Virgin Hotels on the way

[dysan1]

Branson plans to open Virgin Hotels across SA

A chain offering traditional hotel experience under the banner of Virgin Hotels
ALISTAIR ANDERSON
Published: 2011/02/03 07:00:22 AM


GLOBAL entrepreneur Richard Branson believes SA is a healthy investment destination, saying his group now plans to open hotels across the country.

"SA is moving forward at a rapid pace and, as an outsider, I would tell my friends that their money is safe here," he said.

Speaking at Virgin Active Health Club’s Boulders gym in Midrand yesterday, he said he wanted to open hotels under his Virgin brand worldwide and SA was one of the countries included in his plans.

There are already leisure venues that Virgin owns in tourist spots such as the Kruger National Park, but the hotels would become part of a chain offering a traditional hotel experience under the banner of Virgin Hotels. He did not say when SA’s new hotels would be ready for use.

Mr Branson also remains "very excited" about the Virgin Active gym business he started in SA a decade ago.

He was in SA for the 10th anniversary of Virgin’s Health Club business, which he developed here after he received a request from former president Nelson Mandela asking him to save the failing Health & Racquet Club chain. Since then, Virgin Active has become one of SA’s major health club operators.

"I was in a bath in the countryside when I was told the president of SA was on the phone," he said. "Nelson Mandela asked me to help an industry that was nearly bankrupt."

Virgin inherited 76 clubs from Health & Racquet in 2001. It has made a capital investment of more than R1bn in the past decade, opening 24 new clubs and growing revenue 650%, while increasing its membership base by about 200%, Virgin Active SA MD Ross Faragher-Thomas said yesterday.

There are also plans to open eight to 10 Virgin Active Health Clubs across SA each year for "at least the next 10 years", Mr Branson said.

The group has one Classic, or premier, branch in Melrose Arch, which has the highest membership fees of all of its clubs. A second Classic branch will open at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban later this month, while the first general-style club will open in Soweto’s Maponya Mall in July.

"Post-apartheid SA offers a new market as people now have some money that they can use for their health," he said. He was also impressed with the growth of Virgin Active in Spain and Portugal despite high levels of unemployment there.

Mr Branson also brought entrepreneurs from the UK and the US with him to mentor participants in his entrepreneurial project in SA’s townships. He said entrepreneurship "pulls people out of the poverty trap".


andersona@bdfm.co.za



http://www.businessday.co.za/article...aspx?id=133222

[dysan1]

They currently look set to launch in the USA but we are clearly in the not too distant future...

www.virginhotels.com

[Pule]

Thanks Mike, good news indeed. The general-style clubs will also be good for the CBDs.

[Lydon]

I love how there's no mention of Virgin Mobile in the article...one epic fail

[dysan1]

Why? Don't mention Virgin Money or Atlantic either?

[Lydon]

Because Richard's arguing that Virgin's had massive success in South Africa, and therefore it's only logical that Virgin Hotels would do well too, but they're struggling to keep Virgin Mobile afloat, which after all these years has managed to capture a whole 1% of the market.

[EduardSA]

I think its a student thing becuase I hav a lot of friends on Virgin Mobile. The unlimited sms thing definitely helped!

[dysan1]

ya i have two mates on Virgin

[briker]

Virgin banks on progress in SA
Feb 07 2011 13:48

Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is facing a class action lawsuit over the delay in processing hundreds of temporary residence permits.

Johannesburg - A week after Virgin Group founder Richard Branson gave South Africa the thumbs up as an investment destination, Virgin Group chief executive Stephen Murphy has said the group has major plans for the country.

"We see South Africa as a key territory for the group," said Murphy in an interview with Fin24 on Monday.

Murphy has been the head of Virgin since 2005 and was responsible for navigating the group through the financial and economic crisis, part of which included identifying key markets.

One such market is South Africa, where Virgin now has six operating businesses which employ more than 5 600 people.

Murphy said South Africa has made "terrific progress" and has evolved into a stable economy. He said that this was not always reflected in the global capital markets, which continue to apply an "unrealistic discount" to South Africa.

He also praised the local banking system as "first world".

Murphy said that the Virgin businesses in South Africa were creating intellectual property which was exported to the rest of the world.

These included the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship and the health and wellness businesses which export intellectual property into the US market.

The concept of the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship was first tested in South Africa and is now being replicated in the Caribbean.

When asked about onerous regulatory issues such as labour markets and limited competition in telecoms and financial services, Murphy said South Africa was not the hardest place for an outsider to do business in.

He said that with the financial crisis still fresh in people's minds, regulation in the US and UK - particularly around banks and financial services - was extremely challenging .

"People should reappraise their views of regulation - prudent regulation is essential," said Murphy.

In five years' time Murphy said he would like to see the South African businesses continue to be disruptive in the markets they play in, and to focus strongly on championing consumers.

- Fin24