The Shelley Point Country Club and Spa

Mr Norman Noland, Chairman of the Dale Group with Gert Joubert, CEO of Britannia Bay Developers in the foyer of the Shelley Point Country Club and Spa.

In a move that shows great confidence in the Western Cape's future – and the St Helena Bay precinct in particular – as a holiday and tourist destination, the Dale Capital Partners Group has bought west coast developer Gert Joubert’s new hotel, spa and country club at Shelley Point and is going ahead immediately with extensions and new facilities.

The cost of the acquisition and the work to be undertaken this year is just on R100 million.

The Dale Group is the financial services and leisure investment arm of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius- listed Trinity Financial Group. Trinity Group’s core function is asset management with a focus on African mining and resources, information technology and, via Dale, all aspects of financial services and the leisure industry. It is also a sizeable shareholder in the Mauritius based, AfrAsia Bank which will soon launch a representative office in Cape Town.

The group, now heading towards its tenth year in operation, controls assets of approximately R500 million. Through Dale, it is a significant shareholder in the JSE (Altx listed) hotels and leisure services company, Queensgate Hotels and Leisure, one of the fastest growing hospitality groups in South Africa. It manages several South African hotels and game lodges, including the Radisson and Park Inn hotels in Cape Town and a Kruger Park lodge.

Queensgate is currently expanding into Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth hospitality centres and, says Mr Norman Noland, Chairman of the Dale Group, is now for the first time co-investing with Dale in hotel ownership. Shelley Point will be the second joint venture between Dale and Queensgate, the first being a new four star near Grand Baie in Mauritius, which is now being built and, as indicated above, will be complete in mid-2010, in time for the World Cup.

Queensgate will manage the new hotel and spa at Shelley Point, the spa falling under the control of its subsidiary, One Wellness, which specialises in this type of operation and manages spas throughout SA.

"From the outset,” said Noland, “it has been our ambition to establish a Mauritian style beach hotel at the Cape and Shelley Point, in our view, is ideal for this – it fits exactly the profile we were looking for, one of its big advantages being that, although it is only a one-and-a-half hours from Cape Town, it is a world apart, with beautiful landscaping and a very high standard of design and finishes."

The facilities here, he added, include over 500km² of calm, well protected water in St Helena Bay which is ideal for any type of water sport and provides visitors with some of the best whale and dolphin watching on the entire Southern African continent.

The new double storey hotel, spa and country club facility at Shelley Point came on stream in August last year. It has a first-floor restaurant and bar, a large lounge/living area, a wellness centre, a hairdressing facility, an attractive nine hole golf course, a golf pro shop, a small children’s play area, a teenager section (with staff to supervise both) and an outdoor pool which complements the heated and conventional indoor pools of the spa.

Guests at the hotel currently stay in an adjacent 46-suite two-level building where some of the suites have their own small kitchens and living areas.

Dale Capital are now appointing contractors to start work in the later part of April on a second 49-suite block which will be complete in time for the 2010 World Cup tourist invasion. Both blocks have thatched roofs, their styles entirely in keeping with the white-walled, low profile architectural style which is mandatory throughout the Shelley Point estate.

The extensions will include work on an upmarket “Mauritius influenced but West Coast flavoured” beach club for the use of hotel guests and resident country club members. It will serve light meals, drinks and snacks almost round-the-clock and will offer water-skiing, water scooters, rubber-ducking, kayaking, snorkelling and dolphin and whale watching.

"This type of service," said Noland, "has played a big part in enhancing the popularity of Mauritian tourist facilities and, if done well, adds extra value to any upmarket tourist facility."

Noland stressed that much of his confidence in the Shelley Point purchase stems from the fact that Queensgate will manage it.

"Experience has shown that this group is highly competent and their hotels experience excellent occupancy levels," he said. "This is exactly the sort of operation which suits their skills.”

"To date," said Noland, "Gert Joubert has received relatively little credit for creating two magnificent developments: Britannia Bay and Shelley Point. We see it as a privilege to be able to join him in realising his vision for this area. We anticipate this resort becoming favoured by local and international visitors and expect it to rank among the top hospitality venues in Southern Africa. The Shelley Point and West Coast region has tremendous potential and we will use all our skill and resources to promote this Southern African gem on the international market and locally.”

Article from: www.shelleypoint.com