Durban - Guests at the Hilton Durban can look forward to fresh fittings and styling as the hotel’s R200-million facelift - which began two years ago - continues.
General manager Markus Fritz told The Mercury the refurbishments - which began in 2014 - were done to showcase the brand to the local and international market and to underline the Hilton Durban as the “top hotel in town”.
“(It) has now been a leader (in the hotel industry) for almost 20 years and since its (the chain’s) first opening in 1919,” he said.
The development - which, said Fritz, reflected an alignment of new brand and design standards to ensure that the hotel conformed to global customer expectations - started with the hotel lobby and porte cochere (covered entrance), and moved on to the Big Easy restaurant last year, room refurbishments this year and into next year; and a newall-day dining restaurant next year.
The improvements will continue in 2018 with an overhaul of the hotel’s meeting and ballrooms.
Midway through phase two, global professional services consultants Turner & Townsend were appointed as project managers for the face-lift programme.
“With extensive global experience in the hospitality industry, the consultancy has managed previous projects for the Hilton Hotel group in Abu Dhabi, Europe and America,” the consultancy said in a statement.
Marc Binns, project manager for the consultancy, said the Hilton Durban project was not without its challenges.
“Firstly, this is a working hotel with a high occupancy, which means that noise levels must be controlled and limited to certain hours, while contractors can only be on site from Mondays to Saturdays.”
The Mercury