Rarely, if ever, will you be invited to the launch of a boutique hotel and see such a spectacular display on offer. As if the actual hotel were not enough, the management team of Nova Constantia put on a launch party certainly unrivalled by anything I have seen in Cape Town. We were invited to Nova Constantia this past Friday evening, 28 November 2008. I go to plenty of property and restaurant launches and Nova Constantia put on something special that made me view this boutique hotel in another class. Seeing the passion the owners have for their hotel is something that lets you know it’s going to be run professionally and will go on to be highly successful.

Mingling with high society at the launch..terrible job!

This type of vision sets the great villas and hotels apart from the rest because people remember the great ones. I’ve never been able to recommend a property to foreign visitors unless I have personally been to that property and had a good look around and possibly met the owners. You gain a great deal of insight into how the business will be run by meeting the team behind the business and I’m suitably impressed!

Not content in just inviting us around for drinks, the Nova Constantia team put on a full visual and audio spectacular of food, drinks, live music and a fire spinner (Poi)

Speaking to the Nova Constantia team, it was said that from the outset, they are not expecting to break even within their first season, and while some may think this unambitious, this is the true sign of great business. A great deal of money has clearly been spent on creating a boutique hotel that is plush, liveable and within the standards of any top class chain hotel — Only with boutique you get the attention to detail and that personal touch that can be felt when entering Nova Constantia.

A lot of people think the property business is easy, and just because you have a good location it will sell out and you will make money quickly. But it takes more than that and the team, including director Jiri Batek and the highly experienced Mike FitzGerald of Sterling Resort Management & Development Services, have put together a boutique hotel that is sure to be highly sought after in the luxury Cape Town property market. With a restaurant, snooker table, solar heated pool, tennis court and gym facilities, Nova Constantia set themselves apart by being that home away form home, rather than that chain hotel that you’re usually booked into.

Also, the prices are highly competitive, seeing as though boutique hotels offer more in the way of those personal touches.

Barbecues around the pool, gourmet dinners prepared by top chefs, sushi evenings, and wine and cheese pairing with the winemakers are all available and are one of the many reasons why Nova Constantia is the hot ticket in Cape Town accommodation. Bookings are now open and if you are in Cape Town and looking for something more personal than a chain hotel, Nova Constantia Boutique Hotel in Constantia, Cape Town, is your number one choice.

The evenings cocktails were crafted by the highly professional and talented team at Thirst Bar Services, who had served us the previous night at Twiice International in Cape Town.

Thirst Bar Services kept me VERY happy!

Gathering like fireflies around the Thirst Bar…

Instant seduction!

The guys at Thirst really do know how to make their drinks, get hold of them for your next function over here.

The final touch to the evening was when we left, we were presented with a bottle of Constantia Uitsig white wine and a 2GIG Nova Constantia engraved flash drive with all the photos and details of Nova Constantia. It’s this special attention to detail that will have people remembering Nova Constantia, as if the hotel were not beautiful enough.

Go on, click here and take a full look at what is on offer at Nova Constantia.

It’s the luxury you’ve been looking for.

Sean Lloyd

Editor