In December 2012 Sun International Hotels & Resorts will open the company's first hotel in Johannesburg. The Grayston is located in the heart of Sandton, Johannesburg's financial district near the Stock Exchange. It will be ideal for business travelers due to its location, its conference facilities, business service amenities and significant landscaped gardens that surround the hotel. After a complete $US 48 million remodeling of an existing hotel structure, the 4* deluxe hotel will offer 267 rooms with complimentary WiFi access.Complimentary shuttle service from The Grayston to Sandton Gautrain and Sandton City will be available. Sandton Gautrain station offers direct fast rail links to OR Tambo International Airport in just 12 minutes. Over 300 shops in the immediate vicinity of the hotel boast South African designers such as Jenni Button and Hilton Weiner, alongside international labels such as DKNY, Gucci and more. Last year Sun International, Southern Africa's leading leisure and casino group entered into a 20-year lease agreement with the Cavaleros Group for the lease of the Grayston Hotel building, a landmark Sandton property. "This deal will secure Sun International's position in South Africa's premier business node, and will complement the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, our other major urban hotel," says Acting Chief Executive Garth Collins. "It is a prime location given its close proximity to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, The Sandton Convention Centre, the commercial and retail district and the Gautrain." Collins adds: "We are not presently represented in Sandton and this venture offers the group relatively short term access to this key market. Importantly, the hotel will act as a valuable stop-over point for our inbound visitors who arrive from abroad en route to our properties around the country, especially Sun City, Cape Town and Livingstone. The Grayston is ideally suited to this purpose and provides a good added facility for our foreign guests." Since 1994, the group has made significant investments in new infrastructure as part of an ambitious development program to take advantage of the dramatic improvement in the performance and prospects of southern Africa's tourism and leisure industries. Particularly since 1998, the group has been the dominant private sector investor in new tourism infrastructure in Africa.
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