With Aparthotels trending on my mind, I introduce to you another hybrid Cape bolthole to make your home-from-home.

Located along the Atlantic Seaboard, Latitude Hotel is the kind of place you can’t believe your luck when you come across it. Pristine in its sophistication, with pops of colour & high-end finishes, as well as being in an incredible location where calming sea views meet the vibey bustle of the city, it’s the quintessential contemporary hotel, offering equal servings of style, comfort and convenience.

Its honestly a feat to find a place with the reliability of hotel living, and the welcome warmth of home – and Aparthotels are doing their level best to be this hospitality pick.

The recurring Top Priorities for Travellers are:

• Price
• Space
• Comfort
• Convenience
• And cleanliness

The value of such hospitality currency, in this age, comes back to who offers it best, quickest, and more conveniently. And Latitude Hotel makes a strong case for itself as a high-value pick.

Arrival at the hotel can be by your own feet, Uber, private chauffeur, or your own ride. There’s secure parking abound within the hotel’s building, which would make any city-dweller who knows the struggle of finding free/affordable parking, salivate.

Check-in, on days when the building isn’t buzzing with arrivals and departures (from the apartments or the in-house restaurant), is a seamless and quick process thanks to the genuinely warm, helpful, and efficient 24-hour reception team.

The hotel lobby’s tasteful look features a teaser of what the aparthotel’s serviced apartments and co-working space hold.

The Apartments

32 elegant apartments – one, two or three-bedroomed apartments with facilities like fully-fitted kitchens and dining areas – are the draw to more than just business travellers. Any traveller who favours more polish and brag-worthy style furnishings is made welcome by Latitude‘s particular aparthotel design.

The aesthetic trailing each bedroom, in the 3-bedroom apartment, for example, is less sterile Scandi minimalism now favoured in many properties, and more colourful and textured. Commendably, the hotel also says that most of its furniture and all of the art are entirely locally sourced from South African craftsmen and artists – many of whom are located in Cape Town.

Guest rooms take their cues from mountains, oceans, flora, and fauna – in hues of rich red, greens, beige browns, and crisp whites.

I’m a fan of the white bathtub, naturally!

The timber floored open-plan living and dining area (seating 8) in the 3-bedroom apartment for example, and even the apartment desk and kitchen counter therein, seem less clinical spaces, and more functional clean areas (in harmony with the rest of the apartment) easily transformable into event space or workspaces depending on needs.

Its overall chicness is a welcome reprieve from bland monotony.

Blackout curtains curtail the light that washes down from the city and night sky

…and when matched with the sheer cosiness of the plush pillows and mattress, and the double-glazed sliding doors and windows doing a good job of keeping the outside sounds down, good sleep is guaranteed.

Though the apartments’ interiors and the aparthotel’s glittering exterior screams trendy young urbanite, both families and leisure travellers alike can settle in alongside ‘road warriors’ and solo travellers, and happily too. This is particularly due to the:

• varying significant space within each apartment
• the self-catering facilities
• the available cleaning necessities
• in-suite laundry appliances
• as well as the plush seating comforts offered up in the various apartments at Latitude Hotel.

If the amenities arent a draw for you ( which include a Nespresso Coffee machine and smart technology enhancements like high-speed Wi-Fi and Smart TVs), perhaps the balconies in some of the apartments (like the 3-bedroom apartment) might draw you in.

The exclusive Penthouse Latitude Lounge offers iconic views in all directions and a variety of spaces that work for all kinds of occasions.

Latitude Hotel. (2022).

Whether you want to entertain, work, or grab a moment of solitude, the balcony overlooking the sea and neighbouring apartment buildings, makes for an ideal private space to choose.

The gas-powered grill on my apartment balcony was tempting to fire up, but the Latitude Cafe was a temptation I couldn’t resist giving a try.

Sunshine, Sundowners & Straightforward Dining

If you’d like to entertain yourself beyond your apartment, Latitude Hotel actually has something rather spectacular to bring all sorts out from their cosy spaces: A Rooftop with picturesque views.

It’s the bane of my existence that Cape Town has so many unused rooftop spaces ripe for creating a scenic immersive experience. Places like Latitude Cafe are guaranteed near year-round visitors, as their turquoise blue pool, relaxed indoor and outdoor seating, as well as magnificent vistas, make any visit a picture-perfect and memorable experience.

Settle into the  Cafe open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a glass of local bubbly on the 9th floor. Peruse the concise Cafe menu, and then enjoy the atmosphere of a place that’s fresh and fun, but still mellow enough to have an intimate dinner at.

The food may take a bit of time to get to you but if you’re willing to be a little patient, at least the Braai Board is sure to satisfy the hungry. It comes with: A 100g Boerie, 125g Ribeye, 2 Chicken Skewers, Chargrilled Mielie with chilli, Tender stem broccoli with a herbed yoghurt dressing, and a choice of salad or “pap en sous”.

If you venture here for breakfast, play it safe with the Cafe’s equivalent of the Full English – the ‘Top of the World‘ with 2 eggs, bacon, pork sausage, mushrooms, grilled tomato, baked bean bredie, hash brown (okay, I will admit: This didn’t taste like anything close to the ones I’m used to, unfortunately), and toast of your choice.

Beyond one’s apartment, the hotel still keeps Hygiene and Safety foremost in its Protocols.

They’ll be no venturing anywhere except outside, without an apartment key keying you to your floor, apartment, and to head to the rooftop.

Additionally, hand sanitisers are poised everywhere from the lobby to the restaurant, and within very clear visibility outside the elevator doors on each floor.

Cleanliness also extends to surfaces, with the ratio of fingerprints and marks on surfaces showing they’re at least wiped down around every 1hr.

A screen guard at the lobby’s reception, adds another reassuring measure to those still vigilant about hygiene and safety while travelling in this near-endemic age.

Work Hard & Then Play

Business travellers need not fear that the popularity of this hybrid hotel will mean their work is disturbed regularly. On the contrary, Latitude Hotel finds a way to prioritise various traveller needs with carefully curated spaces.

Co-working has been the buzzword of the pandemic age. According to George Sell (2019), it has shifted from being “left-field products for a marketeer’s dream audience of trendy young urban professionals, to asset classes which are getting owners, developers and investors very excited indeed”. Latitude Hotel offers its guests the complimentary space to stretch out and get work done, in a safe, secure, and well-equipped space – practically an expected obligation of newer lifestyle hotels.

The co-working space is complete with:

•  hot desks
• meeting rooms
• conferencing venues
• and event venues. 

And when you’re done working, you need only pack up, and head out from the hometel – to the in-house Latitude Cafe, or follow through on the guest invite to one of the brands’ Events or take to the Cape Town high street for a good time and some local culture immersion.

You’re in one of Cape Town’s celebrated dining neighbourhoods, after all!

Sea Point is abundant in places catering both to wants and needs, from a shopping district to a handful of genuinely recommendable Cape Town restaurants (everything from Korean food to Poke bowls), local markets, and the city’s famed Promenade to enjoy a run, cycle, or stroll down.

Latitude Hotel‘s apartments are defintiely a quality multifamily pick for groups seeking their own privacy while in Cape Town, but wanting to also remain together as colleagues, family, or friends

– without those pesky costs that build up with other hospitality options & the group numbers.

By my recommendation:

LATITUDE HOTEL

2 Kings Rd, Sea Point, Cape Town, 8060

www.staylatitude.co.za/

021 286 0672

reception@staylatitude.co.za | bookings@totalstay.co.za