Remember I introduced Daniel, our Night Manager, to you last month?  He’s a wonderful man, and has taught me a lot about the Knysna Wayside Inn.

When I asked Daniel about when he first started running the business here in 1994, he recalled how manual everything was run.  No computers or credit card machines.  Can you imagine?!  Handwritten books, notes, phone calls and cash only.  Hard to imagine this was actually not too long ago…  A feather in Daniel’s cap is that he now runs, with ease, our computer operated online live availability booking system – and all in all he has become quite computer literate.

Daniel also remembers about the early stages of the Wayside Inn that there is a slide up section at the bottom of each hotel room door, where staff would put the breakfast trays through.  Guests would then have their (continental only!) breakfasts in their rooms.  This has all changed and we now serve our great continental and English breakfast on the deck outside.  Come hail, rain or cold…. Heaters have been installed for the cooler mornings though :).

Daniel loves to greet our international guests in Xhosa, his native tongue.  It is always fascinating to see how our guests are absolutely enthralled by his fascinating, tongue clicking, and in their eyes (and ears) unpronounceable language.  Which reminds me, at some point I will write a post about the different languages we speak here at the Wayside Inn…

In the evenings, Daniel spends a lot of his time in the lounge with foreign guests discussing the old South Africa, including big discussions on our famous and beloved Madiba, as Daniel will address him, or Nelson Mandela, as he is known to most of the outside world.

Daniel is an amazing person to have in our company and he knows the Knysna Wayside Inn like the back of his hand.  Thanks Daniel, we are very fortunate to have you work for us!