Julius Baumann

Aviation and Tourism Editor

ISO Leisure recently opened its second Holiday Inn Express in Woodmead, Johannesburg, as the hotel group’s plan to build 25 hotels across the country in the next 10 years gathers steam.

The 160-room hotel, built at a cost of R112m, opened for business on August 1 and had been doing a roaring trade, with occupancies at 94,8% in the first few weeks, Gavin Watson, CEO of ISO Leisure, said last week.

In March the first Holiday inn Express opened in Cape Town’s St George’s Square while the group’s R180m, 300-room hotel in Pretoria's Sunnypark was nearing completion. Its R200m property in Umhlanga will open next year.

Watson said trading at St George’s Square was below expectations. The hotel had opened ahead of the slow winter season, which took its toll on occupancy levels.

ISO Leisure took over the Holiday Inn brand from Southern Sun last year and announced a R622m investment in the four hotels.

Watson said the group had recently signed heads of agreement and were finalising plans to build three more Holiday Inn Express hotels. While he would not disclose where the new hotels would be built, he said the group would focus its development in the metropolitan areas and would target new nodes — as it did in Woodmead and Umhlanga — where there was huge potential.

Watson said Holiday Inn Express could no longer be seen as a budget hotel but rather as a limited-service hotel. “In the Woodmead hotel we have really upped the ante and improved the service. For instance we have put in better duvets and introduced a breakfast buffet with real croissants,” he said.

Unlike most budget hotels, the group had added a restaurant which would serve lunch and dinner.

Watson admitted the availability of building sites in key areas was limited, while the affordability of these sites had forced the group to build bigger hotels to make any new development viable.

While ISO Leisure held the rights to the Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza brands, Watson said the real demand was in the mid-market, a segment served by Holiday Inn Express.

Source: Business Day