After three marriages, a few flings and a divorce or two, BON Hotel Riviera on Vaal celebrates her ninetieth birthday this year and the hotel seems to be enjoying a new lease on life.
The Vaal Triangle’s commercial success is steeped in the industrial history books, thanks to Mr Van der Bijl and his expansion of Iscor into Vereeniging. The city of Vereeniging was founded in 1892 and much of its early growth was due to the nearby coal mines. Thousands of jobs were created as a commercial and industrial surge was spearheaded to the area.

The Vaal River – a popular place for holiday makers as early as 1920
In those days, the banks of the Vaal River became a hub of leisure activity, holiday homes and hotels popping up as early as the 1920s, and one that has become synonymous with water, fun, golf and the high-life was what is now called BON Hotel Riviera on Vaal. The hotel will be celebrating its Ninetieth birthday this year. Taking in sweeping views of the hotel and the Vaal River from the historic Riviera on Vaal clubhouse, which was developed in 1937 and designed by the legendary Sir Herbert Baker, one is only left to wonder if those walls could talk…
The site where the Riviera on Vaal Country Club is situated today was initially built as a kiosk to service revellers to the river who were popping down for a swim, boat ride or picnic on the banks. So popular was the site that the old farmhouse was converted into a hotel in 1926. One certain American film maker, entrepreneur and developer, Isadore William Schlesinger, fell in love with the area and built the ‘ultra-modern’ Riviera Hotel – ultra-modern because it featured a bathroom in each room; this was a luxury unheard of in those years. Mr Schlesinger opened the doors to the hotel on 29 August 1936 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Riviera on Vaal Country Club
The hotel was a popular leisure destination in the years before and after the Second World War. But from the 1960s, the hotel’s popularity declined and it was left neglected. Thankfully, the decrepit hotel was taken over by the Behr family and in 1970 and a completely renovated version was opened. Mrs Cynthia Behr, clearly a very good hotelier, is owed the accolades for the hotel’s success during this period. People once again started flocking to the hotel over the weekends, to enjoy the river, the golf course and the spectacular food. Sunday dinner and a movie became a hit as South Africans did not have the privilege of television until 1976. The Riviera on Vaal Hotel was the place to be and be seen. The hotel, thanks to the Behr family survived the devastating floods of early 1975, when most of the low-lying areas of Vereeniging were completely submerged in water, including most of the hotel grounds and the entire adjacent golf course.