CITY Lodge Hotel Group chief
executive, Clifford Ross, who
has become synonymous with
group, will be stepping down
from his position at the end of
June due to ill health. He has
spent 31 years at City Lodge,
15 of them as chief executive.
Clifford started his career
in the hospitality industry in
1974 as a trainee at Holiday
Inn on an internship. He was
with the company when Southern Sun
acquired Holiday Inn and left at the end
of 1986, joining City Lodge.
He was appointed general manager at
City Lodge Bryanston (then Randburg),
the group’s sole property at the time,
although hotels were under construction
in Katherine Street, Sandton, and at the
airport.
When Clifford took over as operations
director, the group had eight
hotels – all in South Africa.
Today the group has 61 hotels
and operates in six countries
in Africa. Clifford lists the
African expansion among
the highlights of his career.
Another was in 1995, when
the company gave one million
shares to staff, excluding
management. He points out
that this was before any BEE
legislation.
Peter Schoeman, former
divisional director of Sales and
Marketing at City Lodge Hotels, says
Clifford made his job easier because
he was good at building relationships.
Peter also credits him with being a very
open-minded chief executive, brave
enough to go ahead with City Lodge’s
unconventional advertising campaign.
“Clifford contributed immensely to the
hotel and hospitality industry,
championing issues facing
the sector,” says Federated
Hospitality Association of
Southern Africa ceo, Tshifhiwa
Tshivhengwa, describing
Clifford as a true captain of
industry. “We are sad to see
him go.”
Clifford will be succeeded
as ceo on July 1, by
Andrew Widegger, who has
been the group’s financial
director since 1994. A new
position has also been created
in the group, that of chief
operating officer. This will be
filled by Lindiwe SangweniSiddo,
who joined the group
as a divisional director: of
operations in 2015.
