Cozy Nest B&B

Living cheek by jowl with her four siblings, policeman father and housewife mother, Khanyi dreamt of escaping the poverty that surrounded her in her Transkei village, of one day owning her own home with a room for each of her children.

Today Khanyi, 35, is a successful lawyer, married to another successful lawyer, and the owner of Cozy Nest, a palatial B&B in upmarket Durban North which has no fewer than ten en-suite bedrooms. Cozy Nest is just a few minutes from Durban’s beaches, two shopping malls and several large office parks. The city centre is 10 minutes away and the hotels, restaurants and bars of Broadway are all on her doorstep.

Cozy Nest Durban North is, in fact, Khanyi’s second B&B. In 2005 she opened the first Cozy Nest, in Quigney, East London. That first property – which has won an Eteya Provincial award was developed as an investment but, says Khanyi, just a year into the business “I fell in love with hospitality”. 

Friends, not customers

What made Khanyi fall in love was the novelty and excitement of hosting guests from all over the country and all over the world, the daily challenge of meeting and exceeding their expectations and sending them away, as she puts it, “friends rather than customers”.

“As an attorney you’re always dealing with problems but in this industry you’re dealing with people who are either on holiday or excited to be somewhere different. Their energy is something you feel. You have to make sure that they leave with at least as much good energy as when they arrived.”

Cozy Nest Durban North is a lot more than a spacious B&B appointed in the most contemporary style. “It’s a one-stop place,” explains Khanyi. “We have a gym, swimming pool, a spa bath, sauna, conference facility for up to 25 people and even a health spa. At Cozy Nest you can spend the whole day being pampered and rejuvenating yourself, without ever going outside.”

A gift for hospitality

Connie, Cozy Nest’s manager, has many years’ experience in hotels and hospitality, says Khanyi but “most importantly, she has the gift of making every guest feel like they are the only one”.

Other members of staff, who don’t have Connie’s background in tourism have benefitted from a wide range of training courses sponsored by TEP, Khanyi says. TEP and SA Tourism have also made it possible for Cozy Nest to market itself in several European centres. But it’s the tourism cluster being developed for small and emerging businesses in greater Durban that has really raised Khanyi’s expectations. “Big business in tourism isn’t doing enough to help smaller businesses but TEP is helping us to raise the image of our guesthouses and, by helping us to work together, to fill our rooms.”

Khanyi has ambitions of filling not just her rooms in East London and Durban North.

She envisages franchising the Cozy Nest concept and, “let me tell you; one day I want to have the biggest hotel in South African owned by a previously disadvantaged individual”.