Rain Farm reigns supreme

Rain Farm Lodge of Esenembe was crowned the best three star lodge in the province at the KZN leg of the prestigious Lilizela Awards held on Wednesday, September 16 in at the Greyville Race Track in Durban.

The Lilizela Awards is a South African Tourism (SAT) initiative that gives national recognition to tourism establishments achieving in service excellence, sustainable tourism and entrepreneurship, raising their profile in South Africa and abroad through profiling and publicity on different platforms.

As a provincial winner, Rain Farm Lodge will represent KZN, competing at national level for top honors against other provincial winners in their category.

The national winners will be announced at a elegant event to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre on October 22 and will be attended by amongst others, tourism minister, Derek Hanekom and SAT CEO, Thulani Nzima.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Rain Farm Lodge general manager, Cara McDaniel said they never set out to achieve any awards but focused on being the best they could be by continuously learning and encouraging staff to treat guests as they would want to be treated.

“First impressions are lasting and we want our guests to come back again and again,” McDaniel said with genuine humility.

She said they took customer feedback to heart and paid attention to detail in their efforts towards ensuring guests got value for money.

“It is rewarding to know we are doing our job right and awards like this are a great pick-up for staff morale and reward for hard work,” she said.

McDaniel believed that what set Rain Farm Lodge apart in terms of service excellence was the personal and informal touch that is a trademark of the lodge.

“We know what our regulars like to drink, which tables they prefer to sit at and which rooms they prefer.”

Other local establishments that were finalists in their categories included The Vineyard on Ballito (best four star guest house), the Hampshire Hotel (best three star hotel), The Lodge at Princes’ Grant (best four star hotel), and IFA Zimbali Lodge (best five star lodge).