Eastern Cape hotelier building a hospitality empire in Premier Hotels

When Samuel Nassimov arrived in South Africa from Israel in the late 80s, he visited the Eastern Cape and fell for not only the area’s natural beauty but its potential as well.

At first opening a diamond cutting factory, Samuel then decided to embark on a business which involved his real passion – hotels.

“I’d studied hotels in Tajikistan and Israel and I was really returning to my true calling,” says Samuel, a keen chef who has cooked for the likes of then Deputy President Jacob Zuma in East London five years back.

Starting out with his first hotel, the Premier Hotel King David in East London’s Orient Beach area, Samuel then built his second hotel, the Premier Hotel Regent (now Premier Hotel East London), before buying up a game reserve 30kms outside of the city, now named Mpongo Private Game Reserve.

With the Premier Hotel Group taking shape, he then moved into an expansion campaign on a national scale, buying up a sea-facing hotel, the Premier Hotel Sea Point in Cape Town and opening the Premier Hotel Pretoria opposite the Union Buildings as well as acquiring and upgrading two other hotels, now named the Premier Hotel Edwardian on the South Coast and Premier Hotel Pinetown in KZN.

“At first we focused primarily on the business traveler as each hotel has substantial conference facilities, enabling us to compete in the conventions market,” says Samuel.

It wasn’t long though before leisure-tourism opportunities became available in not only Cape Town but also on the Garden Route with the opening this year of the new five star Premier Hotel Moorings in Knysna.

Back in 1995, though, Samuel had signed a deal with the East London Municipality to build new hotels and a convention centre on a large site over-looking the city’s Orient Beach esplanade, an area which had somewhat faded from its glory days of tourism in the 70s & 80s.

Phase 1 being the Regent Hotel was built in 1999 while construction in full began in 2007 on the ambitious new project which will – by end February 2010 – include the state-of-the-art East London Convention Centre and 260 room five star Premier Hotel Cascades (phase 1 of which will be open for the summer holiday season).

Costing in excess of R500 million rand, this is Samuel’s biggest and most ambitious project to date.

“I’m very much my own person when it comes to the look & feel. Sometimes the architects accuse me of buying a dog and then doing the barking myself!” says Samuel who has overseen all aspects of the development from architecture to interior décor and facilities.

“The development is set to bring not only conference & incentive travel to East London but to also significantly upgrade Orient Beach and the Esplanade as a leisure destination. East London and the Sunshine Coast in general tend to be a somewhat over-looked as a conference and leisure destination and we aim to change that.”

Eastern Cape Entrepreneur of the Year for 2008, Samuel says a new low-rise leisure, dining and shopping area will also be developed in-front of the hotel facing the beach, creating a welcome return to the area as a premium lifestyle space.

To be managed by the Premier Hotels group, the state-of-the-art ELICC includes a 650-seater auditorium, an exhibition floor (taking up to 110 stands) and a major hall capable of seating 850 ball-room style and 2200 cinema-style as well as board-rooms, restaurants and kitchens.

Interior décor will reflect both an African sense of place and the cosmopolitan style of international convention centres.

“In being connected to both the Premier Hotel Regent and the new Premier Hotel Cascades, I believe the ELICC will make East London a highly competitive and desirable convention & exhibition destination,” says Samuel.

East London’s largest hotel development ever, the Premier Hotel Cascades will include a luxurious Camelot Spa, gym, swimming pool, up-market restaurant and large rooms (some of which are suites with their own lounges) all offering unsurpassed sea-views free wi-fi internet connections and 24 hour room service. There are also 260 undercover parking bays.

At the same time Samuel is over-seeing the development of his other big development, the luxury Premier Hotel OR Tambo International which will open in March.

Only 500 metres from the Gautrain Station and 1.2km from the Terminals, reached by a free shuttle bus, the 280 room Premier Hotel OR Tambo will be a full service four star-plus hotel.

“Far from being just a lay-over, the Premier Hotel OR Tambo will provide all the services and style necessary to make for a comfortable travel experience. In airline speak it’s a business class hotel which fully compliments our existing brand,” says Samuel.

Costing in excess of R300 million, the hotel’s large rooms (45 of which are suites with their own lounges) and public areas will all offer free wi-fi internet connections and other facilities will include a spa, swimming pool, gym, restaurant and two bars along with 24 hour room service.

Similar to the group’s other hotels, the new Premier Hotel OR Tambo will also contain a large conference centre, with nine conference rooms and board-rooms, able to hold up to 800 delegates cinema-style along with state-of-the-art facilities.

“OR Tambo International is becoming a hub for conventions as delegates are able to fly in and do their business without having to get into the traffic,” adds Nassimov.

“Our size as a group determines flexibility along with an ability to be very customer-orientated  and is something, I believe, makes Premier Hotels a force to be reckoned with. I believe the hotel & conferencing industry in South Africa is due to undergo unprecedented growth in 2010 and beyond.”