The Protea Hotel Fürstenhof has a new general manager with the recent appointment of Frans van der Bijl (photo) , whose aim is to maintain and improve the standards and image of one of Windhoek’s most charming hospitality destinations, the United Africa (UA) group announced. UA is in a joint venture with Protea Hotels.

Van der Bijl’s abilities have already started the ball rolling to implement the necessary changes to shape Hotel Furstenhof into a Protea branded hotel, the group said in a statement. Van der Bilj has a diploma in hotel management endorsed by the Swiss Hotel Association.

His experience in the hotel industry include assistant food & beverage manager for the Swakopmund Hotel, plus a year’s stint at the Hammerstein Lodge assisting in running a 50-bedroom resort in the Sossusvlei area. Van der Bijl became a deputy manager for 2 years at a hotel in Scotland, before returning to Namibia. His plans with the Protea Hotel Furstenhof he claims is to expand on its functions from banqueting, business, weddings and conferences.

Earlier this year the United Africa Hospitality Group announced a 51% partnership in the Protea Hotels Namibia venture and added their chain of four hotels to the Protea Hotels Group present network of 130 hotels. In a short time already, the Zambezi River Lodge at Katima Mulilo was added to the growing Namibia Protea Hotels portfolio, which according to Graham Howard Regional Manager for the venture is the first of many projects in the pipeline.