You made December 2016 our most successful and busiest month since New Frontiers started 13 years ago! It was also our quietest in terms of calls to the emergency number (no volcanic ash, no delayed flights from snowstorms, no airline groundings...). So this mail is primarily a very personal 'Thank You' to you, for everything that you do in working with the New Frontiers team, but also for selling our part of the world so effectively.
2017 is already shaping up to be busier than last year, and so there are some important housekeeping issues to run through so that both you and we can continue to offer exceptionally high standards of service to our travellers:
Unabridged Birth Certificates
This is still an unchanged requirement by both the South African and Botswana governments. Please make sure that clients are made aware at the beginning of the booking process - and please note that Unabridged means that the parents' names MUST appear in full on the birth certificate. We have the full explanation and requirement list from the Department of Home Affairs which can be downloaded here.
Provisional bookings
We are coming under increasing pressure from all of our suppliers to tighten up on the number of provisional bookings that we are holding, and the length of time that we hold them. As you know, space is at a premium in Southern Africa currently, and as we work primarily with smaller, boutique properties, holding a room provisionally indefinitely takes a room out of their inventory that they cannot sell, especially if we release it months later.
It's important that we respect the challenges faced by the properties as they always go out of their way for New Frontiers partners to clear rooms and make space available for us, and so we will be implementing a 2 week automatic release on all provisional bookings with immediate effect. Your consultant will hold a room, and chase up after 1 week, and thereafter the room will automatically release one week later. Please note that some properties have an even shorter release period on provisionals, and your consultant will advise you if this is the case.
Expanding the Product in Southern Africa
There's nothing worse than receiving a request and not being able to find the space to close the sale. With occupancies of our traditional partners running in the 90%'s, we've spent days out in the field sourcing new properties that will expand both of our offerings. Please take some time to read up on the following new product updates on the Agent Zone:
South Africa (Destinations > South Africa > Out and About)
Cloud Nine Boutique Hotel - A centrally located Cape Town heritage hotel
Lesser Known Kruger - New properties in the Klaserie and Timbavati regions of Greater Kruger
Shayamanzi Houseboats - A houseboat experience in northern KwaZulu-Natal
The Shongololo Express - Rovos Rail's new brand of adventure train
Botswana and Mozambique
(Destinations > Botswana > Out and About)
Africa Update - 2016 in review and what to look forward to in 2017
Zimbabwe and Zambia (Destinations > Zimbabwe > Out and About)
Victoria Falls and Livingstone - Sally reports back on her January visit
Zambia (Destinations > Zambia > Out and About)
Liuwa Plain National Park - Western Zambia's vast hidden gem
Fam trips
We're doing a final call for expressions of interest in the April/May fam trips. You don't need to commit right now, but we do need an indication of how many rooms to hold on each option. Let us know if you need the mail out '2017 Fam Trips' to be re-sent to you.
Here's to a successful and prosperous 2017!
Best regards,
Craig and the team
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