Belz Boutique Hotel
What does your company do?
A family-owned small hotel, Est. in 2020. We are based in iXopo , KZN & offer affordable rates for exceptional hotel services. Situated at the heart of the historical town of iXopo, Belz Boutique Hotel is a modern 10 room accommodation establishment with an elegant layout and design which treats guests to a full view of the picturesque greenery and countryside that is our backyard. The rooms at Belz Boutique Hotel are newly built, well-lit, and inviting. Designed to cater to every type of guest, from those staying overnight to those having an extended vacation, our rooms vary in size, whilst still maintaining mutual design themes and elements. Ixopo is a town situated on a tributary of the Mkhomazi River along the R56 highway in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and forms part of an important sugar farming and forestry area. Our core business is accommodation with food & beverage. where the accommodation has a variation of standard, executive and deluxe rooms. Our restaurant opens daily with well trained kitchen and wait staff. Our conference venue has capacity to host up to 30 delegates in a training set up and approximately 50 delegates in a cinema style layout. The community enjoys making use of our pool as they dine and we host numerous themed events in both our bar and pool areas.
What is your biggest success?
I think one of our highlights was the year we qualified to be VAT registered as that gave me the assurance that the business was indeed growing and we had been operational for under two years. More recently, being awarded with a 3 star grading from the Tourism Grading of South Africa (TGCSA) is a huge achievement for us, of which I am personally incredibly proud as it was a part of my 5 year plan for the business.
What has been your biggest hurdle?
Finding skilled staff in a small town has proven to be very challenging. We have had to focus on in-house skills training and development by implementing a more formal training process for all new hires. We are unable to compete with the salary scales in bigger cities in order to attract more skilled personnel so this is how we have chosen to prioritize being able to offer a consistent high level of service. Additionally, being in a small town, we really struggle with blackouts and loadshedding for prolonged periods which means an increase in operational costs with our generator.
