Francois Lubbe — Action Coach and the need for business coaching

Let's make 93.8 some legendary radio for you and it is what's involved as we do each and every Monday at this time proudly brought to you by the Cradle Boutique Hotel you can check it out cradlehotel.co.za I mentioned last week we're going to be having a chat to the CEO of the Cradle Nature Reserve and Boutique Hotel and we have him in studio with us this evening, good evening. Good evening to you. Good to have you here with us. This hotel thing must obviously be good for you because you've just braved the traffic and you've gotten here and you're still looking laid back. Absolutely but I mean if you sit on the Nature Reserve there you can only be relaxed. We're going to talk about that in a bit because I was fortunate enough to be there not this past weekend, the weekend before and it is absolutely sublime and I'm not saying that just because you're sitting across from me because we'll get into that and I think you listening as well know me well enough that if I didn't like something I would say it as well often to my detriment but we do that. But let's start off with you Kurbus. You are now the CEO of the Cradle Nature Reserve and the Boutique Hotel but let's take us way back. Where did Kurbus come from and how did he end up where he is today as the CEO? My story starts in Durban. I was raised there, I went to school there, I studied commercial photography and the big story was to go into the film business. So when I finished my three year course in Durban studying photography I packed my bag and came to Gerwig and then launched myself as an assistant cameraman and a cameraman and I worked for many years in the film business, worked on features, documentaries and eventually became a lighting cameraman and I then decided to take myself off to LA to go and do some studying in LA and study lighting cinematography and it was a wonderful experience. Came back to South Africa and decided that I was going to become a producer now so I opened a production company and started making TV ads and so that was my first life cycle career if you like. Had a wonderful time in the film business, met some amazing people, travelled all over the world and thoroughly enjoyed it and then my first son was born and I decided this Gerwig thing is not good, I have to get out of here and what am I going to do. So I then decided that the hotel business is exactly where I need to go. And let's just talk about that briefly because the hotel business, you had no hotel experience. I mean you were informed, you ran your own production company, you could shoot commercials, you travelled all over the place and you decided hotels. What possessed you? So I've always had a passion for cooking and entertaining and I thought maybe first a restaurant but I became friends with some restaurateurs here in Gerwig and it soon dawned on me that that was replacing one bad vibe for another one working 24/7. So I did some research and then I thought well country hotel, this sounds up. I had no experience whatsoever, started doing some research but you know they say there's a time in your life when you're young enough, naive enough and brave enough to do something wild. So I decided that it was good to do a total career flip and start off in a new career with my family and we settled for the Lofeld. We bought a beautiful farm called Serra Azul and we built Blue Mountain Lodge there, it's my first hotel and yeah as I said the rest is history. And that's actually believe it or not because we didn't realise this when we were talking about this whole thing until we were sitting together having a chat. That's where I first met you which was more years ago than I'd care to actually remember but I mean it must have been 15 odd years easy if not more. And I first got to meet Kurbes and his wife at the time at Blue Mountain Lodge when it had just, I'm pretty sure I was with them Pumalanga Tourism then and it was just at the opening and we still had a laugh when I was talking about putting yogurt on the fountain in the courtyard but spectacular, spectacular hotel.

And at the time I would never have guessed that this was your first foray into the hotel business. You had no idea what you were getting yourself into. But very, very successful hotel, lovely hotel. And then you mentioned something and you kind of hit the nail on the head the other day when we were chatting because to me that hotel looked like somebody had taken one of these film sets and they built a set of what the ideal hotel should look like. And you said that was actually what you did, it was like building a set for real. Yeah, absolutely. I mean it took us about two years to find the right location because I wanted something that forestry, I wanted something with water and a break over in a scarp and to look out east and we literally looked at most probably about 25 farms until we found this particular farm and I thought this is it, you know, we have to come and build our movie set here. And because both my wife at the time and myself came from the movie business, that was our reference. We traveled a lot and we thought we had a good idea of what our fantasy hotel would be like and I think we got it right. It was a great success and it was a stunning property. Look, you gloss over this. I mean it wasn't just the hotel you took on. You took on the farming side of it as well. So they were what, lychees and mangoes that you were farming?

Avocados, lychees and coffee, yeah. Coffee, okay. So we made our own coffee and Sarah Zool is the Portuguese for Blue Mountain. So when we named the hotel, I decided to use the English translation and call it Blue Mountain Lodge and we marketed our own coffee after the most famous coffee, Blue Mountain Coffee as well. In any case, it was, you know, I knew absolutely nothing about farming, but I got in good advertising style, I got a consultant in who helped me and, you know, it was all, we went pear shaped right early about the farming. But then we got through the first ditch and we put ourselves together and we've, I think, you know, we were expecting to walk into this well functioning farm but it was actually in a terrible state, unbeknownst to me. But we turned it around within two, three years and we took the production from 5,000 cartons to 55,000 cartons within three years. And so that was just the dogged, you know, determination, you in it, you better get it right. But that's what I was going to say to you because I mean, a lot of people that listen to the show are in management positions or they own their own businesses. And that's something that has been, I find very inspiring about what you've done is you just, I mean, I have had experience in my previous life with hotels and lodges, et cetera, et cetera.

It's not easy. I mean, that's why I smiled just now when you went being a restaurateur is not for you. Well, I tell you, you work even more than them. But what is the secret? Did you just, I mean, did you just not give up? Was that just never an option? Yeah, never giving up was never an option. It was just, this is the journey that I picked. This is my second career and it had to be a success. And I think the one thing that I learned in advertising was how to work with purpose and that there had to be an outcome to that purpose. And I think I just applied that I thought I was going to go and have this luxurious life in the country, read my books and stroll around the farm. You know, little did I know that this was actually a long feature movie that never stopped. Yes. It's like 24/7, 365. And it just, I slipped into the one, like it was the same as the other one, because it was all about service. It was creating perceptions for people and creating experiences for people. And I think the work ethic that I learned in the advertising business just stood me in good stead for the rest of my life, actually. And then there came a time after a while, you said, okay, Blue Mountain is done now.

So you sold up there back to Joburg. Yeah, back to Joburg. But you sort of made a bit of a name for yourself in the tourism industry, because you consulted for Mpumalanga Tourism. I know about this. Just briefly, what else, who else have you worked with? So in my journey, you know, it was like, yeah, okay, I think I've got this under control. Now what next? So I consulted in Mpumalanga Tourism for a while. I started consulting to other hoteliers, got a fantastic opportunity to do to work with IDC on a beautiful game lodge Makalali up near Hutzkrate, which was one of Silvia Rex's first designed hotels. It was absolutely beautiful on the Mokutsi River. And I had three glorious years there. It was fantastic. I mean, I did that while I was running Blue Mountain. I then also got a call from Chris Saviso and Landsrack at the time, and asked me to come down and help him to turn around and use building and extending the winery and everything. So I spent two years flying from Nelspray to Stannenbosch, three days a week, two days back at Blue Mountain, two days at Makalali. So that's what I did for two years. And fortunately, I had a wife who kept the fort going and the kids, three stunning young boys at that stage were reading. So it was busy, busy, busy. Then I got nominated to join the Tourism Business Council of South Africa Board. And that's a national body that represents all the hotel hospitality business.

And I came on there on the hat that I was representing small business. And us personal business individuals don't have a voice. So I was very happy to bring my voice to that forum. And then from there, I was requested to work with two other gentlemen to the Tourism Business Council started then to put money into marketing. And we spent about a good three years going and researching international marketing for South Africa as a new destination. So we designed a new strategy for South Africa. And I was lucky to be involved in that whole process. That was that whole time with brand South Africa and the whole lot. Okay, yeah. And the business trust was involved. So we came up with ways to fund the marketing organizations with Tourism Levy. And, you know, we went to Australia and talked to them to find out what they were doing. And they were very gracious with sharing information with us. And it was a wonderful, it was an awesome time, you know, to get South Africa back on the map and get cracking. So that, yeah, that was part of it. And then carried on moved back, still did the consulting thing. Yeah. And then coming bringing us up to date. Yeah. The cradle hotel, which we're going to talk a little bit about that.

Because as I said, I've been there, the hotel and everything is stunning. We'll talk about that. But what you guys are doing in the concept behind this hotel for me, it's absolutely fantastic. And I think it's the way forward. And I'll give you a hint. Okay. When we come back, it revolves around something that I think it's becoming a buzzword overseas now. But it's the concept of conscious capitalism. So we'll be having a bit of a chat when we come back. My special guest in studio today, Kurt Busburter, CEO of the Cradle Nature Reserve and Boutique Hotel. We'll be chatting more to him, finding out exactly what is so special about that hotel in just a bit. David Watts on Mix 93.8. Mix 93.8, the legendary radio. What's involved? Proudly brought to you by the Cradle Hotel. You can check it out at cradlehotel.co.za. My special guest in studio with me, the CEO is Kurt Busburter. So we're back with you, Kurt Busburter. And I said just before the break, we're going to chat about this whole concept, which I call, and you agree with me that it is something like that that you're doing, called conscious capitalism. So let's talk about, you're in the cradle of, what do they call it? The cradle of humankind.

It's on a, if memory serves a 9,000, is it? Well, the total, the, our hotel is situated on a nature reserve, 1,680 hectares. And then Timothy Nash, the guy who bought this property, his brothers and the rest of the family have the neighboring farms and that's another 7,000 hectares. So we traverse onto their property as well. So we have access to about 9,000 hectares. And I got to tell you, it is, it is absolutely spectacular there. We're going to get into that as well. But you came into this project and you, you didn't do it the sort of typical way that, that people would do it. I mean, let's talk like, for example, about the stuff, because you didn't get experience to tell us in there. Yeah, I know. Look, I think I might maybe take one step back just to say that I met up with Timothy Nash, who's the owner and it was his idea to have this conscious capitalism project. It was his, his concept. And when I heard it, I thought, wow, it's not every day that we, you know, we talk about conscious capital a lot, not every day you get actually the opportunity to have the finance to do something like that or the wall to do it. And he presented me with this wonderful opportunity to help him build a hotel and build his vision of getting a commercial business going, but totally dedicated to the proceeds for community upliftment. And, and we've actually implemented that. So, you know, we started in August this year, we'll be three years old. So we started our first paying customer came through August 2016. And from the outset, we said, okay, we're going to employ people from the local community and we're going to train them up to empower them and to conscientize them about what it is, what are we doing? Why do we have people coming here? And I mean, that has been a wonderful journey. So I think the one thing that you will find absolutely if you come to the hotel is that you'll find right from the golf cart driver, right to the shift, they are all very cool, happy people. They, they have a good sense of humor, but they've, you can see that they're in a good space. They're happy people.

And I mean, you, you guys have literally gone out of your way and we talked, Mike, Mike, the guy who was driving the golf cart when I was there was in Corsi. And I mean, what a welcome from the time we arrived there, you know, they were, and they are all genuinely happy and I'm always sneaky like that. I always like to have little chats with people and find out and they genuinely are, they love what they're doing. And they've all bought into this vision that, that, that comes obviously from the top, but they've bought into it and they proud of it. That is, that is the coolest thing. But you're not just involved there. So tell us a little bit about what else you've done now. So part of this vision is that Timothy established ADIT, African Digital Education Trust, and we have a campus in Westbury, which is a very marginalized community on the Southern side of Joburg, just next to Auckland Park there and UJ. And we've got a campus there that we have 400 children, primary school kids who come after school. We give them a lunch and we do online on computers, English, maths and robotics classes. So five days a week, that's what we do. And then on Saturdays, we have a high school program to do maths only for kids from grade nine to 10. This year we're going to, the 10s are going to move up to 11. So this year we have nine, 10 and 11 going up there. And so all the proceeds from the hotel that goes into nature conservation and the education and training. And then in Westbury, the school is financed through whatever, what we do at the hotel. And I mean, the African Digital Education Trust, we've got a branch called Msuka and Lindsay Hunter, who was one of Lee Berger's cave divers, you know, explorers. She's a wonderful woman. And she runs an ambassador's program. So work, guys from like we work in our waiters, we work in our hotel, but from all the surrounding hotels do her three day program at Murrow Peng. And she, she talks him through and she's got other people to help her to talk about, you know, the past where does, how does paleoanthropology fit into this story? You know, it's an alien concept.

A lot of people don't grasp it. How does nature conservation work into this thing? And so she does a program called ambassador's program and all our staff have been on it. And most of the hotels in the area have sent their staff there as well. So again, we subsidize those programs, we've got a grant from National Geographic as well. And they've bought into what we're doing in the cradle. And you know, this is our mission is to empower not only ourselves but people around us and to, you know, make them all hopefully, you know, enjoy the fruits of what we're doing there. And I think this is because I was so impressed to hear this, because this is it's conscious capitalism you're going, not just the fat cats that that own the place or sit on a board or etc, etc. Everybody is going to benefit that is involved with that hotel and the surroundings. So whatever you you're doing when you go to the hotel, any of the activities, your meals or whatever, because you've got the restaurant there as well, it's a hotel, but the restaurant is open. And we'll talk about that as well. Because I was blown away. I mean, you know, when you see four star boutique hotel, you think, oh, this menu is gonna hurt. It doesn't.

I mean, it's very, very reasonably priced. And to know that all of those proceeds, you're actually going to uplift people. It makes you feel so much better. I mean, it's a beautiful environment. But just knowing that your money that you've spent is being used for something like that. But now you've got extra projects that you're busy with. So we've spoken about the Westbury and your ambassador program, I think is brilliant. I want to come on one of those things is I want to learn. I was absolutely fascinated about this paleo anthropology and everything. You do offer tours as well with Professor Lee Berger, which I would still love to attend one of those because just a little bit we went on a on a on a game drive with one of your guys, they also very knowledgeable. His name is called Grant. And he just gave us a sort of a taste of what's all there and how they discovered it and where they digging and everything. And that extended to I think is an absolute must. Yeah, it's a bucket list thing. I knew nothing about paleo anthropology four years ago. Yeah, I didn't even know where the cradle of humankind was, to be honest. I wasn't sure it was at Kruger Park, or was it Hotpiercer Dam or Pelendaba or whatever. And you know, so I've learned a lot in the last four years. I can't say I'm an expert, but I've got lots more knowledge about the paleo anthropology and going with Professor Lee Berger is an absolute amazing experience.

But we have other guides who have specialist knowledge as well, like Lindsay Hunter or Howard Geach, who take you on and the knowledge that they impart with you on the geology, the land, the history, the fossils, the discoveries. It's just absolutely amazing. It's like a wonderful story that you go on, you know. But it is. And even with Grant, because this is a nature reserve, not a game reserve. So you're not going to get the big five there. There are some very, very elusive leopard that has been seen around there. Apparently the brown hyena has been seen there as well. But antelope species, those kind of things, civets, genets, servals, you know, that's all there. And it's a beautiful, beautiful environment. And just to have those pictures painted, when you're sitting up on top of one of those little mountains there, looking at the Michalesburg Range, and to have those pictures painted by knowledgeable people, it's absolutely fascinating. Eventually I ended up saying to Grant, don't worry about finding animals. Talk to me more about the geology and trees and rocks and all those things. It was a great time. When we come back, though, we discussed something during the course of that weekend. We discussed another project that you're going to be busy with. So with your permission, when we come back, I'd like to have a chat about that one as well.

Absolutely. Kurb's looking at me, not to show which project I'm going to pick on. I'm going to pick on one of them. I'll tell you that. It is what's involved on this Monday evening. It's partly brought to you by the Cradle Boutique Hotel. You can check it out, cradlehotel.co.za, my special guest in studio, C. O. Kurbesburter. David Watts on Mix 93.8. Mix 93.8, some legendary radio for you. On this Monday night, partly brought to you by the Cradle Boutique Hotel. And we have C. O. of the Cradle Nature Reserve and the Boutique Hotel. Kurbesburter in studio with me. Now, we're talking about the farm because the farm itself, the section that you guys are on, as you said, it's long. I mean, once you get up on top of one of those mountains around there, you can literally, literally from the place where you can see the dome, you can see St. and Joburg. Grant, our guide, was saying that sometimes you can actually see right the way through to Kempton. Yes, you do. And Pretoria. We've got some vantage points as well where you can see the dome. It's a heart piece per dome. So you feel like you're on top of the world there. I mean, you literally feel that you've just transported somewhere else. You're 40 minutes away from from Santino, from where we're sitting now. So it is. It's unbelievable. It's like you've literally walked into another world. Now, we're talking about the fact of conscious capitalism and what you guys are doing there. And I think this is, and again, this is one little voice on one little radio show. But the concept of conscious capitalism is picking up hugely worldwide. And it is such a brilliant concept because it works on all fronts. And it just it makes so much sense. So you've got another project that you're now going to be starting as well on the farm. And I was fortunate enough to have a drive with you and see where you're going to do this. Tell us a little bit about that.

So again, in line with our philosophy of creating business opportunities for our community, the Nash family has decided to to seek other opportunities. And, you know, we've we've come up with this farming model where we're going to put farm vegetable and herb tunneling on the farm in an area that's not nature conservation, where the animals weren't used. So it's a marginalized location as well from that point of view. So we're in the final throes of putting the business plan together. And we've got some really fine guys working with us on putting this plan together. But the idea is that by the end of this year, we will have a farming enterprise on the Nash property. And we will have at least 10 tunnels with 10 companies and the people who will be running and managing those those tunnels individually will be people that we will go and find out of the local informal settlements. So that is ideas to bring people with no education and maybe from a lost generation, to help them and to set them up, but in a mentored environment. So it's not you setting somebody up for failure, you, you're going to mentor this program. And you're going to make sure that that you're giving proper opportunities for people. So we could, in this project start in the start first phase, we could create jobs for 62 people again. And I think if we could do that, it would be fantastic, because you're bringing people into understanding what the value is for them and what they can do with their endeavors. So it's a good team together. And there's a lot of study that's gone into this business plans have been modeled and remodeled. And we don't want to set people up for failure. We want to make sure that this will be a successful thing because I think for all the tunnels I've seen in South Africa failed projects, you know, you just don't want to go there again.

But this is this is why the concept of this conscious capitalism is so appealing to me because it's not like and and yes, you've been around projects, I've been around projects, particularly in the low file part of the world. They the government chucks money at a project. We had the lime farms, for example, when they were doing the lime, they were going to grow limes and all sorts of they throw a ton of money at it, build it, it's beautiful, they say, there you go. And they walk away. And then the people that they've now presented this to sit there going, Okay, now what? Yeah, because they don't have any knowledge. Now your tunnels are going to be they're going to be tunnels, but it's going to be aquaponics. Yeah, aquaponics is a fascinating thing, because it deals with being economical with water. So you know, water is a scarce commodity in our country. And then you put fish in these tanks, every tunnel has two tanks, and they stocked with fish, maybe tilapia. And the excrement of the fish in the water goes to feed creates the nutrients for the plants. So the herbs and the vegetables in the tunnels are actually suspended in water and in pebble beds. And then this water with the fish excrement goes the nutrients or the nitrates of the fish goes through the water and it feeds the vegetables, it has an accelerated growth.

And it is a nice clean process, you know, so the obviously the byproduct is that you'll end up every six months with some fish to sell. And so, you know, maybe there's some other opportunities for people in the community to sell fish or, you know, I've got I have a vision of containers and fish and trip shops. But you know, yeah, so I think the big thing is to the there is big informal settlements around our area. There's a massive unemployment thing and maybe 62 isn't a lot of people. But it's if every if all of our business people take some effort to take one step and do one project to empower people and create jobs in the area, I think we can go a long way, you know, to create a better environment that we live in. Well, I mean, that's that's that you said 62 odd people then. Excuse me. 62 people there, but the farm itself has already got 65 people that it employs correct. And me being nosy the way I am nosy when we were driving around, asked to see where everybody lives in it. I mean, you've got a crash there that you've built for the guys. You've got all the training courses, there's there's accommodation there. And, you know, very often when you go back of house at initiative hotel type place or anybody that deals with entertainment back of house is normally scary. Yeah. Your place is brilliant. There's obviously been a lot of thought gone into it. And this makes for the happy staff members because I literally talked to every last one of them from the security guards to the guys who drive the golf carts to the people who service the room. And all of them have the sense of pride about where they are, about the land and what they're doing in nature. And because of this training, they all have a little bit of knowledge. So it all helps. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, you have to empower people. You can't treat them like stones. I mean, they're human beings, they work there. They are ambassadors. If we get it right, they'll be out there promoting our business to our clients every single day. So they're super important to us. And we have a wonderful retention and we don't have staff leave. So I'm very proud of the stuff that we have there. I think we've, we on the direction, I mean, it's early days, as I said, our third anniversary in August. Yeah. But I think first baby steps are great. I think the indications look good to me. Okay. And obviously with you having been involved in the hotel business for so many years, we're allowed to say many years now because it's been years. You know, it is, it's the right direction and I've seen so many people at various hospitality establishments and they kind of, it's a job. And job in the sense of it stands for just over broke. The guys, every last one of them are brilliant. I mean, our way to the one day gentleman by the name of Cyprian. Okay. Great sense of humor. We laughed, we joked. You know, we just had a fantastic time and nothing was too much effort. Now we're going to talk a little bit about the hotel itself. So I want to, I want to talk about the hotel itself now. And then when we come back, then I want to wrap up with just where people can get hold of you and also talk a bit about the conferencing because you've got some fantastic conferencing there. In the meantime, if you've got any comments, any suggestions, you can SMS us for one three four eight. That is the SMS line. SMS is charged at one rain 50. Otherwise WhatsApp us 0 8 4 8 double 2 0 9 3 8. That's 0 8 4 8 double 2 0 9 3 8. And I believe we got some listeners streaming us from the Isle of Man this evening. So if you are listening on the Isle of Man, a very good evening. Is it good evening for them yet? Yeah, call it 27 so it should be good evening for them as well. Nice to have you guys tuned in. If you're listening from anywhere else, it's always good to have you. We'd love to hear from you.

So going on to the hotel itself, we mentioned, well, it was mentioned in the one advert that you won an award in 2018 for the best was it the best eco hotel, eco green hotel in Africa. Yeah. Okay. Now speak to me about what is an eco green hotel and why is yours that? Yeah. So I think again, in this conscious, environmental count, conscious capitalism is that we have to be responsible citizens in business. So from the outset, we have endeavoured to to run a hotel on as a green basis as possible, you know, because there's not always it's not always easy to do that. But are the structures that we built the rooms are all on wooden structures there on stilts. We've not scarred the land or the ground. They are beautiful that's in wooden structures. And they, I think very tastefully beautifully modern interior design, they have the mod cons inside that you'd expect in a four and a five star hotel. And then yes, I think the the processing of our food, we use bakashi powder to break down all our kitchen refuse and to break it down and turn that into manure we, we pump our water effluent off right across the hill, because we're in a Dolomite area, and you don't want water gray water to go into the subterranean water basin. So we pump it across the hill into French drains. And then from there, it's pumped out from there. So we've no plastic, no reusable, we use bamboo containers, we use paper stores, you know, and all of the bad we think that we should set an example. And we explain to our staff as well why we do it. So to the best of our ability, we try and live and do the right thing every day.

And I mean, the restaurant side itself, when you have a look at the quality of food that comes out of that kitchen, somebody's put a lot of thought into that. And you can see that the waitstaff, the chef all take pride in what they're doing. What impressed me the most is the swimming pool there. We got to talk about that swimming pool because that is that is mind blowing. I want one of those at my house now. So I mean, again, that's a wetland pool. So we don't use any chemicals at all. And I think as for us, it's one of the features that it's at the entrance to the pathways to the rooms. And that's where our statement is we share that with our guests and say this is again, it's another way to tell them that we are aware we're conscious citizens. And we don't use chemicals in our pool, we have a beautiful wetland pool and a beach behind it, where people can enjoy a wonderful afternoon and the summer. And yeah, so the the pool works. It's terraced. So you have the swimming pool, and then you have terraces to where there's beautiful water plants and pebbles, and the water then reticulates through three ponds, where it eventually is pumped back into the swimming pool. And you swim in crystal clean mountain water because that's where our water comes from. And it literally is. It's literally crystal crystal clear. And it's lovely. And also one of the other things there is the service levels there because nothing seems to be too much trouble when we were there. You know, I was asking about dinner and they were like, well, dinner served from this time until this time. However, if you'd like to eat in your room, please let us know so we can bring you the menus, you can place the order, we'll deliver it. Somebody else said to me, well, if you need a picnic basket packed or whatever, we can do that for you. No problem. Going to someone on the top of the mountain, have a picnic, go and sit down by the river. Is this part of the ethos there?

I think it's part of our ethos to create a total escape for our guests. I mean, I started with that at Blue Mountain where we said we won't have any breakfast hours. If you want to have breakfast at two in the afternoon, you can. And what it does, it takes away the anxiety of a guest of having to get into the restaurant by 9.30. Oh my God, am I going to make it. And there's this stress and anxiety. And the point is that we want to do is we want to totally de-stress our clients and say, just relax. There's no timing, whatever, you come in here, we've got a restaurant, we'll serve food for you in your room or in the restaurant or in a picnic. As you say, wherever you want, if you want to have a table set up in the mountain, we'll do that as well. We've got 17 rooms, that's not a huge hotel. So we can do that. And I think that's the attitude that we're trying to instill with the staff, we have a can-do attitude. We need to do whatever we can to make a guest experience as best as we can within the limited ability that we have to do. I think that's the thing. It's the best experiment, the best running in a perilapse for a horse. The best example of that is the fact that you've got that can-do attitude. Nothing is a problem. I love that. Sorry, I just got distracted because there's a brilliant message. The rooms in swimming pool are absolutely amazing. Okay, now the question is, maybe this is somebody that's looking for a plug or they just need some help here. The rooms in swimming pool are absolutely amazing. Who is the building contractor? Regards Jay.

I don't know who Jay is, but the building contractor was Wayne… So Jay's not the building contractor. No. So it's a safe plug for Wayne Anderson. He's been doing all the building for us on the property since get-go, and he's just finished our beautiful pavilion, our new function venue. Oh, I've got to talk about that when we come back. And that we finished in November, and we had our big first car launch there in November, and it's a really awesome site in the middle of the bush. So yeah, thank you to Jay. Wayne, what's his name again? Wayne Anderson. Wayne Anderson. I'm sure Kerberos will be happy to help you. He did the pool as well. He constructed the pool. The pool was designed by a gentleman called Anthony Fulbrick, who is a hippie with long hair onto his bum, but he's the most coolest guy ever. And, you know, people cry about wetland developments, but he did it first time. It was stunning. I think it was certainly one of my pleasures to see something like that come to fruition. Oh, no, that's absolutely beautiful. When we come back, we're going to finish up with the conference venue. It is What's Involved probably brought to you by the Cradle Boutique Hotel. My guest in studio, the CEO, Kerberos Buerta. David Watts on Mix 93.8. This Mix 93.8 legendary radio. What's Involved on a Monday evening time has flown once again, like it always does. My guest in studio, CEO of the Cradle Nature Reserve and Boutique Hotel, Kerberos Buerta. So we went through because as I said earlier, and I'm nosy, and I want to see everything, to what you call the pavilion now. And this is all about conferencing in the area. I was blown away again because you've taken something that was existing there. And you've improved on it. I mean, it is a spectacular venue. Tell us a little bit about conferencing and what what can happen there.

Because I know there's people that are in corporate right now driving home almost at home and everybody's looking for unique, different, exciting conference concepts. So tell us a bit about the pavilion. Yeah. So the conferencing is an important part of our business. We get wonderful weekend business from leisure, guest travelling, getting away for the weekend. But conferencing is a big aspect of our business. I think the big thing for us there is that you're 40 minutes away, and you feel like you're sitting in the middle of the Kruger Park. You know, you couldn't, you know, you really feel transported. All the buildings and structures have big glass doors that open up. You know, you sit there, you feel you're sitting in nature. We have the sternum is a 150 seater conference venue next to the hotel. And so that's quite convenient for day conferencing. But we in November launched the new pavilion, which is about it's on the property, but it's about a kilometre away from the hotel. And it is really a stunning property that also with big sloping roof and opening glass doors. It's very sophisticated, very smart, it's very beautiful. And it's got conferencing venue, chapel, got this beautiful mixed zone eating, seating a bar and we've got this massive swimming pool entertainment area. And I think, you know, we can easily take up to, you know, three, 400 people into that venue and on the various areas in the venue. And I think it'll be a stunning place. People cannot believe that you've we've got such an awesome venue, it feels very comfortable. It feels right there, you know, we've got black walls, you feel like you're sitting in a modern cave, actually funny enough, I've had people who have that comment as well. And the nice stuff is again, on the on the eco side, the green side, the bars being made up of reclaimed timber, timber of trees that you've had to move. The pool is magnificent. I mean, when we had a look at it, I was like, okay, that's a very nice pool. The types of things that you can do there, though, you mentioned vehicle launches. Yeah, we've had vehicle launches. We've had a small music promotion. Perfect for weddings. We've had two weddings, actually, since November in there already. So there's a chapel is what we call a long room that we use as a conference venue or a chapel. But it's got this beautiful little lake that you walk over when you're approaching the venue. It's all lit up in the evenings, in the daytime, it's just you feel like you don't know where you are, you transport it into a totally different world.

It's quiet, you know, you just hear birds chirping around there. And from the windows, the view specifically in the pavilion, from the windows, you literally looking out across nature, it's absolutely spectacular. And all the mod cons, let's not forget that at all, the mod cons, you've got Wi Fi at that venue, at the hotel, Wi Fi all over the place. It's one of the prerequisites. You also I didn't get a chance to play with it, because I was just too busy with everything else. Little phone in the room, the handy phone is quite a lovely toy. It's a VoIP phone. And you as a guest can use it, you can make any international calls free of charge. You can get information from the hotel about your room. If you staying over for a period of time, you can take it into town and I'll show you activities with places of interest in Joburg. So it is just a wonderful toy to have, you know. But it's such a nice sort of perk there, because it's got everything on it. It's a complimentary there it is in your room. So it's wonderful. I know you guys run at quite a high occupancy rate at the moment, obviously, in the hotel business, we could always do better. But people do need to book in advance. For lunches and things like that. Yeah, you can rock up at booking preferable. Well, it helps us. It's a 200 seater restaurant. And what we find is that people seldom book these days. So they just arrive there. Yeah, with 25 mates to come and have a birthday party. So it's not impossible to deal with it. But it's always nice if you get a heads up and say, you can find us on dine plan, you can find us on the website. And it's just always nice if you know, you can anticipate you can be ready for them. The service can be much more slicker. Yeah. So yes, so we've got a 200 seater restaurant there that is open 24 seven. So you will guess a welcome to come breakfast, lunch and dinner.

So it is a bit of a drive out there. But I think it's a wonderful spot. On the weekends, we have explorers club for kids. So they go with Grant on a little walk down to the Glade. They get a lunchbox and they go and find butterflies and insects and whatever, you know, so he talks to them about insects and little creatures. And the adults have a time to have a chat on their own. And these gin. There's lots of different kinds of gin. On tap in the bottle. It's wonderful. You can just while away a Sunday or a Saturday. It's beautiful. What's the resident baboon? Cheap come wandering through and what's the big guy's name is Desmond W. He's quite cheeky. He is a brat. But I mean, yeah, so sometimes we very lucky we get the giraffe coming up to the restaurant as well. And they come and see what's going on. But as I say, it's not a game lodge. But it's it's also not tame. We don't have tame animals there. No, they move in their own space in their own time. And we consider ourselves privileged when we do see them. So that's how we how we view that experience. Wonderful stuff. All right. It is that time of the evening. Best place to get hold of you even if people want to direct questions to you, they can just market for attention, Kerbus. But reservations at Cradle Hotel at the cradle. Is it the cradle? Yeah, just the cradle reservations at the cradle.co.za. Yeah. And the hotel website is it's again just www the cradle.co.za. I'm out to meet this one up because I've got cradle hotel.co.co.za. The cradle. The cradle. The cradle.co.za. It's very easy. So reservations at the cradle.co.za. If you've got anything, you can sort of send your comments and questions directly to Kerbus. Somebody wants to know about getting booked as live entertainment there at your venue. Tell you what, reservations at the cradle.co.za. Kerbus, thank you so much. It's been great having a chat to you.

I'm very glad to have you along as a sponsor of What's Involved and we look forward to a long and prosperous working partnership. Yeah, great chat. Thank you very much indeed. It's an absolute pleasure. That was my special guest, Kerbus Buerta, CEO of the Cradle Nature Reserve and Boutique Hotel. David Watts on Mix 93.8.