About Montagu Country Hotel

The hotel’s story begins at 27 Bath Street in 1875, when a Victorian-style hotel stood on the site. The paper trail from those early years is thin, but local accounts associate the early hotel with Christiaan Schlacht.

With its Victorian verandah and period detail, the original hotel looked very different from the Art Deco building we know today. Visitors were already coming to Montagu for its hot springs, and the hotel became part of the town’s growing tradition of hospitality.

In 1917, Maurice and Emma Goldberg bought the hotel and made it their home as well as their business.

Family accounts remember Maurice as a generous supporter of local sporting life. The Goldbergs stayed for only a few years, but their story is a reminder that country hotels have always been about more than buildings and bedrooms.

For many of its owners, the hotel was also home.

By 1936, the old Victorian hotel was quite literally making way for something new.

Under owner A. Idelson, substantial rebuilding took place during the year. Sections of the old hotel came down while a new building rose behind them, gradually creating the Art Deco hotel that would come to define 27 Bath Street.

Montagu did not wait long to try it out. In October, before the new hotel had officially opened, its main hall was already hosting a reception and dance for the Montagu Golf Club.

The hotel’s Art Deco chapter had begun.

On 1 October 1996, the hotel changed hands, with South African hotelier and tourism pioneer Gert Lubbe at the heart of a new chapter.

Gert had a strong appreciation for buildings with history and character, and the hotel’s Art Deco identity was brought back into focus. Period furniture, bold colour and original details became part of its personality once more, and Montagu Country Inn became Montagu Country Hotel.

His influence soon reached beyond the hotel itself. Gert became a driving force in the development and promotion of Route 62, helping give travellers another reason to take the road through Montagu and the Klein Karoo.

P-J Basson joined Montagu Country Hotel in April 1999, starting as Restaurant Manager and becoming General Manager later that year.

It marked the beginning of a close working relationship with Gert Lubbe that would span two decades.

As the hotel evolved and Route 62 gained momentum, P-J became deeply involved in its day-to-day life — from the team and guests to the travel trade and wider tourism community.

At the time, it was simply the next step in his career. It would become something much more.

Following Gert Lubbe’s passing in November 2019, P-J and Colene Basson took over Montagu Country Hotel in June 2020.

For P-J, the hotel had already been part of his working life for more than 20 years. Colene knew it well too, having been involved with its finances for many years — and it was here that she and P-J first met. Her role expanded beyond finance into spa management, while the interiors became new creative territory, with her eye and experience developing along the way.

Daniel Lutz, an experienced hotelier from Stellenbosch, joined them in this new chapter, bringing valuable experience and perspective. He continues to be part of the hotel today.

As the hotel moved forward, the approach was clear: understand what gave it its character, preserve what mattered, and recognise where there was room to do things differently.

The Covid-19 lockdown brought travel to a standstill, but at Montagu Country Hotel the unexpected pause created an opportunity to rethink the property from one end to the other.

Rooms and public areas were redecorated, the hotel’s Art Deco character was brought more clearly to the fore, a south-facing front deck was created, and family-friendly self-catering accommodation — including a wheelchair-friendly unit — was introduced. A new art gallery also became part of the hotel.

And in November 2020, Feathers & Flatcaps came to life — a relaxed social space that gave hotel guests, locals and visitors another reason to spend time here.

The hotel had not been reinvented. It had simply become more sure of what it was.

By 2022, the next chapter was not only about how the hotel looked, but also how it operated.

Grey-water irrigation, solar geysers and on-site electric vehicle charging became part of everyday operations, alongside the wider social and environmental commitments of the hotel’s Fair Trade Tourism certification.

For a hotel with so much history, caring for what comes next is part of the same responsibility.

Today, the hotel wears its history comfortably. Its Victorian beginnings remain part of the property, while Art Deco has come to define much of its character.

What has stayed remarkably constant is what happens here: people arrive, meet, work, celebrate, return — and sometimes stay longer than planned.

More than 150 years on, 27 Bath Street is still making room for the next story.