Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Style, luxury – and tips for your BnB!
A perfect stay in the finest award-winning accommodation can teach us a great deal about how to create something special ourselves. Brian Berkman looks to The Royal Portfolio for tips on improving farm-stay accommodation and, indeed, adding a touch of cla
In the South African boutique hotel field, the family-owned Royal Portfolio stands out for its high-glamour style and luxury accommodation.
The group’s success originated from the foresight and inherent hospitality of Liz Biden who, following a career in fashion, considered that people might want to pay to stay in her homes. The venture started out in 1999 at the family’s bush holiday home in the Greater Kruger National Park, now known as Royal Malewane.
SERVICE MATTERS
Crucially, The Royal Portfolio is not based on money alone, but on the desire to delight guests at every opportunity.
“Warm and hearty, not cold and starchy,” is how Edward Morton, ambassador for the group describes its service ethos. Team members at all properties are chosen for their personalities first, as the nuances of service can always be taught, but the ability to make people feel truly comfortable can only come from within.
The Royal Portfolio hotels are luxury properties that come at an elevated price. However, the group’s basic approach applies to accommodation options everywhere: give your guests value for the money they spend. In the case of The Royal Portfolio, this includes a largely inclusive food and beverage menu as well as a maxi rather than a mini-bar in the rooms.
In a more modest farm stay, this kind of generosity can be expressed via cut herbs or flowers, rusks, or a welcome loaf of bread, and pleasant bathroom amenities.
On a fruit farm, for example, a fruit basket is a welcome treat. You could even consider making your own bath salts or herbal scrub for use in the shower with salt, herbs and citrus zest if appropriate.
DECOR AND DESIGN
Biden is renowned for her unique, eclectic decorating style that uses scale, colour and texture to create comfort and impact. She also places objects in surprising ways, making clever use of juxtaposition and contrast.
The bathrooms at The Royal Portfolio properties are perhaps the most striking example of her signature style. Aside from their size (typically almost as large as the bedroom), they might contain armchairs, oriental rugs and, most notably, dazzling chandeliers.
La Residence in Franschhoek is also a working olive, grape and fruit farm. From a design perspective, scale plays a significant role. Giant fireplaces, vast chandeliers and a shocking pink grand piano all add to this property’s jaw-dropping appeal. Also notable is
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE IS TO OFFER YOUR GUESTS SOMETHING THEY DON’T EXPECT
the mixing of styles and decorative periods. A Louis XV1-style gilded chair may be paired with leopard print or a faux python-skin-covered table.
Playing with scale and style in a farm stay might be translated to using an old tractor tyre as seating, but with cushions covered in elegant fabrics. You might consider painting an old chest of drawers in a vibrant colour for use in the bathroom, or repurposing old farm tools as towel hooks. Biden, for example, takes a classic chair and covers it in coffee sacks. The principle is the same: delighting with the unexpected.
BE PLAYFUL
The Royal Portfolio’s Birkenhead House peers over Voëlklip Beach in Hermanus. Despite its high glamour, it is relaxed. How is this achieved? Chairs are covered in white slipcovers and hard-working denim fabrics, but there are also stunning floral arrangements and refined collections of blue-and-white porcelain, not to mention large-scale mirrors and art pieces on the walls. It is the mixing of high and low style that is special here.
As a beach house, it welcomes you with wet feet and all. Baskets of neatly rolled towels, sun loungers with white terrycloth covers, and visible pool and sea playthings are dotted around. There is a jaunty cushion with red and white stripes floating in the pool, and surfboards and other items to catch the waves are available. Sun lotions and jugs of iced flavoured waters are always to be found.
IN-ROOM GIFTS
Whenever you check into a Royal Portfolio property, a gift will be waiting for you. This might be a branded cap, a quality water bottle or, most recently, a hardcover notebook for scribbling.
There is obviously a cost associated with these items, but they need not be too expensive; the principle is that you receive an unexpected gift. For a farm stay, it could include something from the farm or local community, such as a jar of jam or chutney or a locally made beaded bracelet.
One of the things that impressed most during a stay at Royal Malewane was that while we were snapping photos of the Big Five, the guide was taking pictures of us. On our departure, we were presented with a DVD of the guide’s photographs together with those he had taken of us. A special memory.
The Royal Malewane comprises the game lodges Malewane Lodge, The Farmstead and Waterside, as well as Africa House, a villa with six en-suite bedrooms. What makes the Royal Malewane experience really stand out is the team of field guides.
When it comes to service staff, the group may be happy to train the right people but, in the case of guides, they hire experienced professionals. For visitors who already know the bush, this makes all the difference: these guides have extraordinary knowledge and are qualified, for example, to lead groups on foot amongst dangerous wildlife. This feature puts a Royal Malewane safari above most others.
For a farm stay, this might be translated into giving guests the opportunity to walk the orchards with the grower, or assist livestock farmers with routine tasks. Guests today are searching for experiences they can talk about, and having access to experts is key among them.
Although spending a night or more at Royal Portfolio properties may be out of reach for most, with prior arrangement when the accommodation is not at full capacity, a meal or beverage may be affordable.