The Cape Grace: a Cape Town icon is reborn, and her new custodians shine

Brian Berkman has had the exceedingly good fortune of spending many nights at the Cape Grace Hotel over the years. He revisits it to find it as impressive as ever.

- Brian Berkman

When the Cape Grace Hotel opened on its own quay at Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront, it was the first Mother City location for the Brand family who had the Mount Grace Hotel in the Magaliesburg and the Grace Hotel in Johannesburg.

Nigel Pace was the opening general manager and said the roomy width of the corridors was designed to allow enrobed sheiks to pass each other without touching. From the start, this hotel was built to deliver the best to the best.

The Cape Grace was completed in December 1996 and traded to much acclaim for many years. Kasada Capital Management acquired it in 2022, and in 2023, under Accor’s Luxury portfolio, it was rebranded as a Fairmont Hotel & Resorts property.

LUXURY AND LEGACY

The Cape Grace now joins New York’s Plaza and London’s Savoy as iconic Fairmont-managed properties. Perhaps this management partnership was always in the stars, as some of Fairmont’s most impressive international hotels have telltale oxidised copper roof details and are in the Châteauesque style, much like the Cape Grace is.

Interiors have been substantially improved; where historic details once featured hand-painted silk curtains with Cape Dutch gables, today they are simply smart, functional, and contemporary.

Many of the Cape Grace’s best staff have remained, and the hotel was always known for its magnificent service. Certainly on arriving and being welcomed by Sheba, a queen of warmth and customer care, she and the other receiving team could turn any frown into a beaming smile.

And, while Sheba stood out as she was the first, the full Cape Grace team encountered have all the skills and the personable personality to deliver to the most exacting or grumpy guest.

A FRESH FACE AND TIMELESS SERVICE