Having been in the design business for over 40 years designing some of the most unique destination resorts. I was working with one of our founders Jerry Allison on a project in South Africa. The project was a Marine theme park called Ushaka Marine World. I was asked to attend a design and budget meeting in Durban South Africa by Jerry. At first I found this odd, as the Client Dean Murphy was close to Jerry. But when I was told the meeting was a week before Christmas it all made sense to me.
It was to be my only visit to South Africa. Jerry suggested that I visit our Lost City resort. So I set out for SA a few days early. I landed in JoBerg and took a car service for 2 hours out to Lost City resort. When I arrived at the resort I was met at the Porte Cochere and ushered directly to my room that Jerry had set up for me. After the bellman left I called my family to let them know I was staying in the Presidential Suite. They should have come on this trip.
As I am traveling I am aware of the economic divide that separates the resort guests from the local staff. I always took the attitude to be fair as the people that service us are trying to make a living also. So at the time the SA Rand was about 15 to 1 US Dollar. It seemed fair that I would tip the driver the equivalent of $50.00 U.S. Dollars. After all it was a 2 hour drive they had to stay over night and I was heading back the next day to Durban. Later during the trip I noticed the owner pay 5 SAR for a person to watch his car in the parking lot. The owner noticed my confused look on my face. I verified that the 5 SAR was about 30 cents in U.S. currency. Buy the owner indicated that the SAR had a similar buying power in SA as the USD in the USA. So the concern on my face must have been evident and owner wanted to know what the problem was. I told him that I gave my driver $50 tip for driving me to Lost City so that would have been 1,500 SAR. He smiled and chuckled and told me that if it felt fair to me then it was alright. He was sure the driver enjoyed the tip.
Being curious and learning about
I spent a career designing destination all over the globe. Often the resort was a positive economic factor to the local market. Understanding the local market and value is important in designing destination resorts. Exchange rates may limit or open up materials and methods that may be used.
Destination Architect 