Daddy Long Legs

But be prepared for their own version of the psychometric test: if you get your foot in the door of one of South Africa’s most entrepreneurially-driven businesses you might be asked to draw a picture of yourself. Draw a stick figure and you probably won’t be invited back for a second interview. Draw an especially interesting tree, or something that makes quirky sense, and you might just get a shot at a career with a business that is giving Cape Town tourism an edge it never knew it had.

Just ask Sergio Dreyer. He’s 26 year old and already has a share in the business. Joining the industry in 2000, Sergio worked in backpackers’ lodges both locally in Cape Town and in London. A few years later he was literally checking out Long Street when someone introduced him to a funky new business that was opening a boutique hotel close to the restaurant heartland of Cape Town in the upper parts of this downtown street.

Lucky thirteen

Daddy Long Legs opened for business in 2005 with 13 rooms, each decorated by an individual artist, photographer or poet. There is the Emergency Room, the Apollo Room and the Freshlyground Room, each as different from the other as the next room. There are no TV sets in the rooms but there is wireless Internet access throughout. The hotel is arty to its fingertips but promises guests everything they would expect in a hotel; showers and toilets in the rooms, a bar and balcony and frequent entertainment. You can self-cater or you can have breakfast, but whichever option you choose, you will find a hotel that regularly gets featured in books and newspaper articles about the world’s best hotel rooms.

Sergio is a young hotelier who is obviously thriving on the challenge of being at the heart of Long Street’s astonishing resurgence. “Just sitting on the balcony, you get the buzz. You can eat anything here. You can even eat crocodile, Indian or Cuban. Long Street is just oozing atmosphere. It’s the place to be in Cape Town.”

South Africa’s new gold

Sergio doesn’t hesitate for a moment when asked whether he would recommend the hospitality game to youngsters. “Sure, tourism is South Africa’s new commodity, our new gold. If you’re the right personality it’s a wonderful career but be prepared. You’re on call 24 hours a day. It’s a lifestyle choice. Either it’s for you, or it’s not.”

Now the general manager of the flagship Grand Daddy Hotel down the road from Daddy Long Legs, Sergio finds himself dividing his time between the two properties. Or being woken up in the middle of the night.

“I work hard,” says Sergio, “but I never underestimate the opportunities I’ve been given. I’m 26 and I have a share in the business. I’m really proud of that. It just shows you what opportunities there are in the South African tourism industry for people with the right attitude.

Despite its funky, happening positioning, Daddy Long Legs attracts guests of all ages and from all nationalities, with locals well represented. Marketing to a diverse international audience has its challenges and budgetary constraints and Sergio is focussed on the tools that have served the hotel in the past: great public relations and the Internet.

Empowering staff

And the business isn’t afraid to look for partners. “TEP have been extremely helpful. We really believe in empowering our staff and several employees have been on TEP courses which have taught them very valuable skills. The cluster is going to do great things for marketing ourselves, Long Street and Cape Town.”