Entrepreneur opens unique boutique hotel
Bonte Seepi | Monday September 15, 2014 15:08
Kondwane Boutique Hotel opened its doors to customers last month. However, there is still going to be an official opening, according to the proprietors.
Kelebogile Ninika Callender, who hails from Tonota village, 45 kilometres south of Francistown but married to a South American, is also the owner of Tati River Supermarket adjacent to Cresta Marang Hotel.
Callender, who has always wanted to own a hotel, says the most underlying reason for starting up the hotel was because both outsiders and residents of Francistown have a dim view of the city.
“Even most investors look down upon Francistown. They believe that people who live in the city do not admire beauty.
“That’s why I wanted to bring change to the city. Eventually, I want to bring something similar to Gaborone Sun, Falcon Crest Hotel and even Grand Palm,” she says.
A Boutique hotel is a term popularised in North America and the UK to describe hotels, which have typically between 10 and 100 rooms, and often contain luxury facilities in unique or intimate settings with full service accommodations.
Callender, an ardent Catholic, studied Travel and Tourism. She also acquired a degree in Guidance and Counselling from the University of Botswana. She was a teacher in 1999 for only two months at Mater Spei College before making a switch to Standard Chartered Bank from 1999 to 2006.
At the bank, she held a variety of portfolios, including car loans manager, regional manager responsible for personal loans and later on business development manager.
She resigned as business development manager because she did not want to be separated from her family who stayed in Francistown.
Callender said that her love for hotels developed from a young age when her parents used to take them out to different hotels and lodges locally and outside Botswana.
Callender is a God fearing woman who values family more than a job.
Her husband whom she also regards as her business partner, Rodger Callender is a partner at Callender Attorneys and they have five kids. “Our main aim when we set up a boutique hotel, was so to offer that extra-personalised service to our clients.
“We have realised that most hotels are just standard and basic; they are just moneymaking ventures.
“So we are coming with a different approach. We want to make our customers feel that they are more important.
“A customer is the most important person in business. That is why we wanted them to feel that community aspect that used to be there in our culture in the past.
“Even our staff is trained in such a way that they should offer that customer care. They should always smile at customers and call our customers by their names not by room numbers.
“They must have a feeling of being home away from home,” explained Callender.
Though Kondwane Boutique Hotel is not yet complete, there are already signs that it does not only aim at taking Francistown by storm, but also the rest of the country with its excellent services.
In the mean time Kondwane guests are served by Cresta Marang Hotel, as it doesn’t have a kitchen yet.
But according to Callender, they are intending to build their own kitchen in the next three months.
The Hotel has 10 rooms, which include single rooms and twin rooms to allow clients to bring along their children and single rooms.
Each luxurious room offers free gowns and sleepers that a client can go away with. Each room also has a fresh fruit bowl, television set, washbasin, showers, indoors toilets, bathroom telephone, blow dryer, mirrors and air conditioner.
According to Callender, Kondwane is going to offer outdoor shows with a stage similar to the one at Botswana Craft in Gaborone. “That way, we will be gaining publicity as well as promoting the Setswana culture,” said Callender. The luxurious hotel has a staff compliment of seven, who include groundsman, laundry and housekeeping personnel and a receptionist. They are still in the hunt for a manager.
The hotel is named after the Callenders’ last-born son, which means Happiness and Blessings in a Malawian language called Nyanja.