By Lee-Anne Butler

Town Lodge Port Elizabeth, part of the JSE-listed City Lodge Hotels group, opened its doors on Wednesday.

The lodge forms part of the group’s biggest expansion, which has seen it open eight hotels since last year, taking the total number of rooms offered by the group to 6440 throughout South Africa and 623 in Port Elizabeth.

The City Lodge Hotels group has an establishment from each of its four brands, Courtyard Port Elizabeth (91 rooms), City Lodge Port Elizabeth (147 rooms), Town Lodge Port Elizabeth (203 rooms) and Road Lodge Port Elizabeth (92 rooms), all within walking distance of each other opposite the Humewood and Hobie beaches. Of the group’s hotels, the Courtyard has four stars, City Lodge three stars, Town Lodge two stars and Road Lodge one star.

The R125-million Town Lodge hotel, with a staff of 55, comprises eight floors (including underground parking), with many of its 203 rooms facing the coastline and the city’s beachfront.

The hotel opened 33 rooms on Wednesday. The rest will be opened in phases until the whole establishment is fully operational next month.

There are three underground levels of parking, with 212 bays. These are shared with the adjacent City Lodge Port Elizabeth. There are also 83 aboveground parking bays.

“We are extremely pleased to have our Town Lodge product available in the Port Elizabeth market as this now gives business and leisure travellers access to the entire range of one- to four-star brands offered by our group,” said Clifford Ross, chief executive of the City Lodge Hotels group.

Town Lodge Port Elizabeth general manager Glenn Pappin said the hotel was preparing for a bumper festive season as it already had 400 bookings for next month.

“Bookings have been coming in fast and furious, mostly due to our internet specials, but we expect a very busy festive season. We have received 400 bookings already and we expect more as the rest of our rooms open up.

“I think that after last year’s (economic downturn) people have more money again and they will be receiving Christmas bonuses now and we hope they come and spend their December with us here in the Eastern Cape,” said Pappin.

The Town Lodge brand was started by the group in 1990. The idea was to offer a brand slightly below the City Lodge brand, which was started in 1985.

Typically, Town Lodge rooms are 25% smaller than City Lodge rooms. The first Town Lodge was opened in Bellville in the Western Cape in 1990 and they have expanded to Nelspruit, Midrand, Pretoria, Sandton, Polokwane, George and close to Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport.

Source: The Herald