Leading hotel group, Radisson Blu, is coming to KZN

Radisson Blu is the fastest-growing hotel brand in Africa.

This uMhlanga establishment will be part of the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which has 1 400 hotels spread over 115 countries.

Businessman Vivian Reddy, who heads the Oceans uMhlanga Development Company, said he was looking for a significant partner.

He described Radisson Blu’s first footprint in KwaZulu- Natal as a “coup”.

Some of the hotel’s features will include a rooftop bar and terrace, a rim flow pool deck, boutique gym, spas and Islamic compliant facilities. And the hotel’s banqueting, meeting and events venue will be the biggest outside Durban’s ICC.

The glassy external features of this building are set to add sparkle to the uMhlanga skyline when the hotel welcomes it first guests in 2019.

Speaking at the launch func- tion at the Oyster Box Hotel, Andrew McLachlan, a Rezidor executive, said the hotel would be “iconic, stylish and sophisticated”.

Clients will have the benefit of Rezidor’s “100 percent satisfaction guarantee. If a customer is not satisfied, we’ll return their money,” he promised.

Included in the Oceans uMhlanga mixed-use development unveiled in December are its upmarket living units and shopping centre, which will house some international super luxury brands like Versace, Armani, Gucci and Burberry.

Reddy said his development would complete the “triangle of hospitality”, in reference to the nearby Oyster Box and Beverly Hills Hotels.

Regarding the sale of living units at the development, Reddy said he was confident “house full signs” would go up before the project’s civil works began in four weeks.

In his address, MEC for economic development and tourism in KZN, Mike Mabuyakhulu said Oceans uMhlanga positioned Durban as a global player in the tourism market.

An important point for KZN’s newly-appointed Premier Willies Mchunu will be the 2 500 jobs that will result from the development.

Looking ahead, the premier said the development would play a role in accommodating the expected 1.4 million visitors to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Durban.