Accommodations firm teams up with leading residential property owner in South Africa to fix 2010 World Cup Bed Shortage

iStopOver.com and Jawitz properties enables South African home and property owners to help football fans get to the games.

Football fans are finding a wider variety, more availability and increased hospitality not from the hospitality industry but from South Africans themselves. The combination Jawitz Properties (the largest residential property owner in South Africa) and the online service iStopOver.com, which was founded by native South Africans is helping bring the world to the World Cup in 2010. 

Once the FIFA World Cup Finals schedule was released on December 4, 2009, ticket buyers have been scrambling to try and find World Cup Accommodation near the stadiums their teams are playing. Most hotels are full and cruise ships are even being considered as a last ditch effort to get more beds.  

Close to 450,000 visitors will be arriving in South Africa during June/July of 2010. There are an estimated 75,000 beds available in traditional hotels and an expected 55 000 bed shortfall during the peak times of the World Cup, according to SA Tourism. In place of constructing new hotels, which could not be utilized to their fullest when the football championship is over, South African home owners are pitching in.

"I'm a huge soccer fan and am very excited about the World Cup taking place in our country," explains Omar Parker who is an iStopOver host from Florida Park, South Africa.  "In being able to bring international soccer fans to the World Cup by sharing my home makes the experience that much more exciting" 

Informally called peer-to-peer accommodations, the online service iStopOveris connecting soccer fans with beach front mansion sublets, single rooms, furnished apartments, bed and breakfasts, and even luxury campgrounds.  Currently there are over a thousand listings available across all cities hosting World Cup games, and as one posting is more are there to takes its place, each with its own charm and amenities.

At the core of iStopOver's peer-to-peer accommodation system is the ease and safety that come with utilizing trusted internet technologies. The social network site Facebook allows for the screening of visitors, through its authentication program, where as cash brokerage service Paypal allows for piece of mind when transferring funds.