The South African billionaire’s house that now has the best hotel room in the country
The Saxon Hotel’s Nelson Mandela Platinum Suite has been named the best hotel room in Africa by the World Travel Awards.
This suite, modelled on Mandela’s room when he stayed at the house, beat out some of the best-known hotels in the country.
The nominees included the top suites at Cape Grace, One&Only, Mount Nelson, and the Four Seasons’ Royal Suite. Hotels from Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, and Rwanda were also nominated.
Apart from having the best hotel room in the country, the Saxon Hotel is unique in that it was once the private home of billionaire Douw Steyn.
The suites, including the Nelson Mandela Platinum Suite, are based on rooms in the home that would have been used by Steyn’s guests.
Steyn’s billions were generated by his revolution in insurance in South Africa and the United Kingdom. At the time of his death in February 2025, his net worth was £3 billion (R70 billion).
In love with business and entrepreneurship, Steyn never completed his university studies at Rand Afrikaans University or its forerunner, North-West University.
Growing up in Brits, Steyn performed magic tricks for extra money and worked as a train conductor in Johannesburg to save up for a business course in Germany.
Steyn would go on to found Auto & General out of the collapsing Crusader Insurance, which he bought for its licence.
After recapitalising the business, Steyn realised he could disrupt the local insurance market by leveraging new technology.
Auto & General introduced telemarketing to South Africa and pioneered paperless insurance. It was also the first company to introduce debit orders.
Steyn expanded this model to the United Kingdom and replicated Auto & General’s success with Budget Insurance.
Budget’s major innovation was the Compare the Market business, which is known for its meerkat mascot and the slogan, ‘Simples’.
The company provides a price comparison service and allows companies to offer a co-branded or white-label comparison service.
While Steyn was taking his enterprises global, he was also becoming fast friends with Nelson Mandela and other ANC members returning from exile.
This would bring Steyn’s house into the spotlight and inform its transformation into a hotel in the 2000s.
From house to hotel
Situated on ten acres of indigenous gardens, Steyn’s house in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandhurst was one of the most luxurious residences in South Africa.
The gardens provide an oasis of calm, less than a kilometre away from the hustle and bustle of South Africa’s economic hub in Sandton
Steyn used the house to host guests, friends, business leaders, and, famously, ANC politicians returning from exile.
Chief among these was Nelson Mandela, to whom Steyn offered a room in his house to use during visits to Johannesburg.
Steyn also organised meetings between Mandela and business leaders to aid the transition to democracy and shift the ANC’s view of big business.
Along with Steyn, Anglo American hosted conferences at its Carlton Hotel between companies and the ANC. Many of its executives also helped house ANC leaders.
Steyn became very close friends with Mandela, who also stayed at his Shambala Private Game Reserve in the Waterberg.
In April 2000, The Saxon Hotel Villas and Spa was unveiled to the public, with the house being transformed into a 26-suite luxury hotel and conference centre.
It has since built its reputation for unequalled luxury, having been honoured by the World Travel Awards as the World’s Leading Boutique Hotel every year since its first participation in 2000.
The name comes from the Steyn family’s coat of arms. Steyn also commonly referred to the house as the Saxon.
Mandela stayed at the hotel after it was converted from a home, and the suite he stayed in was renamed the Nelson Mandela Platinum Suite in his honour.
The hotel expanded throughout the 2000s, with the award-winning Saxon Spa first opening in 2006 and then extensively renovated in 2016.
In 2010, the Saxon unveiled three new villas, each with a private dining library or boardroom, terrace, and heated plunge pool.
Today, the hotel has 53 suites and was extensively redesigned during the pandemic, with its interior completely refurbished.
The Nelson Mandela Platinum Suite
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