Crew discount - Namibia

30 July 2010 - We had always wanted to go to Namibia. So when we were posted to South Africa in the 1980s it was a great destination for a long weekend.

 A friend of ours, Mark, was a pilot for a large airline company that flew into Johannesburg and Namibia was one of his favourite outings whenever he landed there. He always stayed at the Windhoek Safari Hotel and recommended we stay there, too. “Don’t forget to ask for a discount,” he said. Discount? Based on what? “Just say you work for our airline company. They’ll give you a form and you’ll have to fill in an eight digit number. Doesn’t matter what the number is.” We couldn’t figure it out. Why would a local hotel in Windhoek give the crew of an airline company that doesn’t fly into  Windhoek a discount? “No idea, but it works,” Mark replied. Obviously, we couldn’t resist the temptation when we arrived at
the Safari Hotel. Still, we were a bit nervous when we requested a ‘crew discount’. Without batting an eye, the form was handed across the counter. We filled in a random eight digit number and lo and behold: we got a forty per cent crew discount!