The first thing General Manager Markus Fritz had to do when he arrived at the Hilton Durban in 2013 was to supervise the transformation of the dark, 1997-vintage lobby. To be blunt, he said, hardly anything had been spent on interiors since the opening and something was badly needed.
The 327-room hotel, right next to Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, Africa’s largest such facility, had been developed by Malaysians but Hilton bought the hotel in 1996 and opened it the following year.
Being owned 100% by Hilton has, admittedly, now simplified what is a radical new look, said Fritz. “Yes, authorization of the whole US$18 million upgrading has been a little less complicated as I report direct to Hilton’s Vice President, Africa and Indian Ocean, Jan van der Putten, who is also my direct asset and operations manager,” the GM explained.
“We did the lobby first and the light-bright look, by a local designer, Nick Human of LLP, has made such a difference, both to guests, of whom about 45% are repeats, and to the team,” Fritz added, noting that he has what must be an industry record, a mere 2% turnover among his 350-strong workforce.
Another essential was to add a serious signature restaurant. As a result of a collaborative think-tank, a deal was done with South African golf legend Ernie Els, whose restaurant concept, the casual-chic Big Easy (the golfer’s nickname), had been designed with the help of Beyond Hospitality, founded in 2009 by Thomas Mattstedt after a lengthy career with MGM Mirage, Peninsula and Ritz-Carlton. For Durban, the golfer’s favorite designer, Therese Verserius of Verseriustudio New York, was chosen, and the 145-seat restaurant, a franchise, officially opened January 14, 2016. “We are about 30% over forecast and local pickup is increasing with every week,” Fritz said with pride.
An upper-floor restaurant had closed long before. Now, what had been a ground-floor function space, is a highly attractive eating venue, offering seating choices from high-up communal tables and main restaurant set-ups through to private dining, a bar counter and outdoor loungers under shady umbrellas. “Ernie Els came for the opening,” Fritz added. “We sell his Ernie Els wines and golf gear in a dedicated boutique and, of course, his Big Easy label wines and Big Easy favorites (giant tomahawk steak) are best-sellers on the menu.”
The hotel has evolved from the African memorabilia of yesterday to modern South Africa, led by Els. Back in the new-look lobby, a discreet sketch of the late Nelson Mandela in a charming sitting corner complements a highly international to-go kiosk, offering outsize filled croissants and supposed one-bite muffins.
“Now we have a new Executive Club Lounge to complete, following a Verseriustudio concept, and all our bedrooms, to be done by Source out of Cape Town,” Fritz continued. “By the time we finish everything, end of 2017, we will be more than good as new, and we have never closed throughout the entire refurbishment.”
Fritz’s parents ran a restaurant in Linz, Austria, so hospitality was a natural career for him. After graduating from Bad Hofgastein’s Hotel School and Bad Ischl’s Tourism School, he joined what was then InterContinental Hotels & Resorts.
In 1996, while working the front desk at InterContinental London Park Lane, he was enticed, literally across the road, to the Hilton Park Lane, where he reported to Andreas Jersabeck and ultimately to Area GM Rudi Jagersbacher, coincidentally both also Austrian.
Fritz met his Venezuelan wife when they were working at Hilton Prague and, having relocated several times, always with Hilton, they moved to Durban from Cape Town, South Africa.