ANEW Awards Dinner The Next Chapter Celebrates Team Achievements And Culinary Storytelling

The theme of the awards dinner was The Next Chapter, where Group F&B manager Wayne Blake curated a stunning three-course plated dinner influenced by South African herbs, telling the story of ANEW, where we have been and where we are going. This ultimately set the tone for the evening. Talent and commercial director Alan Campbell kept the room engaged and thoroughly entertained as MC, and CEO Clinton Armour together with managing director Evan Badenhorst personally placed trophies and certificates into the hands of every recipient across thirteen categories, each one representing a season of genuine effort celebrated with the weight it deserved.

General Manager of the Year

The GM of the Year category produced one of the most talked about moments of the evening. Three general managers, Charmaine Kotze from ANEW Hotel Roodepoort Johannesburg, Ozwane Mahlangu from ANEW Hotel Capital Pretoria, and Deborah Naicker from ANEW Hotel Ocean Reef Zinkwazi scored identically this season and all three were awarded bronze.

Brandon Tearle from ANEW Hotel Hatfield Pretoria took silver, having stepped into his GM role at the end of 2024 after serving as assistant general manager at another property in the group. To deliver the result he did in his first full season speaks to a person who does not wait to find his feet before he starts running. And he will be gunning for that gold this season!

Gold went to Sadira Nayager of ANEW Hotel Hilton Pietermaritzburg for the fourth consecutive year, and the story behind this win is worth telling properly. Both Deborah Naicker and Brandon Tearle were mentored and positively influenced in their previous roles at ANEW Hotel Hilton by Nayager before moving into their own GM roles. She invested in them, developed them, and watched them grow into leaders.

Sales Executive of the Year

Sales is the engine that keeps a hospitality group moving, and this season three individuals pushed harder than most. Bronze went to Zandi Mokoena, silver to Eugine Shai, and gold to Ofentse Setsiba, who topped the entire group's sales performance for the F25/26 season.

Hotel of the Year

Measured against budget performance across all ANEW Hotels & Resorts properties, this award recognises the teams that delivered where it mattered most. Bronze went to ANEW Hotel Centurion Pretoria, silver to ANEW Hotel Highveld eMalahleni, and gold to ANEW Hotel Hilton Pietermaritzburg, picking up its second award of the evening.

Guest's Choice

Based on GuestRevu scores, the unfiltered voice of guests who experienced ANEW Hotels & Resorts hospitality firsthand, bronze went to ANEW Hotel Ocean Reef Zinkwazi, silver to ANEW Hotel Roodepoort Johannesburg, and gold to ANEW Hotel Hilton Pietermaritzburg. Guest scores are never the result of one person or one department, but they are built across an entire team, one interaction at a time, over the course of a full season.

ANEW Rewards Champions

Growing our loyalty programme takes consistent belief at property level, and three properties led the way this season. Bronze went to ANEW Resort Vulintaba Newcastle, silver to ANEW Hotel OR Tambo Johannesburg, and gold to ANEW Resort Ingeli Forest Kokstad for the most sign-ups during the fiscal year.

Hotel Employee of the Year

This is the award that absolutely stopped the room. Every month, at every ANEW Hotels & Resorts property, team members nominate a colleague who has genuinely lived the group's HITEC values of Honour, Integrity, Teamwork, Excellence and Courage in a way that the people around them felt. That nominee is celebrated at property level, receives a certificate and a financial acknowledgement added to their salary for that month. At year end, general managers bring forward their strongest nominee from across the twelve months, and one recipient is selected across the entire group, a process built entirely on what colleagues see in each other every single day.

This year, the Hotel Employee of the Year was awarded to Jabu Motaung, banqueting coordinator at ANEW Hotel Hilton Pietermaritzburg. Motaung arrived at the evening believing she was there for dinner with people she loves and respects, with a training session to follow the next day. She walked into that room with nothing but pure excitement for the evening ahead, with no idea that the evening was, in part, for her.

Her colleagues describe her as someone who coordinates events with a level of care and warmth that guests feel from the moment they walk through the door, who shows up with precision and genuine heart every single time, and who through a deeply personal season never once allowed her circumstances to dim the experience of the people around her. When her name was called, the entire room was on its feet and there was not a dry eye in sight!

Support Office Employee of the Year

Nominated by general managers and voted for by the ANEW Support Office team itself, this award belongs to the person who has shown up fully for their colleagues, their work and the brand across the entire year. This season it went to Themba Mthombeni, regional coastal sales manager, someone colleagues describe as a person who gives more than is asked of him every single time, with a quiet generosity and consistency that makes everyone around him better.

Most Improved Guest Scores

ANEW Hotel Green Point Cape Town took this award after lifting its GuestRevu score the most over the fiscal season, which is a shift that represents a team that looked honestly at where they were, committed to doing better and delivered on that commitment together.

ANEW Support Office fun awards

Nominated by colleagues and decided by popular vote, these five categories brought the evening to a close in the best possible way, with laughter, genuine surprise and more than a few well-deserved emotional moments.

• The ANEW Inhliziyo Award, meaning heart in action, went to Jani-Mari Swart, PR manager.
• The ANEW Cheerleader Award went to Corné Alberts, national marketing manager, the person who speaks about ANEW with more genuine pride than almost anyone in the building and has a rare gift for making the people around her feel more excited about what they are all building together.
• The Game Changer Award, for the person whose practical thinking genuinely shifted how the group operates, went to Sadira Nayager, her fourth award of the evening and a fitting end to a night that she dominated for all the right reasons.
• The Plot Twist Award, for the person who transforms a near disaster into something that works beautifully, went to Naomi Bhuda, regional inland sales manager, whose calm and fast thinking under pressure has become something of a trademark among those lucky enough to have witnessed it.
• The Future Leader Award closed the evening and went to Thandeka Sibisi, learning & development manager, someone already operating well beyond what her role requires and widely regarded as one of the most exciting people coming through this business.

ANEW's F26/27 season is already underway, and if the energy of the previous fiscal is anything to go by, the best is very much still ahead.