Sky is the limit for Staybridge Hotels

Sol Kerzner, the later founder of Southern Sun and Sun International, once uttered that for hoteliers to survive in the industry, they must beat customer expectations.

He said then: “When the guest arrives, give him an experience that’s ahead of what he anticipates. What I’m hoping is that folks come away from [our hotels] having expected something, and come away thinking ‘wow, so much better than what we expected to have’.”

The South African’s words of wisdom are what may have motivated Emang Mutapati and her partner Moses Mutapati to succeed in the hospitality industry which is riddled with challenges that have led to closure of several startups. The duo has used their high standards and customer feedback as secret weapons to manoeuvre the obstacles that many entrepreneurs face.

Their journey started in 2011 with a restaurant and they later expanded into self catering apartments. It was easy for Emang who hails from Maun, the most popular tourist hotspot in Botswana, and Moses, a hotelier by profession to venture into the industry.

However, when they started the business, they did not know they would one day own four lodges. Fast forward to 2023, the business which trades as Staybridge brand, owns a five-roomed self catering in Maun, two lodges in Francistown and another lodge in Gaborone. Moses said in an interview that his experience as a

hotelier contributed a lot to the success of the business and it also made it easier for them to run a sustainable enterprise as he was aware of the challenges in the industry.

“I already had experience in the hospitality industry, having worked for five star hotels before. It was easy to take their standard to our establishments, which made our customers happy and grew our clientele base,” he tells BusinessMonitor.

It was later in 2017 when they expanded their business to Francistown by opening Pomegrade Golf Resort and Spa. The establishment has four standard rooms and an executive suite, golf course and a spa. A year later they opened another self catering lodge in Francistown, Staybridge Hotel. In 2020 the unstoppable duo opened another lodge in Gaborone.

“We usually host weddings and parties at our Francistown golf course. In Gaborone, we have a restaurant that serves western cultural foods which people enjoy. We do our best to cater for the broad market,” he added.

Moses says dedication and hard work has contributed to their success over the years, pointing that customer satisfaction always brings more clients.

“We value customer feedback and we use it to improve where necessary. We also pay attention to detail and maintain a five-star standard,” he said.

To market their business, Mutapati said they use both the traditional and new media. They have a team that does door to door, advertise on socials, ensuring that the business appears on booking.com and can be found on the online travel agencies.

Mutapati added that their vision is owning a large hotel in one of the cities in Southern Africa as well as penetrate the safari business.