A see-through cantilevered pool hanging over the edge of a rooftop terrace is just one of the traffic-stopping features of the R340m new 5-star Hotel Missoni Cape Town due to open after the World Cup in 2010.

The luxury lifestyle and designer hotel will bring the iconic Italian fashion brand, Missoni, to South Africa. It will form part of the Rezidor Hotel Group’s new lifestyle hotel concept aimed at attracting new revenue from target markets such as the film, fashion and related industries, well-heeled FITs, “Black Diamonds” and the young and brand conscious. The 157-bedroom Hotel Missoni Cape Town will be located on the corners of Castle and Burg Streets in the Cape Town CBD, about 50m from Greenmarket Square. Each room’s furnishings will be valued at R2m upon completion. Facilities will include a small wellness spa, an Italian restaurant, a bar and small meeting and conference facilities. Hallmarks will be strong design and attention to detail as expressed by Missoni’s creative director, Rosita Missoni, who visited Cape Town recently to work with a South African design team on the project. Like any new fashion line, details of the interior are being kept under wraps until the opening.  But in keeping with the fashion label, the look promises to be bold and bright! The first Hotel Missoni was launched on June 1 this year in Edinburgh and is trading well after just three months, says Andrew McLachlan, Rezidor’s vice president for business development in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. He says future destinations for Hotel Missoni include Kuwait City, Kuwait; Jebel Sifah, Oman; Ilha de Cajaiba, Brazil; with 10 more sites under consideration worldwide. “In Africa, we are looking at the Seychelles, Mauritius and possibly Sandton. Another logical place to take the brand is the luxury safari lodge segment. The development of Hotel Missoni targets both city centres and resort opportunities. We are quite opportunistic in our expansion plans.”