OVERVIEW
Tourism Tourism operators are determined to rise again.
Credit: Marriott International
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hen the Marriott International hotel group closed three of its South African hotels during the Covid-19 lockdown, Tsogo Sun Hotels, which owns a controlling stake in all three hotels, stepped up its commitment by agreeing to bring them into its portfolio, keep them open and run them. One of these hotels is the The Mount Grace in the Magaliesberg which was developed by the Brand family and was the sister hotel to The Grace in Rosebank. Tsogo bought and restored The Grace in 2015 and it currently operates as 54 on Bath. The Tsogo group believes that demand for conferencing, weddings and shorter family getaways will grow and that The Mount Grace, with its close proximity to Johannesburg, is in a good position to respond to those markets. Tsogo Sun Holdings split its casino and hotel operations in 2019 in order to unlock value in the two sectors. With a market cap of R25-billion, Tsogo is the country’s biggest hotel group. It has 36 hotels and three casinos in Gauteng. The hotel brands cover four market segments, and they include a handful of stand-alone hotels such as the Palazzo (at Montecasino) and the boutique hotel in Rosebank. SunSquare, Southern Sun Hotels, Southern Sun Resorts, Garden Court and StayEasy are among the group’s brands.
GAUTENG BUSINESS 2020/21
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SECTOR INSIGHT Tsogo Sun Hotel took over The Mount Grace during lockdown. The move by Marriott International into the South African market was seen as significant, and it retains most of its properties. In partnership with the Amdec Group, Marriott spent about R1-billion on the Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch and Marriott Executive Apartments Johannesburg Melrose Arch. Buying into Protea Hotels has also given Marriott access to other African countries. Although all projections about the tourism sector and
