By Diana Neille JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Thousands of South Africans who had expected to make a killing from the World Cup by renting their houses at inflated prices have been left empty- handed after foreign bookings slumped. Last year predictions that South Africa did not have enough hotel rooms to house an expected 450,000 foreign fans started a gold rush amongst private homeowners, some of whom put their places on the market at three to six times normal rents. Many planned to take holidays during the tournament to make maximum profit. Blatant greed by some of them caused concern among South African officials who feared ripping off the fans would undermine one of the World Cup's main aims -- a powerful boost to future tourism and investment. Now that has all changed, after officials said foreign visitors were likely to be 370,000 or even less, releasing thousands of hotel rooms back on the market. "At our peak, in terms of the number of people who put their properties into the pool, I think we had about 23,000 and we've only probably rented out, at best, 8,000 beds," said Tracey French, General Manager for Seeff Properties, one of South Africa's biggest estate agents. After FIFA's travel agent MATCH last year said there were not enough graded hotel rooms for the World Cup, websites went up overnight advertising apartments and houses. Some luxurious beachfront mansions in Cape Town were on the market for corporate customers at 90,000 rand ($11,600) a day. Seeff began a World Cup renting enterprise with former Manchester United goalkeeper Gary Bailey, now a television sports personality and businessman. INITIAL EXCITEMENT "There was an initial excitement in the property industry about the World Cup's potential," French said. "Our strategy came about because everybody went to press saying there was a perceived shortage of accommodation." MATCH has since returned thousands of hotel rooms to the market, attracting sometimes bitter criticism from owners who feel they have been left in the lurch after turning down other bookings. In April the Mail and Guardian newspaper reported that MATCH had returned 450,000 of the 1.8 million beds it had booked in hotels, although MATCH's chief executive, Jaime Byrom, is reluctant to give exact figures. The global economic crisis and fears of South Africa's violent crime is blamed for the slump in foreign bookings although as a long haul destination this World Cup was never expected to get as many foreign fans as Germany in 2006. The sudden return of hotel rooms, preferred by visiting fans, undermined the market for private homes. Otti Meijer, a real estate agent for homeowners in eastern Johannesburg, accused MATCH of being responsible for the hype around private accommodation. "The expectations were created by MATCH. They were always complaining that they couldn't get enough accommodation signed up and they were talking about numbers of 450,000 or 500,000 people," he told Reuters. "They couldn't sign up enough hotels and B&Bs and guesthouses. So they started the whole process of all the private home owners. They should have known better." But Byrom said MATCH had always made it clear it was not involved in schemes to rent private homes. "We specifically took the decision not to use private housing ... from experience, every private housing initiative we've ever come across just doesn't work. It's not what the consumer wants. People find it very difficult to stay in somebody else's home," he told Reuters. GUESTHOUSES But smaller operators, who did not try to make a fortune in one month seem to have done better from soccer supporters, who are not known for booking luxury accommodation. Dolly Hlophe, owner of a guest house converted from her home in a tourist area of the sprawling township of Soweto, signed with MATCH and is satisfied. "Right now I've got a booking for Americans and Germans... MATCH did not promise to fill our beds every day. Everything is controlled by MATCH but I prefer that," she said, adding that some homeowners had been too greedy. "Some of the places were very exhorbitantly priced. MATCH told us that we shouldn't overprice our places. I think people who got bookings from MATCH are people who didn't overprice their places." Bailey said that renting out private homes was always going to be hit or miss. "There's half the people coming here that we expected... we just put it down to one of those things that happened. It was always going to be a bonus if it came along. I was hoping to rent out my house and I haven't." (Editing by Barry Moody)
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