The President Hotel in Bantry Bay recently took a trip down memory lane when it celebrated the 21st anniversary of the rebuilt hotel, which was opened by the late former president Nelson Mandela in June 1998. The first development on the site dates back to 1766, and for the past 150 years there has been a hotel on it. In the 1880s it was the Queen’s Hotel, but after South Africa left the Commonwealth in 1961, the hotel was rebranded The President, in 1967. Over a period of 18 months, from August 1996, the hotel was completely rebuilt.Â