Samuel Nassimov

Samuel Nassimov is the Managing Director of one of South Africa’s fastest growing, independently owned hotel groups, Premier Hotels & Resorts.

Nassimov attended hotel school in Tel Aviv in the 1970’s and started his career at the bottom of the ranks at the city’s famous Dan Hotel. Driven by a passion for cooking, his next step was as a trainee chef, a position in which he excelled and which resulted in a promotion to Head of the Grill Room.

Like any successful entrepreneur, Nassimov has always been driven by a love for developing, creating and completing new projects. This led him to South Africa where, his passion for hotels took flight and in 1990 he acquired the Carlton Hotel in East London. Very dilapidated and in much need of a revamp, he closed the hotel for a full year, reopening in 1991 as the King David Suites and Conference Centre.

Later that same year, Nassimov won a tender bid for the land upon which he would build the Regent Hotel. He developed the hotel into the largest conferencing venue in East London and it is on this property that he later developed the East London International Convention Centre (ELICC) and Premier Hotel EL ICC.

From a humble 40 bedrooms, Nassimov has grown the group’s portfolio to encompass 16 hotels and resorts, providing almost 2000 bedrooms to discerning business and leisure travellers and employing in excess of 1500 employees.

With an industry background spanning over 3 decades, Nassimov cites the growth in online bookings, research and marketing as an industry revolution. “Technology is radically shifting the way we conduct business and while the South African hospitality industry still has a lot to learn from our international counterparts, at Premier Hotels and Resorts we have massive plans in place to become the industry leader in this arena.”

With a superior collection of hotels, resorts and conference facilities in the principal business and travel destinations in SA and with Samuel Nassimov at the helm, Premier Hotels & Resorts is a rapidly growing force in the South African leisure, business travel and conventions industry.