What the bands buy
The step from the first band to the third is not the price of a better hotel. On two of the six, it is a night as well.
Each destination page prints three planning bands, from a lean shape of the trip to a generous one. The gap between the first and the third is the number people read as the upgrade, and on four of the six trips that reading holds. On two it does not, because the top row of that page is a longer trip, not only a better one. This page reads all three rows from each of the six pages, prints the first and the third, and quotes the sentence that page uses to describe what each row includes. Every figure and every quotation below is read out of the destination pages by a script, not typed here.
The first band and the third, on each of the six
Read the nights column before the rand column. Where the nights move, the step buys a different trip as well as a different grade, and the two cannot be separated from the published bands alone.
| The trip | First band, and the shape it names | Third band, and the shape it names | The step | Nights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Town and the Winelands | R 9,800 pp, City only, 4 nights | R 24,000 pp, City and Winelands, private, 5 nights | R 14,200 | 4 to 5, one night more |
| Kruger safari | R 18,500 pp, Sabi Sands, three nights, 3 nights | R 31,900 pp, Sabi Sands and the lowveld, 4 nights | R 13,400 | 3 to 4, one night more |
| Garden Route drive | R 7,400 pp, Self-drive, three-star, 6 nights | R 16,900 pp, With a private driver-guide, 6 nights | R 9,500 | 6 to 6, unchanged |
| Mauritius beach week | R 26,500 pp, Four-star, half board, 7 nights | R 38,500 pp, Five-star, all inclusive, 7 nights | R 12,000 | 7 to 7, unchanged |
| Zanzibar slow week | R 22,800 pp, Four-star, bed and breakfast, 7 nights | R 34,900 pp, Five-star, half board, 7 nights | R 12,100 | 7 to 7, unchanged |
| Dubai short break | R 14,200 pp, Four-star, Deira or Bur Dubai, 4 nights | R 24,600 pp, Five-star, Marina or beachfront, 4 nights | R 10,400 | 4 to 4, unchanged |
The narrowest step on the site is the Garden Route at R 9,500 and the widest is Cape Town at R 14,200. Those two numbers are not comparable as upgrades, because Cape Town's step carries an extra night and the Garden Route's does not. The how long to go page makes the same point from the other side, per night rather than per trip.
What the step buys, in each page's own words
Each destination page writes one sentence under every band describing what that row includes. Both sentences are reproduced here word for word, the first band on the left and the third on the right, so the difference can be read rather than inferred.
Cape Town and the Winelands
First band, R 9,800: Three-star, one base, public day tours, no driver.
Third band, R 24,000: Five-star, private guide days, estate lunch, airport transfers.
Kruger safari
First band, R 18,500: Four-star lodge, shared vehicle, two drives a day, all meals.
Third band, R 31,900: Five-star lodge, private vehicle, three safari nights plus one escarpment night and the Panorama Route day.
Garden Route drive
First band, R 7,400: Compact car, guesthouses and B&Bs along the route, breakfast included, Addo self-drive entry.
Third band, R 16,900: Four-star hotels, breakfast included, a driver-guide for the full route, Addo entry and the Oudtshoorn day.
Mauritius beach week
First band, R 26,500: North or west coast resort, return flights from Johannesburg, airport transfers, breakfast and dinner daily.
Third band, R 38,500: Adults-only wing or a family suite, return flights from Johannesburg, transfers, all meals and local drinks, one catamaran half day and a spa credit.
Zanzibar slow week
First band, R 22,800: Two nights in Stone Town and five on the north coast, return flights from Johannesburg, airport and inter-hotel transfers, breakfast daily.
Third band, R 34,900: Boutique Stone Town hotel and a beachfront room at Nungwi or Kendwa, return flights from Johannesburg, all transfers, half board and both water days.
Dubai short break
First band, R 14,200: Return flights from Johannesburg, four nights, airport transfers, breakfast daily, the creek and souk day, and the metro rather than a car.
Third band, R 24,600: Return flights from Johannesburg, four nights on the water side, private transfers, breakfast daily, a beach club day pass, At The Top SKY on level 148, and the conservation reserve desert day.
Read together, the six sentences describe four kinds of change: the grade of the room, the board, the transport inside the trip, and the days that are included. Three of the six also move from a shared arrangement to a private one, on the vehicle, the guide or the transfers. None of the six says anything about the room beyond its grade, which is where the sharing basis takes over.
Two of the six steps buy a night as well as a grade
Cape Town, four nights to five
The first band is four nights in one base. The third is five nights across Cape Town and the Winelands, with a private guide and airport transfers. Part of the R 14,200 is the fifth night, and the published bands cannot say which part. Treating the whole step as the price of the grade would overstate it.
The same page prices a middle row at five nights, without the private guide days. That row is the closest thing on the site to a like-for-like read of what the grade alone costs, and it is on the Cape Town page in full.
Kruger, three nights to four
The first band is three nights in the Sabi Sands with a shared vehicle. The third adds a fourth night on the escarpment and the Panorama Route day, and moves to a private vehicle. Two things change at once, and the fourth night is separately priced on that page as its own row.
This is the one marginal night the site prices directly, and the how long to go page works it out at R 4,900. Read it there before reading the R 13,400 step as the cost of a private vehicle.
The other four pages hold the nights constant across all three bands: the Garden Route at six, Mauritius at seven, Zanzibar at seven and Dubai at four. On those four, the step is a change of grade, board, transport and included days, and nothing else.
Three things the step does not buy
The season
All three bands on every page are shoulder-season planning ranges. South African school holidays, December and the European winter run above them, and each destination page says so in its own note. A top band in September and an entry band over Christmas are not the same purchase, and the step between the first and third band says nothing about which season either falls in.
The fare basis
Three of the six captions state that the return flight from Johannesburg is included: Mauritius, Zanzibar and Dubai. The other three, Cape Town, Kruger and the Garden Route, name Johannesburg as the origin and stop there. The step within a destination is comparable, because both bands on that page sit on the same basis. A step compared across destinations is not.
The traveller shape
Every band is per person sharing, which means two people in one room. The step does not buy a single room, a third bed or a child rate, and none of those is priced on this site. If the room shape is what you are weighing, the sharing basis page names the four travellers these bands do not fit.
Why this page will not rank the six by what a night costs
Because a package night and a land night are different things
A Mauritius band carries a return fare. A Garden Route band carries a car. Dividing both by their nights produces two numbers that look comparable and are not, and the ranking that follows would be a mistake with a decimal point. The destination pages print the basis beside every band for this reason, and this page keeps it there.
What can be compared within a page is the step, because both rows sit on the same basis, the same season and, on four of the six, the same nights.
What to do with the step instead
Decide which of the four changes matters most to you: the room, the board, the transport inside the trip, or the days included. The basis sentences above name all four. Ask for the band that carries the one you care about and leave the rest at the leaner row. That is usually a smaller step than the full gap, and it is the question the middle row on each page exists to answer.
Choosing between the six takes the same rows and asks which trip fits, rather than which band does.
What to put in the brief
Send these six lines
- The destination you are weighing, or the two you cannot split.
- The band you are reading, by name rather than by number.
- Which of the four changes matters: room, board, transport or included days.
- The nights you want, independent of the row you are reading.
- The month, so the season can be priced instead of assumed.
- A ceiling you will not cross, if you have one.
What comes back, and when
The two or three shapes closest to what you asked for, each on its own row with the basis named, and the step between them stated in rand. Where a night is the reason for the step, the night is called out separately rather than folded into the grade.
That arrives the same working day. The binding price follows once Lizanne has confirmed availability with the trade, in writing. A plan that never becomes a booking costs you nothing.
Pick the change you want to pay for. The rest stays at the leaner row.
Three lines are enough: the destination, the band and the change that matters.
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Free to the traveller.
The planning lane costs you nothing. A plan that never becomes a booking costs nothing either.
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One named human.
Lizanne van Niekerk plans it and books it. She is the person you message on the day of travel.
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Indicative until confirmed.
Every band before the booking is a planning range. The binding price is confirmed in writing, on the room you are actually in.
Read what it costs for the three steps and the fee, or the four packages for what sits outside a band.