Hospitality veteran steers Riverside Manor into community-first retirement living
From independent living to specialised care, director Deon Steyn believes retirement should be about maintaining friendships, enjoying life and growing older in a supportive community.
Growing older does not have to mean becoming socially isolated or giving up an active lifestyle.
At Riverside Manor Retirement Village, director Deon Steyn believes the key to meaningful retirement living lies in creating a community where residents can maintain their independence while having access to support when they need it. Having spent 35 years in the hospitality industry, Steyn brings a service-driven approach to managing the village, which he describes as an environment built around people, relationships and quality of life.
Read more: Life right retirement option
He joined Riverside approximately four and a half years ago after the business was acquired by owner Malcolm Lobbin, an opportunity that came after the Covid-19 pandemic prompted him to explore a new direction. For Steyn, retirement living shares many similarities with hospitality, particularly the responsibility of ensuring people feel welcome, valued and well cared for. “It’s about providing service, maintaining service levels, keeping people happy and bringing quality to people’s lives. You can’t always add quantity, but you can bring quality to somebody’s life,” he said.
The village caters for different stages of retirement, allowing residents to move from independent living to assisted living or frail care as their circumstances change. Steyn said one of the greatest advantages of retirement village living was the opportunity to develop new friendships and remain socially connected. “They come from having smaller friendship circles, then they come into a community, and that starts opening up again. You make different friends, and you grow older with people,” he said. “Riverside is very little about me. It’s about the 87 members of staff who work here because those are the people who are directly involved with our residents on a day-to-day basis.”
Also read: Buddy is back from retirement
For him, the success of a retirement community is measured not only by the services it provides, but also by the relationships it builds and the experiences residents continue to enjoy. “You’ve got to be service-oriented. You’ve got to be a people person. You’ve got to get along with people, and you’ve got to enjoy people,” he said.
Follow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok for the latest updates!
