The 10 river-facing chalets were created with fashionable aesthetics and balconies facing the river, incorporating upgraded technology to meet the needs of Cresta Marang guests.
The chalets feature king-size beds, free WiFi, en-suite bathrooms and other features designed to give visitors a wilderness experience.
Cresta Marang general manager, Gwiso Lesenda, said that in addition to the river-facing chalets, the group will soon introduce garden chalets.
She stated that Cresta will undertake the third phase of the garden chalets early next year.
“We used to have chalets but they were no longer in good condition hence we decided to build the new ones,” she said at an event to launch the new chalets. “We take our clients' feedback very seriously and one of the comments we received was that they wanted chalets. “This is why this new development occurred.”
Cresta Marakanelo head of Marketing and Communications, Lorato Tebogo said the group was excited to introduce the new product offering to stakeholders.
She added that Cresta is doing a worldwide brand campaign called 'See Botswana Differently', which centres on its positioning and brand proposition.
"There were many changes that occurred in the hospitality and tourism industry after COVID that required us to also reflect as a business," Tebogo said.
She mentioned that Cresta has a value proposition and a tourism partnership with its clients to gather feedback in light of the industry's increasing competitiveness.
"We launched ‘See Botswana Differently' and spread it throughout the world, including the SADC region, the United Kingdom and the United States of America so that tourists could come to Botswana and see it differently with Cresta hotels,” she said.
Tebogo added that, with more than a thousand rooms, Cresta Marakanelo has the biggest footprint and largest number of rooms in Botswana’s hospitality and tourism sector.
Cresta head of Sales, Boitumelo Khama, said 2024 has been a challenging year for the hospitality industry because the local economy depends heavily on the government, which is currently battling with fiscal difficulties.
According to Khama, certain policies implemented by government with noble intentions, have ended up badly impacting the hospitality sector. Without specifying the policies, she said some of these initiatives have resulted in tourism players failing to achieve their targets.
Khama said products must always be finetuned to the market’s needs.
"There are times when a business must reflect on whether it has the product that consumers are seeking and the product and services satisfy people's needs and requirements. “Adding the river chalets is part of meeting client’s requests. "The old chalets were very popular but dated and becoming dangerous," she said.
Khama said that in addition to building the river chalets, Cresta wanted to make improvements in the areas of food and service to provide customers with the greatest possible experience.
