VENUE Q&A | New hotel group
MINT Hotels opens first hotel in Sandton
MINT Hotels, the newest hotel group to open in South Africa, recently opened its first hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg. Business Events Africa conducted a one-on-one interview with Adriaan Liebetrau, general manager: hospitality for the group to find out more about this hotel group and its newest hotel, MINT Hotel 84 on Katherine.
Where did you start you career in the hospitality industry? I have worked in the hospitality industry since secondary school. I have always wanted to be a hotelier, and even pretended to build hotels as a small boy playing with my toys. I am fortunate to have had exceptional mentors from a young age in my career, and from the very first day I started working in a ‘real’ hotel. Through the years I made it my personal mission to be exposed to as many different areas of the industry as possible. I first became general manager of a hotel at the age of 22, and quickly realised that there is so much more to it than simply providing accommodation.
From there I gained experience in property development, design, casinos, convention centres, sales, marketing, finance and all other areas of hotel operations. I wanted to gain a full understanding of the industry and the contributing factors that make it successful, so left the hospitality industry for seven years to gain more experience in travel management – and of course get more experience with Government, and so took on the role of chief executive officer of SAACI. I gradually made my way back to operating hotels, and today I am very happy that my journey has brought me here at MINT Hotels.
20 Business Events Africa September 2020
What is MINT Hotels’ main selling point? We offer a unique hotel experience targeting the traditional budget market. We believe we have a niche offering as a limited service hotel by offering a large stylish room with the best and most modern fittings, finished off with a cool and trendy restaurant such as Pablo.
When did MINT Hotel 84 on Katherine open in Sandton? We opened our first phase on 1 July with 46 rooms. As the month progressed we were able to add an additional 9 rooms, to bring us to 55 rooms. The second phase was to open the restaurant, and on 3 August we were able to open the www.businesseventsafrica.com
