DESTINATION FEATURE | Cape Town
Spier is empowering positive change
The historic Spier Hotel and Wine Farm in Stellenbosch is constantly striving to find innovative ways for its business to have a positive social and environmental impact – and this very much embodies its approach to events.
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usiness Events Africa recently chatted to Comien Grobler, sales manager of Spier Hotel and Wine Farm.
of impoverished communities how to care for indigenous plants. Once the seedlings they’ve been given to nurture are big enough, these are exchanged for food vouchers, clothing, bicycles, educational support and other essentials.
How long have you been in the conferencing space?
What is the biggest benefit for a conference organiser to choose Spier?
I’ve been working in the events industry since 2009. Conferencing, more specifically, since 2010 when I joined The Lord Charles’s team and very soon realised that my passion in life is conferencing and business events.
Where were you before you started at Spier?
I studied for four years through CPUT and did my hotel internship through the Lord Charles Hotel, where I soon realised that conferencing is my forte in life! From Lord Charles I moved to Radisson Blu, a five-star hotel in Cape Town’s Waterfront, where I furthered my career in conferencing and banqueting as a coordinator, and then got offered the position to work for an owner that owns two boutique hotels and 16 restaurants – all situated in prime areas in Cape Town like Constantia and Camps Bay. I worked for The Kove Collection for almost three years managing the sales for his restaurants and to drive more corporate business, during which I realised that I enjoy selling events more than actually coordinating them. I joined Spier’s corporate sales team in 2018.
How does Spier conferences differ from other conference facilities?
I always say that a hotel bedroom is a bedroom, and a conference venue is a conference venue, but at Spier we really offer so much more. We have the recipe to turn any corporate breakaway into a holiday. We have a “Conference Activity
Comien Grobler, sales manager of Spier Hotel and Wine Farm.
List” which is my ultimate passion at Spier. On this list, you will find add-on conference items that can be used to enhance your delegates’ conference experience. From our mosaic artists making your company’s logo in the conference foyer while delegates can see the logo unfolding or even try to paste a tesserae themselves, to outdoor meeting spaces, smoothie bikes, exchanging your DCP lunch for a picnic lunch under our old oak trees, wine tasting during your conference, outdoor yoga classes or a group run on the farm to kickstart your day, as well as a long list of sustainabilityorientated activities from our farm that you can include in your conference, such as our Pack-For-A-Purpose programme where delegates can donate much-needed items to the surrounding community, or purchase trees or succulents from our TreePreneurs who teaches members
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We have it all. We are conveniently located just 20 minutes from Cape Town’s International Airport, and once delegates arrive onsite, they literally do not have to go anywhere. We have enough conference venues to choose from out of our list of 12 conference venues, we have three restaurants onsite to offer more than enough dining options, and we also have a range of activities to offer onsite to keep delegates entertained, including our Eagle Encounters, Picnics, Segway tours, wine tasting, art tours, walking tours, craft market, and so much more. We can also assist a conference organiser by sourcing room drops from our farm, as well as get our local artists from our craft market to assist with conference stationery such as conference bags being made out of recycled materials, or beaded lanyard strings. Our conference team is dedicated to make any conference organiser’s life as easy as possible while being onsite.
Can you explain more about sustainable conferencing?
Sustainability is woven into every facet of the Spier conferencing experience, from water-saving devices in the bathrooms to rooftop solar panels that provide 40 per cent of the conference centre’s energy needs. 100 per cent of Spier’s waste-water and over 98 per cent of its solid waste is recycled. Spier invests in a wide arrange of learning www.businesseventsafrica.com
