Party time as Cresta Lodge turns 31

IT’S party time for Cresta Hotels in Zimbabwe, and a time to celebrate anniversaries for some of the country’s most popular hotels.

The Cresta Jameson, grande dame of Samora Machel Avenue, recently attained the venerable age of 65; Cresta Churchill in Bulawayo will be 50 years old next year; Cresta Oasis in Union Avenue is 48; Cresta Lodge on the Mutare Road has just turned 31, and Cresta Sprayview in the city of Victoria Falls is a mere spring chicken at age 10.

Minister Mangaliso Ndhlovu plants a tree at Cresta Lodge

All roads led to Cresta Lodge on a recent sunny morning in June, for a celebration of the hotel’s birthday, an event attended by all the great and good of the Cresta Hotels, a member of the Masawara Group of Companies. Waiting on the green lawns beneath shady indigenous trees to receive invited guests, was a lineup of formally attired lodge employees, headed by Cresta Lodge general manager, Crispen Chimumvuri. The welcome was warm, the atmosphere festive, and homemade lemonade garnished with a Maraschino cherry and served in a stylish glass, set the tone for the event. The party was about to begin.

By chance,  the arrival at Cresta Lodge of teams playing in the ICC Mens Cricket World Qualifier 2023 coincided with the birthday celebrations, adding to the general sense of excitement and anticipation.

Party fare at Cresta Lodge

Over a million dollars has recently been spent refurbishing Cresta Lodge in expectation of post-Covid growth and development, and the buzz as we entered the lodge to start our tour suggested this had already begun. Cool Beans Coffee Shop, a few steps down from reception, looked busy. With its new coffee tables and rugs, and timber workstations with fitted USB and phone/laptop charger points, it’s a great place to work on an assignment while sipping a strong cappuccino.

Chatters Bar has put in large smart TVs, installed fancy lighting, replaced banquette seating and redecorated with artwork and mirrors. There was no time to appraise the range of whiskeys available or to discuss with the bar tender the best whiskeys to drink in 2023, as we were whisked on to check out Chatters Restaurant. The fresh, new look of the restaurant, the promise of a three-course Sunday roast lunch, and an outlook of lush tropical garden plants and msasa trees, make this an enticing destination.

Stylish executive suite at Cresta Lodge.

The tour continued apace through the stylish, well-equipped Sango Conference Centre, and on to inspect the bedroom and bathroom refurbishment. There were a number of staircases without handrails to navigate, creating difficulties for guests with mobility issues. In bedrooms and bathrooms, interior decorators had upped the ante with stylish decor. The executive suite had a quiet air of luxury, with a co-ordinated colour scheme of light grey, beige and white, with splashes of gold and sunlight yellow in the artwork, and on scatter cushions.

Chefs and cooks were busy laying out tables with appetising displays of canapés, fancy breads and cheeses, desserts, pastries and gateaux, as we  gathered in front of a pavilion on the lawn to hear speeches from officials and guests of honour.

Mrs Chipo Mandela, managing director of Cresta Hotels, described how thirty years ago TA Holdings (previous owners of Cresta Hotels) had chosen a suburban location for an exciting new hotel with a ‘landscape that could be transformed into a garden environment …. and provide guests with leisure and fitness opportunities within the grounds.’ Thus Cresta Lodge evolved, where tree planting became a feature, linking travel and tourism with the environment. More trees were planted with the opening in 2013 of the Cresta Sango (forest) conference centre, and today a verdant canopy of trees surrounds an upmarket lodge which has much to offer to local Zimbabweans and to visitors from all corners of the world.

Indigenous trees to take home from Cresta Lodge.

Joseph Hundah, Chief Operating Officer of Masawara, referred to ‘the dark years of Covid’, and spoke with confidence about the emerging ‘steady path of growth in travel and tourism’. Expansion and new opportunities in this field were both key to driving the economy in Zimbabwe.

Ms Pedia Moyo, a well known figure in the hospitality industry, reminisced about her time as manager of Cresta Lodge, when it opened in March 1993. Proud and inspired about this exciting new venture in the suburbs, she described how frequent overflows of guests booking in to Cresta Lodge, were re-directed to Meikles Hotel in the CBD.

The grande finale came when the Honourable Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu, Minister of the Environment, Climate, Tourism and the Hospitality Industry, was called upon to plant yet another indigenous tree, this time to mark Cresta Lodge’s 31st anniversary. Donning a white overcoat and sun hat, and showing little regard for getting dust on his smart black formal shoes, he demonstrated considerable dexterity with a shovel while preparing a wide hole for the tree. Ably assisted by Mrs Mandela and Mr Crispen Chimumvuri, also dressed for the occasion in white coats, the  Minister liberated the tree from the growbag, and to the admiration of onlookers, lowered the tree into the hole patting it down firmly.

After toasting the occasion with sparkling wine and sampling the canapés, the party was over, but no one left empty handed. As a memento of the occasion, guests were invited to choose their own indigenous tree to plant at home. This is not the last special anniversary for Cresta Hotels this year and next, and plans must surely be afoot for further celebrations.

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