When Jolyon Proudman and Heike Lührmann started La Roche Guesthouse in a leafy street in the coastal Cape Town suburb of Milnerton twenty years ago, there was only one nearby guest house. Today, there are no fewer than 14 guest houses in Milnerton, and a whopping 25 000 rooms throughout Cape Town listed on Airbnb that did not even exist at that time.
The tourism sector in South Africa has seen steady growth over the past two decades, with 2 million overseas visitors in 2005 versus 2,4 million in 2019 (excluding mainland visitors from Africa). Despite this growth, it is clear that competition within the tourism industry has intensified significantly.
Apart from the basic principles of maintaining a high standard of service, one important way to thrive in such a cut-throat environment is to specialise, as Jolyon and Heike’s business clearly illustrates.
At La Roche Guest House’s the primary clientele during the summer months, are German golfers seeking to escape the northern hemisphere’s winter and enjoy South Africa’s world-class golf courses.
Both these specialities are deeply rooted in the personal journey of its founders, and of how Jolyon and Heike started La Roche Guesthouse. Jolyon, who grew up on a farm in the Eastern Cape, developed a passion for golf early on and eventually became a professional golfer. His career took him to Europe, especially Germany, where he worked as a golf instructor during the European summer and led golf tours to South Africa for the rest of the year.
Heike, who worked in cosmetics in Germany, met Jolyon on holiday in Greece where he was working at a golf resort. Heike says she fell in love with South Africa on her first two-week trip to the country with Jolyon. When Jolyon’s brother put his house in Milnerton on the market, the couple seized the opportunity to start a new life for themselves in Cape Town.
They converted the house on Weenen Road, Milnerton, into a six-room guest house, mostly with their own finance. Jolyon remembers their first guests arriving from Germany while the swimming pool was still under construction.
From the beginning, Heike and Jolyon tapped into their German golfing network, which became their bread and butter over the South African summers. It was during quieter winter months that they pivoted to the corporate sector to fill the rooms. Jolyon remembers pounding the streets of the local industrial areas to knock on doors and drop off brochures, in order to keep occupancy rates up.
Golf tours were always a big part of the business, with Jolyon personally escorting golfers along the scenic Garden Route in their own bus while Heike managed operations at the guest house. Recently, however, they sold their tour bus and now outsource their tour bookings.
In 2018, La Roche Guesthouse was due for an upgrade, and the couple also wanted to convert a space into a private flatlet for themselves. For financing, they turned to Business Partners Limited because of the interest and hands-on approach they had. “They actually come out and assess the feasibility of your plans, something that the banks simply would not do,” Jolyon explains.
Their relationship with Business Partners Limited proved crucial to help them overcome two subsequent crises. When the pandemic brought tourism to a standstill, La Roche Guesthouse was saved by an emergency bridging loan from Business Partners Limited. Later, during the height of load shedding, Business Partners Limited stepped in again -this time financing the solar power installation for the guest house, to ensure it could operate reliably.
Today, Jolyon and Heike say tourism has bounced back, and their business is thriving once more. Their specialisation and extensive client network built up over the years, many of whom have turned into good friends they visit on trips to Germany, continue to fuel the business’s success.
About the Author: BPL Admin
