Manufactured capital
HOTEL FOOTPRINT
As at 30 June 2022, the group operated 59 hotels across four brands in southern Africa.
Courtyard Hotel
South Africa
City Lodge Hotel
South Africa, Mozambique
Town Lodge
South Africa, Botswana, Namibia
Road Lodge
South Africa
Significant focus is placed on the quality of the amenities and experiences offered at each of our hotels. To remain relevant, an array of quality experiences must be provided at appropriate price points across each of our brands. Our hotels have a broad geographic distribution that is key to the group’s competitive advantage. We have continuously prioritised capital expenditure in developing and maintaining our properties to keep them relevant and fresh, except during 2020 and 2021, when our capital expenditure was suspended in response to the exigencies of the pandemic.
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
Over the years, the group has followed a stringent refurbishment programme to maintain the highest standard in the quality of our hotel product. In this financial year, the group invested R10 million in refurbishments and infrastructure (2021: R2.7 million). The group undertook the following maintenance projects this year:
- The installation of a borehole and filtration plant at the Road Lodge Southgate, Johannesburg, and at the Town Lodge Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and City Lodge Hotel Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in response to the ongoing water-supply disruptions experienced in those regions.
- The development of usable outdoor spaces at the City Lodge Hotels in Lynnwood, Pretoria, and Fourways, Johannesburg, in response to an increased demand for al fresco dining and outdoor corporate and leisure social events at these locations.
The busy and ideally located City Lodge Hotel V&A Waterfront in Cape Town is scheduled for a major refurbishment of its bedrooms and commercial areas. Work on the bedrooms is expected to commence towards the end of March 2023, followed by the commercial areas mid-year, to be completed by early-September 2023.
The bedrooms at Road Lodge Richards Bay are also scheduled for refurbishment, starting in January 2023 and due to be completed by the end of April 2023.
Work is underway on the fit-out of the remaining rooms and the four suite conversions at our flagship Courtyard Hotel Waterfall City, due to be completed by mid-December 2022.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
We have listened to our guests needs and have delivered a complete food service, offering three meals a day at all our brands, with the roll-out of the Eat-in offer at the Town Lodge and Road Lodge brands. These developments have contributed to the 150% increase in food and beverage revenues for the year.
The culinary journey has evolved over the last two years, as we celebrate our guests at every opportunity with promotional meals for holidays, like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, to name a few. We have also enjoyed celebrating birthdays, baby showers and bridal showers, and many other gatherings catering for that special someone and making them feel relaxed and cared for.
As part of the enhanced food and beverage offering across the group, City Lodge Hotel at OR Tambo International Airport has a newly expanded kitchen. Guests can now enjoy a buffet lunch and dinner in addition to the a la carte menu, through to the early hours of the morning. Breakfast also starts much earlier for those guests needing to leave on a red-eye flight. With a 24-hour food service available that includes a buffet at key times, the hotel is better able to meet the needs of its travelling guests keeping irregular hours.
Our food and beverage journey is well in its stride as we are currently rolling out new menus for the #Café restaurants in all City Lodge Hotels and the restaurants in our upmarket Courtyard Hotels. The team, under the guidance of our award winning chef, Trevor Boyd, has done a lot of research into what guests are looking for and this has informed the new dishes on offer. The emphasis is on hearty, fresh and great tasting meals at a good price.
