Integrated Report 2020
In August 1985, when Swiss-born Hans Enderle opened the first City Lodge Hotel in Randburg (now called City Lodge Hotel Bryanston) with the financial backing of the Mine Pension Funds, the young hotelier had high hopes that he would succeed in changing the face of the hotel industry in South Africa with its selected services hotels. Little did he know that just over three decades later, his vision would be more than realised and that this first City Lodge Hotel would be the beginning of a truly exceptional hospitality industry success story.
From the moment that the doors of the first City Lodge Hotel opened, the emphasis has always been on providing a ‘Tip-top, Loving and Clean’ stay through our top-quality accommodation with a homely ambience and friendly service. These qualities remain hallmarks of every hotel in the group to this day and are the foundation on which it has achieved such stellar heights of success.
After pioneering the quality, selected services hotel concept in South Africa, the group was incorporated in July 1986 and has since grown steadily and significantly by expanding, enhancing and diversifying its offering to meet the changing needs of travellers.
This diversification began in earnest in 1990 with the establishment of the second-tier Town Lodge concept, which quickly grew in popularity.
On 18 November 1992, the group listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and three years later, in 1995, it acquired a 50% interest in the companies associated with the upmarket Courtyard Suite Hotel chain. In the same year, it also opened its first Road Lodge, aimed at delivering the same accommodation and service excellence for which the group had become famous to the budget-conscious traveller.
On the group’s 10th anniversary in August 1995, the City Lodge 10th Anniversary Employees Share Trust was launched, which effectively made all employees shareholders.
In 2012, the group acquired a 50% interest in two hotels in Nairobi, Kenya, and it has since taken full ownership of the Fairview Hotel and Town Lodge, Upper Hill, Nairobi. Town Lodge Gaborone in Botswana became the first new hotel developed by the group outside of South Africa.
In 2014, the outstanding 50% in the Courtyard Joint Venture was acquired from HPF Properties Proprietary Limited.
From 2017, the group continued with its strategy to develop its own properties outside of South Africa with the establishment of the Town Lodge Windhoek, in Namibia, the City Lodge Hotel at Two Rivers Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in early 2018 and the City Lodge Hotel Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, in late 2018. City Lodge Hotel Maputo in Mozambique partially opened three floors (68 rooms) in February 2020.
City Lodge ranks among the 200 largest hotel chains in the world according to Hotels Magazine (August 2019). The Group’s upscale brands include Fairview Hotel and Courtyard Hotel; the upper mid-scale brands include City Lodge Hotel and Town Lodge and its economy brand is Road Lodge.
As at 30 June 2020, the group operated 62 hotels, of which 52 are directly owned by the group.
