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Through My Eyes

Through My Eyes

Date: 2014-11-14
It was a night to remember, from violin playing babes to Frank Sinatra, from lobster tails to silver macaroons. Beverly Hills hotel's 50th birthday celebration was like nothing I have seen before. The evening was glowing in soft lights and soothing music, infused with the laughter of beautifully attired guests. It was as if someone took a truckload of fairy dust and sprinkled it on the entire venue and magically made everything sparkle.

I want to be very clear about this: I had the best party ever and I met the most amazing people. One of them being Sol Kerzner, who was so much fun even though he almost didn't make it, his flight from Paris got cancelled and he had to slum it in Business Class as there were no First Class seats available on the alternate flight. One thing I picked up while hanging around the enigma of Sol Kerzner was that he is a true genius. Hearing him tell the story about how he one day decided to build the Beverly Hills hotel and how everything fell into place once he embarked on his hotel acquisition journey, was inspirational.


Part of Kerzner's financial genius was in recognising the potential of building resorts in the so-called homelands, which were granted independence during the days of apartheid. While South Africa's Calvinist white rulers forbade gambling, you could do pretty much anything you wanted in the homelands. From my brief encounter with Sol Kerzner, I was under the impression that he was prepared to stand in the spotlight when it was good for business, but in truth he appeared to be a very private man.


At 78 years old Kerzner looks healthy. Surrounded by beautiful women who gravitate to him like bees to honey, he is glowing. He does not even mind doing 'selfies' with total strangers. In fact this hospitality superstar with the strange accent was clearly enjoying the spotlight and the attention of the guests.

There is just no denying it, Sol Kerzner is and will remain an icon of the South Africa tourism industry, after all he created two of the largest hotel chains in South Africa: Southern Sun Hotels (now Tsogo Sun) and Sun International. To me Sol Kerzner will always be the 'Legend of Leisure'.