{"id":8362,"date":"2026-07-27T03:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T03:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/global-travel-news\/how-drostdy-hotel-and-sact-are-empowering-women-in-hospitality\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T03:00:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T03:00:50","slug":"how-drostdy-hotel-and-sact-are-empowering-women-in-hospitality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/global-travel-news\/how-drostdy-hotel-and-sact-are-empowering-women-in-hospitality\/","title":{"rendered":"How Drostdy Hotel and SACT are Empowering Women in Hospitality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n

\"How<\/a>Karoo, South Africa, July 27, 2026 \/ TRAVELINDEX \/ In the Karoo town of formerly Graaff-Reinet, a national monument is doing something unusual with its five stars. Drostdy Hotel, known for its Cape Dutch architecture, is owned by the South African College for Tourism<\/a> (SACT) and functions as the college\u2019s training ground.<\/p>\n

SACT was founded in 2001 by Dr Anton Rupert, with a specific mandate: economic empowerment and professional development for unemployed young women from rural South Africa<\/a>. Now the hotel and the college sit under one leadership structure, pairing five-star operations with grassroots education.<\/p>\n

Tebello Polisane-Casper heads up both. As Executive Director at both Drostdy Hotel and SACT, her job is to close the gap between what students learn in the classroom and what luxury hospitality demands in real time.<\/p>\n

It is a leadership structure that enables a united and effective team, focused on personal growth and collective achievement. \u201cNot only is it a huge honour to manage both these institutions, but the alignment of Drostdy Hotel and SACT under a single leadership mandate reinforces the overall vision for a seamless integration of education and industry-leading hospitality,\u201d Polisane-Casper explains.<\/p>\n

What separates SACT from a standard hospitality course is where the training happens. Students aren\u2019t rehearsing service standards in a mock-up dining room \u2013 they\u2019re rostered onto the floor of a working five-star hotel, handling paying guests, real bookings and real complaints, with mistakes that carry real consequences.<\/p>\n

It also matters who gets access to that kind of training. Rural, unemployed young women are rarely first in line for placements at five-star properties \u2013 those roles tend to go to graduates who already have a foot in the industry. By building the classroom inside the hotel, SACT collapses that barrier: a student\u2019s CV lists Drostdy itself, not a simulated placement, from day one.<\/p>\n

Modelling mentorship\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Polisane-Casper has spent 16 years in hospitality, starting as a student waiter. Globally, women make up most of the tourism workforce but remain scarce in its executive ranks \u2013 a gap she sees the Drostdy-SACT model working against directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen in leadership positions serve as vital role models and mentors,\u201d she says. \u201cBy demonstrating competence, resilience and initiative, we inspire the next generation to realise their potential. Tourism is a live environment \u2013 our young women are dealing with people as it happens, and graduating with hands-on, high-end experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Polisane-Casper, it\u2019s about walking the talk. \u201cThe hospitality industry is not for the faint-hearted, but it can be so rewarding if you stay focused,\u201d she says. \u201cTrue empowerment is about collaboration, not competition. I envision a future where professional women actively support each other and, as the saying goes, fix each other\u2019s crowns.\u201d<\/p>\n

That approach shows up at every level of the hotel. Anra Smith started as an intern reservationist and is now the Drostdy\u2019s Wine Shop and Events Manager, 16 years later.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a good leader is about listening, being patient and helping your team do their best,\u201d Smith says. She points to the college\u2019s proximity to the hotel as part of what makes the culture work: \u201cWe have a responsibility to create a grounded, compassionate space where these students can learn, sometimes fail, and ultimately find their footing in a high-pressure environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventy years after the 1956 women\u2019s march, Graaff-Reinet offers a working example of what that legacy can look like in an industry built on service: a heritage site turned into a pipeline for the women it once would have excluded from its front-of-house.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit drostdy.co.za\/sact-college\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karoo, South Africa, July 27, 2026 \/ TRAVELINDEX \/ In the Karoo town of formerly Graaff-Reinet, a national monument is doing something unusual with its five stars. Drostdy Hotel, known for its Cape Dutch architecture, is owned by the South African College for Tourism (SACT) and functions as the college\u2019s training ground. SACT was founded …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2315,37,14,2316,1966],"class_list":["post-8362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-travel-news","tag-global-travelnews","tag-news","tag-travelindex","tag-travelindex-media-group","tag-untourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}