How to reduce your IT Computer purchase office expenses in Mauritius
April 16, 2014
Whether you are going to purchase a computer for private use, several computers for your business there are ways how you can reduce the price that you pay for your PCs.
Small businesses in Mauritius, whether you are starting off or already running, computer equipment can be a costly investment. I will outline here a way that worked for me greatly in reducing my costs and on top also improving my work experience!
Use Ubuntu to save costs on your computer equipment
When I started my first company Isla-Mauricia I purchased mainly second hand computers but unfortunately their life time was also very low. If you are going to buy second hand computers try to get those that have only been used less than a year. I still have one second hand PC that I bought that I managed to get from a company closure. This PC is still running now after 4 years.
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Which Villa in Mauritius is the real GEM of them all?
April 16, 2014
While checking my emails today at work I noticed one particular message that was written to me by an owner with whom I collaborate who was addressing to me that she was disappointed of not seeing her villa listed amongst my list of favourite villas in Mauritius. Considering that my blog is only nearly 2 weeks old I was particularly positively touched by her message. Engagement and communication is everything. Having direct feedback of a partner who follows up on what you do and reads your publication and on top gives you feedback is a very nice form of encouragement. This is even exemplary! Owners, property managers and marketing agencies need to work hand in hand.
Mauritius Lilot Villa – view from above – © Renaud Vandermeeren and L’ilot
Mauritius Lilot Villa – close up of the villa – © Renaud Vandermeeren and L’ilot
We are humans and what we publish on the world wide web is intended for YOU to be read – NO we don’t write texts for search engines to spider. So, a feedback means more than just the clicking of a like button. Therefore I gave her message the special attention that it deserves. The villa in question is Villa L’ilot and she is absolutely right, how could I have missed out her villa on my favourite listing page. Instead of just posting a photo and a short intro I decided to blog a whole post of her villa and also addressing a bit the villa theme.
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Sunday in Mauritius at Port-Louis, Citadelle, Flic en Flac, Black River Gorges National Park, Le Morne, Chamarel, Plaine Champagne, Grand Bassin and Curepipe
April 15, 2014
A sightseeing itinerary with visiting guests from abroad
On Sunday the 13th of April I organised an itinerary with a buddy for two visiting guests from Germany. Quite often when the week end approaches and you have guests from abroad staying at your place you really wonder where you can take them. If you just hit the road without planning you might end up just doing a road trip without a clue where to stop or where to go. This happened to me once where I had a German guest. I just drove south, we had a look at a beach and drove back. So the main thing was only being seated in the car and me driving. Obviously this has its appeal to but it’s better to have a plan!
So for this Sunday I organised the following itinerary
+ Drive to Port-Louis, visit Citadelle to have a panoramic view of Port-Louis and eat some bread and chicken tikka at Pakistan Hotel. It’s actually a snack and not a hotel but called like that and very popular in Mauritius!
+ Head on to West Coast, have a swim at Flic en Flac and drive on to the Gorges National Park where we will have a walk and eat our food.
+ Move on to Le Morne, see the beach and spend sometime there.
+ Drive back home through Grand Bassin, along the way pluck some guavas (Goyave de Chine).
Citadelle also known as Fort Adelaide
Citadelle is a fort located on a hill in the centre of Port-Louis. It offers a stunning panoramic view over the capital city of Mauritius and a great place to take photos. The fort itself is very impressive. It has been built by huge basalt rocks which are very heavy and large. One only wonders how much effort this must have gone in there to build it! The construction time was around 6 years long, from 1834-1840 built by the British to fortify the harbour after they had taken the island from the French.
Mauritius – Citadelle – Fort Adelaide – Port-Louis
Why you should use Twitter Cards to enhance your tweets exposure
April 12, 2014
I just launched this blog a few days ago and published a 15 page long report about the vacation rentals industries future outlook of Mauritius and then filed for the enhanced version of tweets called twitter cards. Though the developer section of Twitter states that it can take weeks to get approved I got my notification right the next day! Which I didn’t expect to happen considering that I only had 1 post up back then.
My first twitter card
I wonder if it’s done manually but if that’s the case I expect them to have evaluated quality of content and also looked at my twitter account which is of neat standing.
How did I activate the twitter card?
I found out about twitter cards by using the plugin YOAST which is an excellent recommended SEO plugin for the WordPress CMS. It also features a link in their social media section through which you can easily access the twitter developer section and through a few clicks apply for your twitter card.
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Roads in Mauritius – The Terre Rouge – Verdun – Trianon / Phoenix Link Road
April 11, 2014
If you remember the eighties what the roads were like back then, Mauritius has made a huge improvement on its road infrastructure within those last 30 years. I still remember that basically nearly every road except the highway had potholes everywhere. A car ride was always bumpy. The quality of the road surface was really terrible back then.
Highway road to Mauritius Airport 2004
One could argue that in 30 years more could have been done but if you are realistic Mauritius is not a country that has its own resources, therefore not a very rich economy to just spend heavily mainly on road infrastructure only and relies on creation of wealth through other means. The economy also was different back then meaning there were also other issues of priority. The foundations of the past lead to the realisation of visions that can nowadays be accomplished.
Holiday home rental agencies future in Mauritius?
April 8, 2014
What are the future outlooks of agencies in the holiday home rentals industry of Mauritius?
In the perspective of a tour operator who acts as a reseller, working with property managers and owners of such vacation rentals earning a return on short term rentals from tourists. A personal view of the current and possible future outlooks for agencies and sharing from an insider perspective what are the barriers and with a dose of a rather pessimistic frame of mind!
Holiday home rental agencies future in Mauritius
I have been involved with the Mauritius vacation rental tourism industry for more than 10 years now. I have also collaborated with various hotels for the last 8 years. Today, I want to write and look at the vacation rentals industry from various perspectives if there is still a future for agencies in this sector or if it looks rather gloomy. Many traditional offline travel agencies have been hit by the internet; will there be a next wave of clean up where many small online agencies will also be put under the carpet leaving only the big players to stand?
Things to ponder upon and I hope my colleagues in this industry will read this article and deeply reflect on their own future.