PRESS RELEASE
Spruced Up President Hotel Re-opens in Grand Style
(Cresta Calling Magazine, November 2007, pg 8)
The oldest hotel in Gaborone, The President Hotel, recently unveiled its extensively refurbished P25 million look to scores of invited guests that included President Festus Mogae. H.E. Festus Mogae who officially reopened the hotel said that “The Pres”, as it is affectionately known by many, is as much a part of Gaborone city as it is of Botswana itself.
“This hotel can rightly boast of its days as the social nerve centre of the humble Gaborone town of the 60s and 70s.”
“Names such as Copper bar and Brigadier conjure up memories of yesteryears when there were not many facilities around and ‘Pres’ was the undisputed community watering hole.
Those were the days when liberation and independence, our country’s poverty and drought were the dominant topics in the hotel’s bars and dining tables” said President Mogae.
The President Hotel was built in 1966 as a government project. In 1986/7 Cresta Marakanelo took over the management with the Botswana Development Corporation as a shareholder.
From its humble beginnings of 49 rooms on three floors, the hotel now boasts 93 rooms on five floors.
Commending the Cresta Group for not only spending a massive sum of P 25 million on the renovations but for also embarking on a substantial refurbishment programme in respect of its hotels in the country, President Mogae said, “We are deeply grateful that your investment will create jobs and alleviate poverty. I also note with deep satisfaction that the Cresta group is currently the biggest employer in the hospitality sector in the country”.
In conclusion President Mogae challenged the President Hotel staff to continue to demonstrate their pride in the good name of the establishment by maintaining the highest standard of customer service. “The customers you serve, including the locals are a widely travelled and sophisticated lot, who demand nothing but the highest of standards they have enjoyed elsewhere” He warned.
Meanwhile the CEO of Cresta Hospitality Holdings, Osborne Majuru in his keynote speech, highlighted that Cresta Marakanelo prides itself in ensuring that citizens are appointed to senior management positions.
“We have a progressive localization plan that has contributed towards reducing the number of expatriates from 25 in 1987 to 10 in 2007,” Majuru noted.
About the President Hotel, Mr Majuru said, the refurbishment has transformed it into a hotel that fully reflects the true Cresta brand by espousing elegance and sheer class.
The renovations included a complete overhaul of the rooms, the restaurant, the reception, management offices, the cocktail bar and conference facilities.
Extra facilities such as a state of the art gymnasium, the luxurious presidential suite and Wi-fi Internet connectivity in all the hotel rooms and public areas were also added. - Article first appeared in the Hotel and Catering Magazine in Botswana.