Lucille Davie
28 October 2003
The travel and tourism industry's top accolade, the World Travel Awards, celebrated their 10th anniversary this year, and South African establishments walked away with two awards: The Saxon hotel in Johannesburg and Shamwari Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape.
Shamwari beat a number of famous African game reserves to scoop the awards for the world's leading conservation company and Africa's leading safari.
The Saxon, up against hotels in Tokyo, Singapore and the US, scooped the top award in the boutique hotel category for the third time, having won the award in 2000, shortly after it opened, and in 2002 - when it also won the Harpers and Queen "Best Boutique Hotel on Earth" award.
A boutique hotel is one that has a smaller number of rooms, but all with full suite facilities, like a lounge and kitchen.
The World Travel Award winners are selected by 80 000 travel agencies in over 200 countries, according to the World Travel Awards website.
Peaceful ambience
Adrian Gardiner, co-chairman of Mantis Collection, the company that manages both The Saxon and Shamwari Game Reserve, said the award was "a feather in the cap for South Africa as a world travel destination".
It's easy to see why the Saxon won the award. It's simply breathtaking in every aspect: décor, ambience, service and setting. Sitting on the patio and looking out over the beautiful pool and lawns, it's hard to imagine you're in the middle of South Africa's largest city. It's quiet and very peaceful.
It was built originally as the home of Douw Steyn, founder of short-term insurer Auto and General. He hosted Nelson Mandela for several months on his release from prison in 1990, while Mandela proof-read his autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom".
Three years ago, Steyn converted his home into a 26-suite hotel.
Internationally recognised interior designer Stephen Falcke was appointed to decorate the hotel in an African theme. The colours are earthy creams, browns and blacks, and the myriad African artefacts, pleasing maple and cherry furniture, framed textiles, and almost two-metre high ceramic jars make for a very agreeable ambience.
There's an Eastern flair to the décor: jars of bamboo sticks, Chinese dolls and rows of vases of orchids stretching along some walls.
There's a beautiful series of black and white sketches that decorate some of the entrance passages. They capture the time when Mandela stayed at the hotel, and before that - a younger, angrier man fighting for freedom for all South Africans. The artist is Dean Simon.
A piece of heaven
The suites are a small piece of heaven. There are three categories: egoli, presidential and platinum. All suites include surround-sound large-screen TVs, VCR and DVD players, multiple
telephones, fax and modem lines, mini bars, lounge, dining area, bedroom with open-plan bathroom, and kitchen.
All rooms have a balcony and multiple French doors opening on to the wonderful garden of six acres, roamed by guinea fowl.
The platinum suite is the top of the range, at R15 900 a night. The lounge in these suites is large enough to accommodate 50 guests for a cocktail function. Presidential suites come in at R8 250 a night, and egoli will set you back R4 150 a night.
But the hotel offers much more: conference facilities with auditorium, a dining library, a cigar library, wine-tasting cellars, a gym, beauty therapy, and one of the city's best restaurants, The Saxon.
Marietta van Zyl, sales manager, says the hotel caters primarily for the business market, but very often those business people return with their families.
Van Zyl says The Saxon doesn't advertise. "We like to think of The Saxon as the city's best kept secret," she says. In fact, she explains, the sales pitch would be that at The Saxon you "breath different air".
Sought-after waiters
An indication of the excellent service is that The Saxon's waiters are often headhunted by guests, either for private homes or for other hotels.
When asked how The Saxon was going to ensure that they continued to pick up the award in the future, Van Zyl said: "We'll be offering better service, but we won't over-promise. We plan to set trends. This year's trend is to offer iced tea and suntan lotion on the patio, and snacks with every drink, even if it's water."
Van Zyl admits that it's hard to think of new challenges, but the fact that they've picked up the award three times means they're "doing something right".
There's a Saxon culture, in which staff "do their utmost for guests". For Van Zyl this has meant "forgetting everything I'd learnt in other hotels". She says it is special to work at The Saxon, and the guests find it special to stay there.
Those guests include Oprah Winfrey, Prince Edward and actress Charlize Theron.
Rare air indeed.
Source: City of Johannesburg website
