Historic manor house gets suite new look

The new Protea Hotel in Mowbray opens on Sunday.

The new Protea Hotel in Mowbray opens on Sunday.

Published Jan 30, 2015

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Cape Town – The city’s southern suburbs will get its first Protea Hotel – in Mowbray – next month which will generate 50 new jobs.

A historic Cape Dutch manor house on a green estate that borders the Liesbeek River will open its doors as Protea Hotel Mowbray on Sunday.

The hotel’s 70 rooms and suites are spread through the manor house and the adjacent thatched building that used to service the manor’s barn, but now houses six loft suites.

The hotel group was bought by Marriott International last year and forms part of Marriott’s global portfolio of 18 brands that operate more than 4 000 hotels in 79 countries.

Mark Satterfield, Marriott’s business leader in South Africa, said Protea Hotels had for several years been seeking an opportunity to create a brand presence in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, but none of the previous prospects was right.

“The signing of this new hotel under the Protea Hotels brand reinforces our focus on continuing to grow the footprint of the brand in South Africa and other strategic growth areas within Africa. We knew it was the right place and the right time when the opportunity arose to take over this magnificent property, which is within walking distance of Black River Park, a vast commercial office complex”

The hotel will have 46 standard studio rooms, 12 one-bedroom suites, six two-bedroom suites and six barn lofts.

While the manor house dates to 1880, records of the site date to the 1660s.

Satterfield said the opening of the hotel will create 50 jobs at all skills levels from basic cleaning to senior management.

He said extensive work was undertaken to refurbish the public areas and all the bedrooms, while ensuring the maintenance of the heritage characteristics of the building.

Overall, the holiday season had been good with occupancy levels at the group’s regional hotels much the same as last year.

“We saw a drop in the number of inbound tourists from the US, China and India as a direct result of fears of ebola, but in terms of domestic travel our hotels in the Western Cape did very well.”

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