VENUE NEWS

Premier Hotels opens four-star hotel in Limpopo

While many developers have responded to the construction sector downturn by taking a cautious approach and adopting a wait-and-see attitude, one company bucking this trend within the hospitality sector is Premier Hotels & Resorts, which has just finished building its 24th establishment in Thohoyandou, the former capital of the old Venda state.

It has chosen to fill a gap in the Limpopo area by growing its footprint into a new node in South Africa, with undoubtedly the biggest four-star hotel in the far northern part of Limpopo Province, in the Vhembe District, which borders Zimbabwe. With an ever-green scenic view of Thohoyandou and a stone’s throw from the Kruger National Park’s Punda Maria gate, the hotel will be a major milestone in the tourism sector and will serve as a catalyst to many economic developments that exist, and those that are still planned for the region.

It is designed to serve institutional travel demands and local business interests in a stateof-the-art conferencing venue.

“Our decision to forge ahead with this development demonstrates our confidence in the Venda community and that we believe in the long-term future and economic viability of the area,” said Sigal Nassimov-Geva, chief operating officer of Premier Hotels. “We strongly believe in the upliftment of skills, which is why we have partnered with the main contractor, African Century Group, by providing opportunities to the local construction workers for growth, learning, and upskilling who might not have had the experience in building a four-star hotel.”

“Never before have the construction workers in the area had the chance to learn the skills needed to build a hotel of this stature, which is why we’ve chosen to collaborate with Premier Hotels & Resorts,” said Lady Masia, head of the construction company African Century Group. “We approached them to be the management and marketing company due to the depths of experience they have had in the hospitality industry, which is much needed in order to make the hotel a success.”

A project of this magnitude is critical in creating job opportunities. During the construction phase, 480 jobs were created,

varying from unskilled local construction labour through to highly skilled artisans, project managers and the like. When the hotel officially opens it will also employ 85 permanent workers, and 30-40 contract/parttime staff, improving the livelihood of the local families.

“We are committed to adhering to the Employment Equity Act by actively promoting equity in the workplace, ensuring that all employees are provided with equal opportunities,” Ms Nassimov-Geva said. “In addition, we are dedicated to ensuring that women have equal access to and leadership roles across the hotels. Of our current entire workforce of 1,555 employees, we have 27 per cent females at a senior management level, 48,7 per cent at mid-management level, and 61,6 per cent at a junior management level.”

The Chief of Venda said that he wasn’t aware of any other privately funded developments of the scale of this hotel, that is currently under construction and progressing at an aggressive pace with the IDC funding the build.

The key factor in selecting the site was the hotel’s visibility, as it is being built on a rise, enabling it to be seen from the recently built mall, sports stadium built to celebrate the independence of Venda, and the University of Venda – a big catalyst in the area – as well as giving guests superb views of the town and surrounding mountains.

This injection of money will also undoubtedly influence further future development in the region and attract trade and investment to Thohoyandou, serving as the gateway to the Kruger National Park and Zimbabwe.

The Premier Hotels development on the north-eastern edge of the town will be a modern build, with a touch of African flair, very similar to its OR Tambo hotel. The facade will be stone, as opposed to brick, with numerous environmentally-friendly aspects.

With close to 8,697m² of usable space, the hotel will accommodate 120 rooms, conference space to host up to 450 delegates for conferences, for local businesses in the area or celebratory functions, a business suite, bar and restaurant with wine bar, outdoor pool, and gym facility.