Visionary hotelier
Such was his vision that he not only succeeded in creating a hotel that was remarkable by all standards but he also managed to achieve another thing, previously considered impossible: changing the direction of the one-way road so that guests arriving at the hotel would first travel along the picturesque Beach Road and turn up into London Road rather than first negotiating Main Road which then, different thankfully from now, was less than salubrious. Prior to its current incarnation as a Radisson Blu hotel, Le Vendome marketed itself as upscale retirement lodging after closing its hotel doors.
Enter Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the largest hotel groups in Africa, with a keen eye on expansion. With the upcoming conversion of Triangle House in the city into the Radisson Blu Hotel and Residence, the Rezidor group will own six hotels with a total 1,150 rooms across Cape Town - the Park Inns in Newlands and Cape Town Foreshore as well as Radisson Blu Granger Bay, near the Waterfront, among them.
Along with offering mountain and sea views, Radisson Blu Le Vendome's hotel rooms are spacious and comfortable while its 300m2 conference room can accommodate up to 220 people, with the option of partitioning the room into three separate sections.
GM Clinton Thom was recently awarded the international Guardians of Sustainability Award for diversity and inclusion for work at Park Inn Cape Town, Newlands. The Radisson Blu Le Vendome similarly embraces diversity and caring for local communities by employing eight deaf team members, who are involved in all aspects of operating the hotel.
In a departure from Radisson Blu Granger Bay's nautical and airy interiors, Radisson Blu Le Vendome oozes Parisian glamour. Many of the fine design details of the original management remain but there are also many changes - most notably to the first floor #add Restaurant and Pool dining area which is a dramatic departure from French period furniture and fine-dining napery to a fresh, contemporary space with hot and cold buffet stations for breakfasts and vertical permaculture growing on the walls as imaginable. Cpoint. Bar & Lounge and La Mer are also food and beverage outlets.
With 143 luxury rooms and suites, the addition of a spa and fitness facility will be an improvement to the already sophisticated pool area connected to the dining space via concertina glass doors. Lifts are also being upgraded as part of the R30 million spend.
Sea Point seems to be enjoying a revival at the moment with property prices escalating. And, with the proven success of the MyCiti bus rapid transit system, it is more accessible than ever. The beachfront promenade, just a few paces way from the hotel, is also about to complete a major upgrade which includes improvements to the stability of the seawall, new paving and the most fabulous play areas for children.
Wifi is fast and free and downloading the Radisson Blu One Touch app is a first-rate way to stay in touch with the hotel. Need a late check-out or items from the room-service menu? Use the app to communicate quickly and directly with the front desk. It is also a superb tool for the hotel, that guarantees customer satisfaction or your money back, to manage and channel comments for action. And, to prove this hotel puts its money where its mouth is, the app even connects you directly to the relevant TripAdvisor page.
This impresses me immensely. In today's social-media driven world, many brands are suffering from the ease with which consumers can now boast or bleat. To GM Clinton Thom's credit, he quickly and constructively replies to all TripAdvisor comments, irrespective of which side of the laudatory scale they fall.
