director at Tour d’Afrique in Cape Town, says that his company is to lose its bookings for the period of the 2010 FIFA World Cup unless it pays a second deposit to secure the rooms again.
Owner of the property, Hospitality Property Fund (HPF), has confirmed that it had terminated a lease agreement held with Queensgate for its Park Inn/Inn on the Square property, as well as its Radisson property, and has since told operators that Queensgate is liable for money paid over for bookings.
Andrew Rogers, deputy CEO at HPF, says Queensgate have not paid over the money taken for upcoming bookings and operators, and not HPF, are responsible for claiming back the money from Queensgate.
He says this is a result of contracts being entered into with Queensgate, the entity leasing the property, for bookings and not with the actual property owners. Rogers says ideally large amounts of money paid over for bookings for periods such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup should be put into a third party account to reduce the risk for those parties concerned.
Rogers furthers: “Queensgate do not seem to have money and tour operators may battle to recover their money.”
Three Cities, who entered into large management contract with Queensgate late last year, have confirmed that they have taken over the lease agreement but are not aware of Queensgate experiencing any financial difficulty.
Further indications that the company may be experiencing financial difficulty include the closure of its ONEwellness spa recently at the Sandton Isle in Johannesburg.
On request for comment on the issue, Queensgate’s Clive Musikanth would only say: “it’s business as usual”.
