'The roads we've traveled (so far)' in pictures

How to get accommodation right

Recently I had the opportunity to stay at Gibbs Farm near the Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania and was blown away from the second I arrived…every single detail had been attended to in the most perfect way. Nothing was ostentatious, but it all felt special and you could tell that everything about the working farm is geared towards the guests’ needs.  From the car wash for your dust-ridden vehicle as you arrive and the pre-dinner canapés served to guests while the resident bush babies are also being fed,  to the in-room post safari massages to ensure no amount of game viewing results in a stiff neck, Gibbs Farm has got it all right! What was most striking, however, was the ways they showed that ensuring your guests’ stay is an unforgettable experience is not complicated nor needs to cost the earth.  So, based on my incredible break from reality at Gibbs Farm, here are 5 simple guidelines that can help you do the same…

1) Great food from fresh produce – sounds simple but too often the focus is on variety of food rather than quality. The number of ingredients required to offer this variety means the quality and freshness suffers – there’s just no way around this, and that’s regardless of the skills of your chef.  Rather stick to a few dishes you do fantastically well and with great ingredients, this means your food costs will fall even though guest satisfaction will improve. Gibbs Farm, as already mentioned, is a working farm and 90% of all food served – the cheese, meat, vegetables and even the coffee – is grown or made on the premises. And you can tell with every bite. The lunch buffet I just sampled only featured 8 dishes, but each was mouth-watering and so much more enjoyable than a typical 30 meal buffet filled with 27 bad dishes that must be suffered through to find the 3 decent ones. To ensure you really feel spoilt Gibbs Farm have added a cake & coffee buffet in the afternoons, again not massive in variety but to die for in taste…so still far from the 30 meal buffet in quantity but also far more enjoyable, luxurious and unforgettable. This learning applies to more than just the buffet but even the size of your menu – nobody likes being faced with a 20 page menu anyway, guests and chefs alike!

First: Matt helping with the daily harvest. Second: Pre-dinner snacks as only Gibbs Farm can do! Third: Ishtar taking the freshly harvested produce up to the Gibbs Farm Kitchens to be cooked 

2) Put yourself in the shoes of your guest                                                                                          

Think about where they’ve had to come from, how they get to your accommodation and what needs arise from the specific conditions related to these questions and your establishment. So if getting to you means a long dusty road offering a car wash as guests arrive, and get whisked off to their rooms, shows that you not only understand their journey but care about making it as comfortable as possible. If you know they have traveled through a particularly cold region ensure the hand towels waiting to greet them are heated. Think about what facilities they are most likely to require as they arrive and ensure they are immediately accessible: for example if the warm water in rooms needs to be switched on and requires time to heat up ensure this is done before your guest arrives. Make sure that the number of guests per room is accommodated for – in terms of the number of towels, glasses for water etc.  Little things like this easily convert a mundane experience into something luxurious, and each little special touch may not specifically be remembered but will contribute to an unforgettable overall experience.

3) Think of alternative ways to meet guests’ needs, think of local ways to meet guests’ needs

Too often establishments rush to look and be exactly the same as millions of others around the world forgetting that by looking to solve challenges with local solutions they can not only save money but develop a point of differentiation and interest. This can be as simple as the alternatives to non-drinkable tap water that don’t need to mean costly bottled water! At Gibbs Farm water filters are used, and the water served in beautiful hand crafted glass jugs – much classier, environmentally friendly and best of all for proprietors, cheaper.  Even better these jugs are made locally using glass bottles recycled from the farm - proof that a really simple solution can have a positive impact, not only for the establishment and guests but for the surrounding community too. They take this a step further and even the lamp shades for the wall lights in the rooms are made locally from the farm’s recycled glass, resulting in décor that is note-worthy, unique and cheaper, even though this is in no way visible in the end product.

4) Keep your guests busy                                                                                                                    

The more remote your establishment the more important this becomes – and while remoteness can be a major pull factor, unless it is coupled with something to do the visit will never be for more than a few days. Gibbs Farm offers a range of daily activities for almost every hour of the day – starting with bread-baking classes, wildlife censuses and coffee roasting in the morning; to vegetable harvesting and volleyball during the day, all finished off with Bush Baby feeding and sometimes even live music in the evenings. It is impossible to get bored at Gibbs Farm regardless how long your stay. So if you want to encourage guests to stay longer all you need to do is offer an incentive to do this – and free or low-cost activities are much more likely to do this! 

First: Coffee Roasting with guests first thing in the morning. Second: The Rhythm of the Farm - & how guests can get involved. Third: Matt & Ishtar taking a tour of the studio of the Gibbs Farm artist in-resident, Athumani Katongo.

5) Offer free Wi-Fi

The fact that this still needs to be offered as advice to accommodation establishments astounds me, especially with the large number of very reasonable uncapped data packages available on the market.  Yet even some of the biggest hotel chains in the world do not offer this, or even worse do offer Wi-Fi but at an additional cost to guests. This has become a non-negotiable factor, like clean rooms, for many travellers and I know I am not alone in actively boycotting places that do not offer free Wi-Fi. Gibbs Farm is in an incredibly remote location – part of its charm – and if they can get fast and reliable Wi-Fi out at the edge of the Ngorongoro crater you have no excuse!

Words by Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)

A Photo Essay...