Mount Nelson Hotel Celebrating 110th Anniversary

Nick Seewer Celebrates 20th as Managing Director

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. April 20, 2009

APRIL 20, 2009 - Mount Nelson Hotel, which is celebrating its 110th birthday this year, is known for its high number of long-serving staff. At least 20 permanent staff members have been with the hotel for over 15 years. Nick Seewer, who celebrates his 20th anniversary as Managing Director of Mount Nelson Hotel and Orient-Express Hotels Africa, is no exception.

Nick Seewer's globe-trotting youth inspired him to follow a career in the travel and hospitality business. A Swiss national, his early years were spent in India. He studied in England, attended the Lausanne hotel school in Switzerland, and trained at top Swiss hotels, before relocating to South Africa to work at some of the country's best hotels finally landing at Mount Nelson Hotel in 1989.

"I distinctly remember arriving at the hotel at six in the morning on April 1, 1989. Excited as I was to be running one of the country's best known hotels, I approached my new role with trepidation as she was in need of a lot of care and attention", says Mr. Seewer.

Over the years, Seewer has been influential in implementing changes to reclaim Mount Nelson Hotel's timeless elegance and flawless reputation.

"My biggest and most rewarding challenge was to make the hotel more accessible to the local market. We managed to accomplish this through an extensive refurbishment and by introducing what has become our world famous Afternoon Tea buffet, restructuring our restaurants and their food concepts and opening the Planet Champagne and Cocktail Bar, which has become the city's celebrity hotspot" adds Seewer.

Other highlights include playing host to some of the world's most colorful characters, opening the Orient-Express Safari Camps in Botswana in 1992, and launching Mount Nelson Hotel's sister property, The Westcliff, in Johannesburg in 1998. However, it was one distinct moment in 1993 that truly illustrates Nick Seewer's overall experience at Mount Nelson.

"The hotel closed for six months to undergo repairs to damages incurred by an electrical fire. When it reopened, the entire staff contingent lined up along Palm Avenue and gave me a surprise welcome when I arrived. It was such a touching gesture symbolic of the hotel's warmth and hospitality - something which inspires many of our guests to remark that coming back to the hotel is like coming home".