Wednesday 1 October 2008

797 new hotel rooms under contruction in SA

The Rezidor Hotel Group, a Belgium based company owning the hotel brands Radisson, Park Inn, Regent and Country Inn, have announced a new 144 room development in Cape Town, on the Blaauwberg sea front.

This will be Rezidor's 350th hotel in operation or under construction, the 3rd group hotel in Cape Town and the 6th in South Africa. More significantly, this brings to 4 the number of new Rezidor Hotels under construction in South Africa presently, with 2 hotels in Sandton and one in Port Elizabeth currently being developed.

In total Rezidor will be opening 797 mew hotel rooms in these 4 new developments, a significant boost to the country's tourism industry and capacity, but perhaps more importantly a significant shot in the arm for confidence in the tourism industry in this country, not just presently, but in the future too.

The Blaauwberg development looks to be impressive, and I look forward to seeing if construction has begun yet when I am in Cape Town at the weekend. Beyond the 144 rooms, with impressive ocean view, view of Table Mountain and Robben Island, the Radisson Blaauwberg will boast no less than 6 state of the art conference and meeting facilities, and award winning contemporary bar and restaurant concept, outdoor swimming pool, fitness area and sun deck. So al in all an impressive offering, clearly aimed at the more up market traveller.

While clearly the 2010 World Cup is a factor in the development and significant for the country, this hotel is only scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2010 - once the football fans have all but left. However, the Park Inn Sandton - being built directly opposite the Sandton Gautrain station site, is clearly a mid market offering aimed at supplying capacity for the 2010 World Cup.

It will be interesting to see if other hotel groups follow suit, bucking the credit crunch and expanding into African and South African markets.

Well done to Rezidor for their bold investment in South Africa.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't want to spit in the eye of development, but living near the beachfront of Blaauberg, I have to say its sad to see these massive buildings pop-up on the horizon... but then there hasnt been too much fuss about the 145(odd)m Old Mutual building going up in the city centre.

But thanks for the post!

Mike said...

Having now spent the last few days in Tableview and near Blouberg, I can see that the beachfront is becoming increasingly "high rise" and that those buildings which had previously had sea views, now had views of the back of concrete buildings.

Like all things, these new developments all have their pro's and cons. It's all fine and well if you are enjoying the benefits - never so great if you're getting the short end of the stick.

Thanks for your comment - I hope to see you around again soon.

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