More than employees: Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo, from exile to excellence

As Women's Month unfolds, City Lodge Hotels proudly highlights several women across the organisation in our 'More than employees' series. Chief operating officer (COO) Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo takes the spotlight first, sharing her career milestones and personal achievements that have shaped her career.

Personal influence on professional path

Sangweni-Siddo attributes her passion for hospitality to her upbringing, shaped by her parents’ life in exile during Apartheid. “I may not have been interested in hospitality had it not been for the life my parents lived. We lived a life in exile due to the Apartheid regime making it unpalatable to raise a family, and our life was spent traveling from a very early age, starting with Eswatini (Swaziland), where I was born, to Holland, Zambia, Kenya, and later Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA.”

Living in Zambia during the height of the liberation struggle, Sangweni-Siddo’s parents were deeply involved in the African National Congress (ANC). Their home became a safe house for ANC leadership, including President Oliver Reginald Tambo. During the 1976 youth uprisings, their home also became a refuge for young people fleeing the Apartheid regime, and this experience, described in her book, fostered Sangweni-Siddo’s love for hospitality.

Her mother was a Home Economics teacher and her culinary skills were legendary. “I was my mother’s eager helper as soon as my eyes could see above the kitchen counter,” Sangweni-Siddo recalls. By the age of five, she had already developed a love for cooking.

“Our home became a haven of hospitality – bums in beds, mouths to feed, a loving, warm embrace, and comfort to provide, which my parents shared with everyone in our house, not just immediate family,” she recalls. This, added to their frequent stays in hotels during their travels as a family, exposed her to the hospitality industry on a personal level and she chose to make it her career.

Career achievements and leadership

Sangweni-Siddo’s journey in the hospitality industry began at Ecole Les in Switzerland and Penn State University in the USA, where she earned a BSc in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management, graduating in 1993. Her career started at the Grand Hyatt Washington DC, followed by the Park Hyatt Rosebank in Johannesburg, where she served on the executive committee as rooms director. This early exposure to high-profile roles set the foundation for her future leadership positions.

She later became chief director of tourism support at the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and then general manager of the InterContinental Sandton Towers Hotel. Her pivotal role in establishing the first Holiday Inn in Soweto, now the Soweto Hotel and Conference Centre, showcased her ability to drive significant projects and initiatives. Serving as CEO of the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre further solidified her reputation as a leader in the industry. Sangweni-Siddo was also a board member of South African Tourism and chaired the Tourism Transformation Council of South Africa (TTCSA) from 2019 to 2022. Recently, she joined the academic board of the Swiss Hotel School in Johannesburg.

Sangweni-Siddo joined City Lodge Hotels in 2015 as divisional director: operations and an EXCO member, and was appointed to the newly created position of COO in 2018. Her strategic vision and leadership have been instrumental in navigating the company through challenging times, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

A significant recent achievement is the publication of her debut book, The Syndicate of 22 Natives, a memoir about her father’s life as a family man, academic, liberation struggle activist, and the first chairperson of the Public Service Commission of South Africa post-1994. This accomplishment adds a literary feather to her cap, reflecting her multifaceted talents and dedication to preserving her family's legacy.

Resilience and innovation in hospitality

Sangweni-Siddo credits her work ethic to her upbringing: “It was ingrained in us that we had to work hard and nothing comes easy in life. My father would always say, ‘Hard work pays off.’”

This principle has guided her through numerous challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic, which she describes as “the ultimate training in survival for all of us.” The pandemic underscored the importance of business continuity planning and resilience, affecting shareholders, stakeholders, guests, staff, and suppliers.

“The processes you set up in the good years will carry you through the tough years, and during hard times you will grow your processes even further,” she notes.

Management’s collective understanding of every aspect of the hotel business, from cleaning toilets to making beds, maintaining equipment to flipping eggs, helped guide and inspire the team during the pandemic. Many innovations and offerings, borne out of necessity, are now the norm at City Lodge Hotels, including online check-in, full food and beverage service at all hotels, and amenities free of single use plastics.

“This brings me full circle to how my mother ran our home and welcomed guests. She didn’t think she was doing anything that spectacular, but her guests never forgot the crisp damask tablecloth and the best tableware, making them feel special and welcome. As Maya Angelou said, ‘I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’”

For Sangweni-Siddo, innovation is crucial to success, and she urges aspiring employees to examine the broader scope of hospitality in their studies, to keep up with trends in the key areas of environmental, social, and governance (ESG); digital marketing; sales platforms; customer relationship management; and sustainability.

“It’s essential to stay up to date in new facets impacting the hospitality industry. Look at what drives innovation, technology, corporate social responsibility (CSI), management, and environmental sustainability. Learn how guests of all ages and backgrounds think and behave, and what drives their choices,” she recommends.

To the younger generation, Sangweni-Siddo advises, “Understand what you’re getting into and where the world is going. Specialise in these areas to drive your business to success.”