By Nick Wilson

The Belgium-based Rezidor Hotel Group said on Wednesday that building work on a second hotel in Sandton, the Park Inn Sandton, had begun this month.

The 192-room, R140m hotel, which would open for guests in April 2010, would be the closest hotel to the Sandton Gautrain station.

Andrew McLachlan, Rezidor business development director for Africa, said its other Sandton hotel, the Radisson Hotel Sandton, would open in November.

The 290-bedroom hotel, on the corner of Rivonia Road and Linden and Daisy streets a few hundred metres from the JSE, is valued at about R430m.

McLachlan said the Park Inn Sandton would be on the corner of Rivonia Road and West Street, directly across the road from the train station. The rationale behind the two hotels was that the group decided to focus on Africa after its success in Europe, the Middle East and Russia.

“Strategically, SA holds lots of opportunity for us — not too many international brands are present. There are strong local brands so we think there is still a chance to grow in this country.

“We hope to have a fair slice of the cake and at the same time increase its size,” said McLachlan.

Rezidor is building a Radisson Hotel in Port Elizabeth, to open at the end of this year.

“It is a 173-bedroom hotel in Summerstrand and will be Port Elizabeth’s first international hotel,” said McLachlan. “Within SA we are looking at growing the Radisson and Park Inn brands in business and resort locations.”

He said the group was looking at establishing a presence in Durban, East London, Bloemfontein and in other parts of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.

The group has big expansion plans. It aims to have 50 hotels in Africa by 2015, and has 15 now.