WHILE various changes are under way
at Tsogo Sun, agents have felt a huge
gap in terms of the hotel group’s
communication with them, with many
saying engagement with sales reps
has been lacking.
In the last few weeks, the group
has seen the return of Marcel von
Aulock, now as ceo of the hotel
division, and the reshuffling of the
group’s assets in a bid to please
shareholders. However, at this stage,
agents can only speculate as to the
impact these developments will have
on the hotel group’s relationship with
the trade.
While the final structure and timing
have not been confirmed, Priya
Naidoo, gm marketing hotels, Tsogo
Sun, said none of its existing
agency or TMC agreements
would be affected by the
reshuffle.
“Following the takeover
of the Hospitality Fund and
the transfer of the majority
of our hotel assets into the
fund, along with the recently
announced proposal to sell
the casino real estate assets
– but not the operations – to
the fund, we believe we would
unlock value for shareholders
by splitting the business into
three listed entities: casino
operations, hotel operations
and real estate,” she said.
“We are currently working
on this process and will
announce the final structure
and timing when we are
done.” Tsogo did not provide
details in terms of if and how
the restructure would impact
its sales team.
While Tsogo Sun has
emphasised that it will be
business as usual amidst
the changes, agents were
in agreement that a fresh
approach to sales could
work in Tsogo’s favour, with
most saying they had little
interaction or engagement
with the company’s sales
reps.
Mary Goslin, director at
Sure Penzance Travel, said:
“Maybe it will actually be a
positive change. With some
of the work taken off their
plate, maybe the reps will
actually come out and see
us.”
She said she had not seen
the Tsogo Sun sales rep in
over a year. “My team and
I have a better relationship
with the staff at the hotels
than we do with the sales
reps.” She said she hoped
that once the restructuring
was complete there would
be more rep visits to
provide product updates and
information.
“We get more independent
reps and reps from smaller
hotels than we do from the
large groups,” added Tracy
Teichmann, manager at Sure
Adcocks Travel. When asked
if she thought the Tsogo
Sun restructuring could lead
to more engagement with
the sales reps, Tracy was
optimistic. “Sometimes
when there is restructuring,
or new leadership, there will
be a clearing out of the old
ways, and a new way of doing
things will be brought in.
Hopefully there will be more
reps on the roads coming
around and keeping us up
to date.”
