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Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre is currently not where it should be, performance-wise, according to director and original owner Kevin Clarence. But Clarence is also confident that he can turn one of South Africa’s largest conference facilities around, as explained over coffee to editor Dylan Rogers in Johannesburg.

Legacy Hotels & Resorts is a South African hotel group with a host of 4- and 5-star properties, and even though the group’s portfolio includes a selection of resorts and lodges, corporate travel remains its priority, as Managing Director Paddy Brearley explained to editor Dylan Rogers over a coffee at Legacy’s Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton.

Privately-owned South African airline CemAir has decided to take on established operator SA Express on the Johannesburg-Bloemfontein route. Editor Dylan Rogers took the inaugural flight and later caught up with CEO Miles van der Molen to get more on CemAir’s background and their approach to commercial flight.

Frank Palapies is one of Wings Travel’s newest employees, having joined the company in October as its COO for the Africa and Middle East region. But, he has more than a passing knowledge of the Wings operation, having dealt extensively with the TMC during his time with Amadeus.

Loyalty programmes are having to be nimble and evolve all the time, as the needs and desires of their customers change at a similar pace. Richard Holmes takes a look at some of the more recent developments in the corporate travel space, and details what to look out for in the airline, hotel and car rental spaces.

It’s been an interesting few months for Emirates in South Africa – a spat with the South African government, the launch of a seventh daily flight, and now a falling oil price to contend with, as the market wants to know why its flights to Dubai aren’t any cheaper. So, it was a good time for editor Dylan Rogers to catch up with Fouad Caunhye, Emirates’ Regional Manager Southern Africa: Commercial, over a coffee in Johannesburg.

It’s been a tough couple of months for the African aviation industry, with the effect the Ebola virus has had on African travel. Running an airline operation out of Nigeria also presents its share of challenges, according to Rodger Whittle, Arik Air Senior Vice-President, Standards & Specials.

According to W Hospitality Group’s ‘2014 African Hotel Chain Development Pipeline’, Carlson Rezidor holds the largest hotel pipeline on the continent, with 30 hotels and 6,300 rooms under development. No surprise then that the group’s Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Office Olivier Harnisch was in Johannesburg recently, and made himself available for a coffee with editor Dylan Rogers.

Tsogo Sun is an African hotel, gaming and entertainment giant, with a portfolio of 14 casinos and over 90 properties across Africa and the Seychelles. It’s no surprise then that they have a couple of experienced operators on their payroll, such as Gauteng North Director of Operations Norman Wallace at Tsogo Sun’s 54 on Bath property in Johannesburg.

Sun International has gone through a period of introspection, questioning just what exactly it is, besides a South African group of hotel and gaming properties. One of the by-products of this introspection has been the launch of the group’s Sunlux Collection. Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Rob Collins and Group Manager: Marketing Alison McKie joined editor Dylan Rogers for a chat about this product, and the group as a whole.

The Moevenpick Ambassador is a landmark property in Accra and currently the only 5-star hotel in the ‘downtown’ area. That status looks set to change in the coming months, and editor Dylan Rogers caught up with General Manager Axel Hauser on a recent trip to the Ghanaian capital, to get his thoughts on the prospect of some competition and Accra, generally, as a business travel destination.

Wils Raubenheimer, CEO of Hertz Rent A Car, told Business Traveller in April 2013 that, going forward, the company’s key focus was its business and core activities – not those of its competitors.