As Sun International breaks ground on Lefika Villas, its high-end holiday club offering, talks are under way to add another 200-unit property. This is in line with the leisure and hospitality group’s plan to grow the iconic Sun City resort.
On Thursday the JSE-listed gaming, casino and hotel group unveiled the new R295m Lefika Villas. It adds to its popular holiday club portfolio, Sun Vacation Club, which houses The Reserve, opened in 1996 and which has 234 units targeting the entry-level market. There is also The Aviary, launched in 2004, which has 148 units for mid-level customers.
Lefika is aimed at affluent clients, with its luxurious 58 units made up of three- and four-bedroom apartments that can house 400 guests. It is expected to start operations before the end of 2023. Sun International is betting on the timeshare vacation club, which according to the group is becoming increasingly popular as people look for affordable holidays. Sun Vacation Club has 22,000 members.
“Members are extremely loyal, they come back over and over again [after the expiry of the agreement],” said Janita Donaldson, Sun Vacation Club group general manager. Members also receive access to more than 100 activities at Sun City, she added.
The expansion of Lefika Villas is part of an R850m investment Sun International, which also owns the GrandWest complex in Cape Town and The Maslow Hotel in Johannesburg, is splurging on refurbishing existing properties and building new ones at Sun City.
“Sun City is one of those properties that if you don’t continue to invest, it will go backwards, and it’s sad to say it was going that way,” said CEO Anthony Leeming.
Sun International is experiencing significant demand for Sun Vacation Club accommodation and this expansion [Lefika] will help satisfy this demand. We are confident this development will achieve above-market returns
— Sun International CEO Anthony Leeming
He said Covid “taught us a lot about Sun City” and “we went through a hell of a period of fixing things such as water leaks and gardens. We also had a good look at the vision of Sun City.”
Over the past few years a number of properties within the resort have been refurbished. Its five-star hotel The Palace is undergoing a R208m makeover and will soon have a spa and gym. Renovations are expected to be completed next month, in time for the hotel’s 30th anniversary.
Leeming said: “Sun City remains perennially popular and post-Covid we have seen an increase in demand from leisure, conference and sporting guests. We have invested significantly in the property and the resort is in great condition.”
He said while regular maintenance of the hotels and other properties is important, the “key is to generate a lot more cash flow than you are spending. We seem to be on the right track and it’s starting to show ... there is better occupancy as well.”
According to Leeming, September performance was ahead of that pre-Covid and October is “looking good. The second half of the year will be a lot stronger.”
Lefika will be outside the Itlholanoga heritage site, the real “lost city” of the greater Sun City resort, which opened in 1979. “The settlement is located on the northern face of the hill overlooking the entire valley. The site is rated level five for historic significance and is a provincial heritage site,” said Sun International.
It added that it has enlisted leading archaeological and heritage experts, including Wits archaeology professor Mandy Esterhuyzen, director of the Origins Centre at the Johannesburg university. She will assist with the management and preservation of this and surrounding heritage sites.
Sun International development manager Mark Pitchers said “special attention was also given to the preservation of existing natural features on site. The new villas have been located around existing natural topographies such as rock outcrops and trees as far as possible.”
Leeming said Sun International is experiencing significant demand for Sun Vacation Club accommodation and “this expansion [Lefika] will help satisfy this demand. We are confident this development will achieve above-market returns.”
Donaldson said the vacation club offerings are the best-performing assets in the company’s hospitality portfolio and demand continues to soar. “Just before Covid we saw the strain in the economy and we introduced a five-year product. When Covid happened it saved us because millennials don’t want to make 10-year decisions. With the introduction of a five-year product it was a saving grace, given Covid and the pressure the economy was under,” she said.
At the height of the pandemic the Sun Vacation Club was one of the best revenue generators in the Sun International group. “Members were contributing 60% by buying new and additional timeshare products over that period,” Donaldson said.
According to Donaldson, 50% of new sales have come through digital platforms, an increase of 10% in the past three years.
She said 90% of vacation club members are locals, especially from Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, while the rest are from neighbouring countries such as Botswana and Namibia. Internationally, the UK is a big market.
Donaldson said the profile of vacation club members has changed over the years. Traditionally it was families. Now, however, friends and extended families club together to buy units.
Leeming said the planned 200 two-bedroom units will fall between entry- and mid-level.
Sun International has also started expanding the GrandWest hotel to increase capacity to 103 rooms from 39.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.