About Us
About theLAB
theLAB History
High-tech automation and green hotel functions are developed in a tech laboratory and enrolled in theLAB guesthouses. The abbreviation “theLAB” also stands for the LivinAfrica Box. This box is at the centre of our room automation and is nicely ’hidden’ in the rooms.
Through theLAB room automation system, guests control functionalities in their room through buttons, switches or voice. This is a very novel concept in the guesthouse industry…
But more importantly, the brand was developed around a special labrador, called Einstein. He was a character: an intelligent and very sweet dog, and much loved. Einstein was 16 years old (3/12/2018) when he left us, but we carry him all in our heart.
theLAB is an inspiring suite of fully-automated, modern guesthouses located in two of the most beautiful areas across the Western Cape: Franschhoek, and Robertson (Klaasvoogds West).
We maintained the guesthouse’s individual charm, combining it with hi-tech and a drive to be energy neutral. theLAB room automation system is incorporated into each room. All rooms modernly styled and surrounded by beautiful nature.
In Franschhoek you can enjoy a large communal jacuzzi. Robertson offers rooms with private jacuzzi’s, as well as a communal jacuzzi with a view. We have on-site Spa facilities and bicycles and electric scooters for rent.
Our South African hospitality is topped with delicious home-style food and an extensive wine selection. Experience the personal touch in Franschhoek and Robertson : both with their unique charm topped by our hi-tech, eco-conscious and high-caliber standard.
Eco-Conscious at theLAB Guesthouses
- No single-use plastic – glass console bottles with free filtered (borehole) water, we reduce single use plastic together with the guests.
- Electric car. Our BMW i3s are fully electric and charge during solar production hours
- E-Bikes experience a fun and exciting eco-friendly way of moving
- (E)Bikes (or use your own energy and hire a road bike or MTB)
- LED lighting: Philip Hue Led lighting system–low energy consumption (particularly blue light)
- Cleaning materials: we work with the local eco-friendly cleaning supplier Nurturer, 100% plant based, not tested on animals, 100% of the profit is for charity for youth development
- Our own vegetable garden
- We support the local and national industries by ordering from our local suppliers. Local wine from the area, fruits from the season and the area. We support the local and national industries by ordering from our local suppliers
- Our solar system has the capacity to produce nearly 200MWh per year
- We are now producing almost as much as we are consuming (on an annual basis)
- We are consciously grid-tight, we chose not to have batteries that are environmentally unfriendly
- We supply our excess green energy back to the network and receive limited rebates for it
- With our energy monitoring system, we are starting to control our energy consumption levels and can time our consumption as much as possible during solar production hours
- From the desktop, the guesthouse manager can monitor and control power consumption. A notification warning gets sent to the email inbox when an appliance is in over-usage or abnormal usage
theLAB Voice | theLAB Automation
