REOPENING OF ‘CABANES DES ANGES’ REVEALS LA DIGUE’S HOSPITALITY HISTORY
(Posted 22nd February 2014)
The long established roots of the involvement of the St. Ange family in the hospitality business on the island of La Digue became apparent for all to see a few days ago, when the ‘Cabanas de Anges’ reopened next door to where the original small hotel built by Karl St. Ange in 1972 is located.
Earlier in the week did a large number of descendants of Karl St. Ange, including the archipelago’s Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St. Ange, congregate on La Digue to witness the opening of the ‘new’ guest house, built by Carl and Sydney Mills, the sons of Myriam St. Ange, who have rebuilt the property that carries the name of the hotel that was owned by their grandfather Karl St. Ange. Myriam St. Ange is already managing the Chateau St. Cloud Hotel, once the family home of the St. Ange family of La Digue.
An excursion down memory lane reveals that originally the ‘Cabanes Des Anges Hotel’ on La Digue Island was built in 1972 by Karl St. Ange when tourism was but being launched in the Seychelles. This iconic small hotel became an immediate success because of the personalised management approach of Karl St. Ange. He would for instance make sure that his visitors would sit on the beach every night, weather permitting of course, for their dinner. His bungalow styled establishment, constructed only in local timber, surrounded the property’s main building that housed the reception, restaurant and a panoramic bar on the first floor overlooking the sea and the daily sunset.
The book ‘Seychelles remembers Karl St. Ange‘ published in 2011 writes ‘Karl St. Ange was a people’s person which made him a successful hotelier. His style of hotel management was focused on his guests and their wellbeing. His property was well covered by visiting foreign press and it was already offering to the Seychelles tourism industry, as far back as the 1970s, what Seychelles re-launched in 2010 – a Seychelles Brand of Tourism.
The Cabanes Des Anges of Karl St. Ange was purchased by the Seychelles Government in 1983 and it became part of the adjacent La Digue Lodge of Gregoire Payet.
Alain St. Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture joined the St. Ange family on La Digue for the opening ceremony of the new Cabanes Des Anges Guest House. He posed for a picture with his sister and brother, Myriam and Marston St. Ange as well as one with his nephews Carl and Sydney Mills [shown above] and also for a family shot to mark the reopening of the hotel having the name of the famous property once owned by Karl St. Ange. In his address, after touring the bungalows and the property’s swimming pool, he said: ‘I need to congratulate my sister Myriam and my nephews Carl and Sydney and their families for bringing back to life a hotel name coined by Karl St. Ange way back in 1972. I was also happy to see the logo of the original hotel being re-used as the logo of this new property. The new Cabanes Des Anges Guest House is excellent, it is modern and it will do well. Claiming back our tourism industry means more Seychellois getting involved in this industry that remains the pillar of our economy. We need to continue to encourage more Seychellois to be involved in the industry if we want our tourism industry to be consolidated for the long term, and my appeal is for Seychelles to continue to work even more with Seychellois to entice them to join the industry that remains the pillar of our economy’.
Congratulations to the new owners and managers and looking forward to seeing this latest property on La Digue during one of my future visits to the archipelago.
