THE four-star V&A Hotel in the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, is undergoing a R5m revamp and has launched a winter pacakge valid until September 20.
 
The refurbishment programme, due for completion at the end of August, involves an upgrade of all rooms on the first and second floors; converting double rooms into executive and junior suites; and redecorating the corridors. Resident manager, Clinton du Toit, says no construction is necessary during the upgrade and inconvenience to guests will be minimal.
 
The six new executive suites will have a dining area also suitable for small meetings and the 17 new junior suites will have a four-seater lounge area that can be converted into a romantic dining space. Flat-screen televisions are data compatible and able to connect to laptops for data projection and can swivel to face the seating areas. Andy Nold, operations director of Newmark Hotels, which manages the V&A Hotel, says the upgrade is aimed at upgrading the hotel to five-star status within the next 12 months.
  
Du Toit says bookings for June and July are looking good, indicating that occupancy patterns during Cape Town’s traditionally rainy low season are changing. The hotel derives most of its occupancies from the international market. He says the hotel is already fully booked for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. He says the opening of the nearby One&Only Waterfront, which added 131 rooms to the already densely traded V&A Waterfront hospitality market, had no negative impact on the smaller V&A Hotel.