The Royal Portfolio began in 1999 when Liz and Phil Biden converted their family holiday home in South Africa's Greater Kruger National Park into Royal Malewane. What started as a deeply personal safari lodge developed into a family-owned luxury hospitality collection designed to reveal four defining South African environments: the bush, the Cape coast, the Winelands and Cape Town. Birkenhead House followed in Hermanus, La Residence in Franschhoek, and The Silo Hotel completed the core circuit in Cape Town. In 2026 the collection remains deliberately concentrated in South Africa, combining four principal hotels and lodges with private villas and residences.
The brand
The Royal Portfolio is a family-owned and family-run South African luxury travel and hospitality brand founded by Liz and Phil Biden. The core collection comprises Royal Malewane in Greater Kruger National Park, Birkenhead House in Hermanus, La Residence in Franschhoek and The Silo Hotel at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront. The portfolio is extended by exclusive-use villas at Royal Malewane and La Residence and private residences in Hermanus.
The brand is organised as a complete South African journey rather than a conventional chain. Safari, wine country, coast and city are deliberately complementary. Each property has its own architecture, scale and atmosphere, while the continuity comes from Liz Biden's highly personal design language, family-style hospitality, art, food, service and an emphasis on making guests feel at home. The collection therefore functions as an owner-shaped portfolio of individual houses rather than a standardised hotel system.
Philosophy
The Royal Portfolio's purpose is expressed with unusual simplicity: to give guests a complete experience and a perfect stay. The family origins remain important to that promise. The first properties were private family homes before becoming hotels, and the collection continues to frame hospitality as an extension of home — generous, personal, emotionally warm and attentive to individual preferences.
Design is inseparable from this philosophy. Liz Biden personally shaped the interiors across the collection, combining colour, art, antiques, contemporary pieces and theatrical details without imposing one repeated visual template. The objective is not minimalism or corporate consistency, but memorable spaces that belong to their setting and still carry a recognisable family hand. Conservation, community support and the wider experience of South Africa form an additional layer of the collection's purpose.
What distinguishes it
Four destinations form one journey. Greater Kruger, Franschhoek, Hermanus and Cape Town create a compact circuit through safari, wine country, coast and city, allowing the collection to present South Africa itself as the broader product.
Family authorship is visible. Liz and Phil Biden remain central to the story, and Liz Biden's interiors give the houses a personal, eclectic identity that is difficult to reproduce through corporate brand standards.
Private homes became hospitality. Royal Malewane, Birkenhead House and La Residence grew from family properties, giving the collection an unusually literal residential origin and reinforcing its language of guests becoming part of an extended family.
Private-use accommodation is structural. Africa House, Farmhouse, Waterside House and Franschhoek House extend the collection into exclusive-use villas with dedicated service, while the Hermanus residences provide another residential format for families and groups.
South African art, landscape and experience matter as much as hotel hardware. Safari guiding, wine, food, whales, coastline, contemporary African art and city culture are integrated into the identity of the individual houses.
The Royal Portfolio is a weaker fit for travellers seeking a large international network, a conventional points-and-status loyalty programme, standardised room design or a highly anonymous corporate hotel experience. The collection is intentionally small and entirely South African, and its properties differ radically in format: a safari lodge is not meant to resemble a Cape Town art hotel or a cliff-top beach house. Guests who prioritise global network convenience may prefer a major international operator, while travellers seeking restrained minimalism may find the collection's colour, art and decorative personality too expressive. The Royal Portfolio works best for guests who value owner-led hospitality, strong design, privacy, personalised service and a curated journey through South Africa.
Signature houses
Competitive landscape
Editorial note — Code and book number follow LHL Register v50.0, which places The Royal Portfolio at LHL-043 / P1-04-02 in Volume IV — Local Ultra-Boutique & Private Collections. Current portfolio information was checked against official The Royal Portfolio materials in August 2026. The collection traces its roots to 1999, when Liz and Phil Biden opened Royal Malewane after converting their family holiday home in Greater Kruger. The official site currently presents four principal hotels and lodges — Royal Malewane, La Residence, The Silo Hotel and Birkenhead House — together with private villas and residences. These villas and residences are treated as accommodation formats within the wider portfolio rather than additional core hotel brands. No public group-wide loyalty programme is presented; Loyalty is therefore recorded as None. Register v50.0.