As the resistance movement against apartheid in South Africa began to take off, so did Kerzner's business career. In 1960, the year of the Sharpeville massacre, Kerzner bought the Palace hotel in Durban, a small operation he soon turned to profit. His next move was to buy the Beverly Hills hotel in Umhlanga, which became South Africa's first five-star hotel. Slowly, he expanded the franchise to 31 hotels and built a hospitality empire that would culminate, in 1979, with the opening of Sun City.