As Managing Director of the Three Cities Hotel Division, John Creighton has a diverse, entrepreneurial and strong operations background gleaned from a 27 year-long career within the hospitality industry.
His extremely diverse experience began when he joined the Protea Hotel Group in 1986. He worked his way through the ranks and held various management positions across all operating divisions in many South African and Southern African Hotels. Extending his experience beyond the Southern African borders, John furthered his experience in Europe, the USA and Australia.
John eventually managed 8 Hotels in various Cities across South Africa and went on to receive a number of awards within the Protea Hotels Group, culminating in receiving their top ‘General Manager of the Year’ award in 2003. A stint at Cornell University in New York followed as well as his promotion to Regional General Manager for Protea Hotels Group responsible for the operations of 32 hotels.
John left Protea Hotels in 2006 to join an old colleague in the newly formed Capsicum Culinary Studio. He honed his considerable entrepreneurial skills to help grow this from two schools in Johannesburg and Cape Town to the largest private hospitality training school in South Africa with additional campuses in Pretoria, Boksburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Capsicum was voted ninth out of South Africa’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies in 2010.
After a short stint owning and running a number of restaurants in the Western Cape, John joined the Three Cities Group in mid 2012.