NAMIBIA: AHA Hotels & Lodges To Manage Swakopmund Hotels, Mantis Collection To Restore 3 Hotels

Effective July 1, aha Hotels & Lodges will take over the full management and marketing services for The Swakopmund Collection.

This hotel collection is a privately owned hotel group that of Atlantic Villa, Beach Hotel Swakopmund and Swakopmund Plaza Hotel.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome The Swakopmund Collection to the aha family,” said CEO of aha Hotels & Lodges, Neil Bald. “This is the eighth African country we’re expanding into and aha’s debut into Namibia, which is another positive step towards expanding our footprint in key locations within Sub Saharan Africa.”

“We are proud to be associated with aha Hotels & Lodges, their expertise in hotel management and marketing is well known and we look forward to their contribution to the properties further success,” said Peter and Julie Weichhart and Johan Kok, co - owners of Swakopmund Plaza Hotel and Beach Hotel Swakopmund.

aha hotels and lodges manages a collection of hotels and lodges throughout Southern Africa, including Gauteng, Western Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, North West Province, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and in Southern Africa; Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Mantis Collection is restoring three old Georgian buildings on St Helena in the South Atlantic. The group expects to complete restoration in September, confirmed Graham Vass, Development Director for Mantis St Helena.

Once complete, these will form the Mantis St Helena, a luxury hotel comprising 30 en-suite bedrooms and dining and bar facilities. “We’re so proud to be associated with this new and exciting venture,” said Adrian Gardiner, Founder and Chairman of Mantis.

Prior to the airport being built, a Royal Mail ship was the only way visitors and St Helenians could travel between the UK, Ascension Island, St Helena, Namibia and South Africa. Once regular commercial flights are instituted, the ship will be decommissioned.

More tourists are expected to flock to the island when the winner of the tender for commercial flights is announced in May and flights are expected to commence before the end of 2017.