Cape Town gets 'backpackers-boutique' hotel

In November, the first ‘hybrid hotel’ in Africa has opened its doors in Green Point, Cape Town.

Set in a three-storey building with 30 rooms and 150 beds, Curiocity boasts shared social spaces – including an onsite cafe-restaurant, pool and indoor and outdoor lounge spaces, ‘where like-minded travellers can connect’.

Young Johannesburg-born hotelier, Bheki Dube (27), who was named Africa’s Best Tourism Entrepreneur in this year’s Tropics Changemakers Awards, founded his own tour company, Main Street Walks, at just 16 years old.

Dube opened his first hostel at the age of 21 in Joburg’s Maboneng precinct, and a second site soon followed in Durban in 2016, when his team transformed a 1930s landmark heritage building into a luxury design hostel.

‘From a young age, I had a vision to reshape the way people travel in Africa,’ said Dube. ‘Starting out in Johannesburg, I wanted travellers to be able to experience the city on foot and hear stories from the entrepreneurs and creatives who live here so they can get a true sense of our identity.’

While Cape Town has plenty of hotels and hostels, Dube’s latest property claims to be the first to merges these two concepts and the hybrid hotel is something of a backpackers boutique hotel, with Curiocity offerring luxury private rooms and shared suites designed to cater to the modern traveller.

‘Our spaces allow travellers of all ages and demographics to better connect to the city they’re visiting,’ Dube explained. ‘At all of our sites, we offer tours and experiences that are unique to each destination, allowing guests to go beyond the typical tourist traps and really get under the city’s skin.’

Dube is currently lining up properties in locations across South Africa and beyond for 2020, including the Kruger National Park and with plans for a Curiocity wellness retreat.