Posh hotel closes doors for a big revamp

ADELE SHEVEL & LONI PRINSLOO

THE Westcliff, the dusky pink hotel with spectacular views of Johannesburg renowned for cocktails and high tea, is closed for business. At least for now.

The little buggies that used to zip up cobbled routes for cocktails in the Polo Lounge are being stored in a compound in the building, which is expected to be refurbished at a rumoured cost of about R200-million as part of the hotel’s relaunch under the Four Seasons banner.

The rooms are barred shut. The small army of footmen and chamber maids who used to fawn over the hotel’s famous guests — like Oprah Winfrey, Charlize Theron and Brad Pitt — paying far more than R3000 a night, are nowhere to be seen. Instead, builders walk around the construction site.

But the five-star hotel will not sport its salmon colour for much longer. New colours are being tested for the building, which Business Times visited.

When it opens, the hotel will house a new restaurant and bar, as well as a new spa, fitness centre and outdoor pool. A royal suite, to accompany the existing presidential suite, will be built. The Royal suite will combine five rooms into one suite spanning three floors.

The plan is for the up-market hotel comprising 120 rooms to reopen in the second quarter of next year.

The Westcliff has been sold by Orient-Express, which also owns the iconic Mount Nelson in Cape Town, to a joint-venture partnership between Dubai-based private investment company Albwardy Investment and Hotels Properties Limited, based in Singapore.

However, it will be run under the Four Seasons banner, the hotel group that had been looking to enter the South African market for years. The Westcliff has been on the market for some time. It is unclear what price the sellers eventually got.

Scott Woroch, executive vice-president worldwide development for Four Seasons, said Africa’s economic growth, improved stability and ease of travel had made the continent increasingly attractive to luxury travellers and to Four Seasons.

“Having a property in Johannesburg — the gateway to the whole of southern Africa — is essential as we explore opportunities for growth in South Africa, and across the continent.”

Arthur Gillis, CEO of rival hotel group Protea, said that no new rooms were coming on stream, but thought that perhaps the new operator would be charging rates commensurate with its brand and the price the new owner paid for the hotel. “It’s never easy to enter a new market, especially not one as complex as ours.”

Gillis said it was interesting that so many new multinational operators were trying to gain a foothold in Africa — but the test would be how many of them would still be there in five to 10 years.

Gillis said Four Seasons was a very well-known brand, but was new to local travellers.

A number of multinational hotel brands — including Four Seasons, Radisson Blu and Marriott — have been looking at ways to enter and expand in Africa for several years.

Four Seasons is one of the most exclusive hotel operators worldwide. It operates in the über-luxury market. It recently completed a safari lodge in Tanzania in the Serengeti, its first venture in sub-Saharan Africa.

Four Seasons is a Canadian-based company that started with one hotel in 1960. It now has 90 hotels in 37 countries around the world.

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