Palace of the Lost City celebrates 30th birthday with luxurious facelift

One of South Africa's favourite luxury hotels, The Palace of the Lost City, is celebrating its 30th birthday in style after undergoing room refurbishments and opening a new spa and salon.

The legendary five-star hotel inside Sun City, in the North West, has undergone a full décor refurbishment of its 326 luxurious rooms and suites. 

Twelve bedrooms in the five-star hotel were transformed into a spa and salon, which were opened in November and offer hi-tech facials. The spa is the first in South Africa to offer the prestigious Swiss Bellefontaine anti-ageing skincare product range, with treatments offered ranging from massages to body wraps and skincare therapy.

The hotel is now home to an advanced skin clinic, which offers world-leading skincare technologies including Thalgo iBeauty instrumental cosmetics, the Fire & Ice resurfacing facial, hydro infusion therapy, hydro cool treatments and LED light therapy, as well as basic “beauty touches” for waxing and tinting.  

Sun City general manager Brett Hoppé said he was proud that the hotel, which was at one point almost entirely staffed by international management, was now entirely staffed by South Africans.

He said The Palace was always a difficult hotel to refurbish because it’s “so stylishly themed”.

“We didn’t want to lose the essence of what The Palace is. We managed to come up with something that is contemporary but still pays homage to the essence of The Palace,” Hoppé said.

The hotel’s architecture and décor seamlessly weave a rich and colourful tale of Africa’s creativity, from the hand-painted dome ceiling in the grand entrance to mosaic artworks and golden seats upholstered with zebra hide.

The King's Suite, which look set to be the main attraction, contains 800 unique custom-crafted items, including fabrics and carpeting. The African landscape painted on the underside of a dome ceiling at the entrance apparently took nine artists nearly 5,000 hours to complete, while hand-painted murals cover an area of 3,400m². The tapestries in the Royal Entrance Chamber behind the concierge and the reception desk took two years to weave.

Over the past 30 years, The Palace has accommodated the rich and the famous, royalty, rock stars and ordinary South Africans. Well over 300 famous performers and heads of state have stayed at the hotel, from the legendary British rock band Queen to Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, to name but a few.

Hoppé said the opening of The Palace was a glittering affair attended by many celebrities who were big names at the time, including Bo Derek, Jerry Hall and Joan Collins, musician Jean-Michel Jarre, who performed that night, and local legends Hugh Masekela and Johnny Clegg and his band Savuka.

“Since then the list has grown to include many illustrious names such as Sting, Pavarotti, Wesley Snipes, Stevie Wonder, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many more. But it is equally important to note that many of these international stars returned multiple times and some, like Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Bobby Brown, came incognito to simply holiday at The Palace,” he said. 

The hotel recently managed to unearth original guest books with signatures of Frank Sinatra, Masekela, Elton John and members of the band Queen, among others.

Pule David Mokonopi, who has been with the hotel since its opening in 1992, said he plans to see many more birthdays of the hotel.

“It was such a great moment that we started here,” he said.

Now 50, Mokonopi was just 20 when the hotel opened its doors. “I think I was the youngest ... Initially, before the place could open, I was a security guard. When The Palace opened there were job opportunities, so I became a room service waiter,” he said.

Over the years Mokonopi has held several different positions at the hotel and plans to grow further.

Another regular, Eldon Bothma is called “the palace baby” as he was conceived and born at the resort.

“I was actually born and conceived in Sun City. My parents were young lovers and that's how I was conceived. My mother worked in Sun City. I lived there till I was eight,” he said.

Bothma said he has many fond memories of Sun City and returns regularly for holidays and the annual Nedbank Golf Challenge.

“It's actually quite special, I don't think there are a lot of people in SA that can say they grew up in such a beautiful and unique place. I got to play and really enjoyed Sun City as a child every single day — it was quite a unique experience,” he said, adding that one of his most memorable moments was meeting Michael Jackson when he visited The Palace.