Ocean View Guest Lodge - Umkomaas

The past 2 weeks, i got to go to Umkomaas,(which means rivier of the whales in Zulu). We, meaning sondela, have another guest house there, and the lady who manages the place had to go on leave, so I ended up going to keep the lodge afloat.I arrived at durban airport at 08h00 in the morning, Jenny picked me up, and took me to the lodge, we first had a cup of coffee, and then it started, jenny took me through the house and explained everything, and showed me where everything is, and started to explain my duties for the next 2 weeks!

These duties included, getting up at 06:00 every morning to let the night security gaurd go and lock up behind him, then when the sun comes up, to turn off the lights and unlock the gate, then i had to set up for breakfast and make sure everything is clean and neat and ready for the guests, who usally starts having breakfast at 07:00.In the mornings customer care and service plays a big role, seeing as you entertaine your guests constantly.During the day moste guests go out, so i watered the garden and inside plants, made sure that all maintenence work is done, collect laundry and give it to Gavin, he is our laundry guy, if something is broken report it to the correct person, and get it fixed. Help and supervise the cleaning ladies. On welcoming, guests gets pancakes, coffee, tea and sherry, this all had to be set up before hand, then when guests arrive, you greet them done stairs at the car, take them through the whole house and inform them about all the procedures, after which they get their pancakes, pay their key deposit, and go to their room.

I had to make sure that the chef always knew what everyone wanted to eat, and that he is there in time to prepare the meals.Constant cleaning and up keep of the house is essencial, that was my job, to run the house, and entertaine the guests. I also did some admin work, keeping paper work, like stock sheets, cash floats and work schedules up to date, then of course answering phones, and keeping Erika back at Sondela up to date on bookings and other qauries.

Making sure that there is always enough stock and everything is in working order.For the guests who are there for lunch, it needs to be set up and ready.Some of the guests can make a request to have there meals at there room.At nights, some of the guests tend to come and sosialize on the communial veranda, then you have to entertaine them till whenever.

So, i had a few late nights and early mornings, hard work and relaxed here and there, it was a fantastic experience, and nice to see how another establishment works.