ANEW Hotels & Resorts has added an 11th property to its portfolio, ANEW Hotel Centurion.
Previously Protea Hotel by Marriott Pretoria Centurion, the property, ANEW Hotel Centurion, is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment and will reopen on May 1. Rooms and apartments, public spaces like lifts, restaurants and conference venues are all getting a new look.
The refurbishment is in collaboration with Fieldspace Property Group.
ANEW ceo Clinton Armour, says the values of the two companies simply aligned. “We’re a hands-on, family-owned business just like them, which makes for a dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship.”
Set to be the group’s flagship hotel, the property is in Centurion, a growing node with several developments centred around business and leisure. It is also just 100m from the Gautrain Station.
Clinton believes the brand’s success is attributable to its people and good, old-fashioned values. “During the lockdown period, we worked together to ensure our hotels were kept alive and that our staff retained their jobs. We wanted to keep our people positive, even without knowing what the financial situation would be like in the months to follow.”
He said the group would be a lot more hands-on and focused on attention to detail to make sure the hotel had its own identity. “We’re also looking to work a lot closer with Fieldspace to build a relationship with them around our company values and to hopefully expand the relationship to new opportunities in the future. Local businesses need to support one another, but it needs to make business sense for everyone involved. This is something we believe will be achieved through this partnership.”
Scott Field, ceo of Fieldspace Property Group, agrees with this sentiment. “We have confidence in the fundamentals of the ANEW business. Their longevity shows that they are here to stay and positioned for growth. The fact that ANEW has remained open during the COVID-19 lockdown is a testament to their commitment to their clients, staff and other stakeholders.”
While the pandemic was a major blow to the hospitality industry, Clinton believes there was a lot to be learned from this experience. “We’re all still a bit shell-shocked, but we’ve certainly learned from this experience and have already started applying these learnings to our business.
“COVID-19 got us to reset and realise that people still want to feel important and have that human interaction at hotels, so the old-school way of running hotels is more prevalent now. We also believe customers want an experience, so if our products can really create authentic and unique experiences, locals won’t need to look outside of South Africa.”
Alan Campbell, group brand and marketing manager at the hotel group encourages local businesses to collaborate and look for ways to synergise and support each other during these tough times. “Businesses need to work together to create offerings that speak to the times we're in. Our priority is our relationships with businesses and clients, and I trust that in the spirit of where we're going, those relationships will get stronger and lead to great things on the other side,” he said.
