President Undergoes A Facelift

Cape Town, 08 July, 2010: Protea Hotels’ premier attraction on Cape Town’s Platinum Mile, the four-star Protea Hotel President, is undergoing a series of upgrades to its rooms, bar and restaurant.

Next week large-scale refurbishments will start on the rooms of this iconic Atlantic Seaboard landmark, as well as in the hotel bar and restaurant. The room upgrades will be structural as well as cosmetic, with changes being made to everything from separate toilets and bathrooms, to new kitchenettes, flooring, wall colour and bedroom finishes. All rooms will effectively be gutted and built back up from scratch.

The Bar & Restaurant refurbishment will take place over four stages and will result in a brand new lounge and dining area. The public spaces in the hotel have recently been revamped, but may receive a few finishing touches as part of the overall facility facelift.

Danny Bryer, Revenue, Marketing and Sales director of the Protea Hospitality Group, believes it is the right time for reinvestment in tourism infrastructure post- World Cup: “Cape Town is a flourishing tourist city, and demand for quality accommodation continues to increase from all corners of the globe. Protea Hotel President has retained it’s positioned as one of the iconic hotels in Cape Town, which has been catering for foreign individuals and group travelers from UK, the States and mainland Europe for many years due to its incredible beachfront positioning and its resort feel and facilities. Domestically it’s the hotel of choice for group and conference business as it can cater for up to 300 delegates in the multipurpose conference centre and it is ever-popular as a leisure destination over the summer season.”

The first stage of the refurbishment will be the 6th floor and restaurant area, which will be finished towards the end of September. The construction work will then stop for the summer holiday season and resume in April 2011. The final work is likely to be finished in 2012.

Debora Sivertsen, GM of the Protea Hotel President, says that guests shouldn’t be disturbed by the construction. “We will try to keep the disruption to our guests to an absolute minimum. Work will commence at around 9am and run until about 4pm, and wherever possible we will not allocate rooms close to where work is taking place,” said Sivertsen.

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