When Mark Crawford looks out over the buildings of Crawfords Beach Lodge nestled among lush coastal vegetation above the beautiful Cintsa beach near East London, he sees more than a resort, he sees his family’s remarkable legacy.
He remembers where the labourer’s cottages stood that his grandfather converted into self-catering units after buying a derelict chicken farm in the 1970s. He remembers the Wild Coast-style thatched houses that his parents built, as well as all the modern facilities that he has added since he joined the family business in 2010.
“This place has always reflected the personality of each generation that ran it. It is not just another beach resort, it has a personality and history,” says Mark.
One of the most remarkable aspects of that history is that the business was started twice, roughly ten years apart, in almost the same way.
The first time was when Mark’s grandfather sold his farm on land that would later become Sandton and purchased the derelict chicken farm overlooking what he thought was the most beautiful beach in South Africa in the late 70s. Back in those days guests had to travel over dirt tracks to reach the resort, opening and closing farm gates as they went.
While Mark’s grandfather had to transition from farmer to hotelier, the second generation entered hospitality from the start. Mark’s parents worked at various Wild Coast hotels and sent money to the family business for new cabins to be built one at a time. By the late 1980s Mark’s grandfather retired and his parents took over Crawfords Beach Lodge. But in the years just before the advent of democracy, the political uncertainty in the region became so bad that tourism collapsed, and the family had to sell the resort.
Mark grew up in a family deeply rooted in hospitality. His parents managed corporate hotel groups, and after studying industrial psychology, Mark headed to London to start his career in corporate human resources.
Running a remote resort like Crawfords is difficult, says Mark. When the new owner could not make it work, the cottages were eventually sold off as individually owned holiday homes. This gave the Crawfords an opportunity to re-enter the business. A decade after they sold the resort, they bought a single cottage back and started managing several of the others as rental units on behalf of the owners. One cottage at a time, they rebuilt their presence, and before long Crawfords Beach Lodge had bloomed into a fully-fledged luxury holiday resort, owned once again by the family.
Tourism and hospitality ran in Mark’s blood. After returning from London, he ran a guest house in Plettenberg Bay for a while, before joining the family business in 2010. With his international experience, Mark was able to modernise the marketing and booking systems for the family business. Over the years, he has put his own touch on the business by enhancing the family-friendliness of the resort and adding several sporting facilities. It wasn’t always easy as new ideas clashed with set ways of doing things. “Every time we sat down for tea, it turned into a sort of informal boardroom discussion,” he recalls.
Despite challenges, Crawford Beach Lodge flourished as a family business. Shortly after the great recession of 2008, the business took out its first loan for expansion from Business Partners Limited when the banks’ appetite for lending had dried up. Since then, the business has had two more loans from Business Partners Limited to expand further, along with emergency relief funding during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period Mark describes as the toughest of his career.
The year 2020 was set to be the busiest year for the business, but instead, the resort had to shut down for no fewer than 18 months.
The Crawfords persevered, and today the occupancy across its 50 rooms is almost back at its pre-Covid levels.
At 44, Mark is focused on developing Crawfords even further and dreams of one day passing over the reins to his twins, now 14, who are growing up in one of the most beautiful spots on the South African coast, just like he did.
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