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Carlson Rezidor leads the race to build hotels in Africa

The survey is of 27 international hotel chains, with 60 brands between them, competing in Africa, with Carlson Rezidor and Hilton Worldwide out in front by a significant margin, each with over 6,000 rooms in development. Marriott International is next, followed by Starwood, Mangalis and IHG.

New research by W Hospitality Group, a founding member of Hotel Partners Africa, places Carlson Rezidor at the head of the race to open new hotels in Africa. The annual Pipeline survey of the major international and African hotel chains reveals that more are opening in Africa in 2014 and they are growing their resource base in order to take advantage of the strong economies on the continent.

The survey is of 27 international hotel chains, with 60 brands between them, competing in Africa, with Carlson Rezidor and Hilton Worldwide out in front by a significant margin, each with over 6,000 rooms in development. Marriott International is next, followed by Starwood, Mangalis and IHG.

TABLE 1

2014 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa

Top 10 Chains by Number of Planned Hotels and Rooms

Rank by Hotels

 

Rank by Rooms

 

 

Change on 2013

Average Size

1

Carlson Rezidor

30

1

Carlson Rezidor

6,248

5%

208

2

Marriott*

26

2

Hilton

6,165

-1%

247

3

Hilton Worldwide

25

3

Marriott

5,243

34%

202

4

Starwood

16

4

Starwood

3,499

39%

219

5

Mangalis

15

5

Mangalis

2,210

147

6

Best Western

10

6

IHG**

2,055

-15%

294

6=

Accor

10

7

Accor

1,587

0%

159

6=

Swiss International

10

8

Kempinski

1,567

6%

261

9

Louvre

9

9

Rotana

1,455

7%

243

10

Azalaï

8

10

Azalaï

1,129

151%

141

*This survey was conducted before Marriott completed its purchase of South Africa-based Protea. Any Protea development deals are excluded from this survey.

** based on data provided by IHG in September 2013, which has not been updated

Of the international chains, Starwood had the largest percentage increase, up 39 per cent year-on-year, with developments planned in eight countries, four more countries than in 2013. Marriott also recorded a strong increase, 34 per cent up on last year. Mali-based Azalai has plans to become a dominant regional player, increasing its development pipeline with five more hotels and 679 more rooms compared to 2013.

A new entrant to the survey and to the African market, Mangalis, has stormed into the top 10 rankings. Of its 15 Noom and Seen hotels, with 2,210 hotel rooms in the pipeline, 11 are reported to be on site and scheduled to open between 2014 and 2016. Louvre Hotels Group, which has three hotel brands in Africa – Royal Tulip, Golden Tulip and Tulip Inn – reports that all of its projects are on site and that all but one are scheduled to open in 2014.

Having a closer look at the individual brands of those hotel chains, Radisson Blu and its sister brand, Park Inn by Radisson, occupy the first and third positions by number of hotels. However, the rankings of the two brands individually, slip to the second and fourth positions, when considering the actual number of rooms planned, overtaken by Hilton and Marriott, with larger properties.

TABLE 2

2014 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa

Top 10 Brands by Number of Planned Hotels and Rooms

Rank by Hotels

 

Rank by Rooms

Change on 2013

Average Size

 

Brand

Units

 

Brand

Rooms

 

Rooms

1

Radisson Blu

17

1

Hilton

4,723

-12.5%

295

2

Hilton

16

2

Radisson Blu

4,336

3.5%

255

3

Park Inn by Radisson

13

3

Marriott

2,116

19.8%

212

4

Marriott

10

4

Park Inn by Radisson

1,912

14.1%

147

5

Noom

8

5

Kempinski

1,567

5.8%

261

6

Azalaï

8

6

Sheraton

1,437

238.9%

240

7=

Hilton Garden Inn

7

7

Hilton Garden Inn

1,264

185.3%

181

7=

Seen

7

8

Noom

1,180

148

8=

Kempinski

6

9

Courtyard by Marriott

1,154

28.5%

289

8=

Sheraton

6

10

Azalaï

1,129

150.9%

141

The newcomer Mangalis sees both its two core brands in the top 10 rankings by the number of hotels planned – the Noom brand is ranked fifth with eight hotels planned, whilst the Seen brand ties in seventh position with Hilton Garden Inn, with seven hotels planned. The Noom brand also ranks eighth in the top 10 list of rooms planned, at 1,180 rooms.

At 295 rooms/ property, Hilton has the largest average room size in the top 10 list.  It is followed closely by Courtyard by Marriott (289), Kempinski (261), Radisson Blu (255) and Sheraton (240).

Trevor Ward, Managing Director, W Hospitality, said: “It is our belief that the chain hotel pipeline in Sub Saharan Africa will continue to grow and that more international players will enter the market.  This is because there is such a shortage of quality hotel accommodation in Africa.  This research was conducted before Marriott completed its acquisition of South Africa-based Protea so it will be interesting to see how this will change the market in Africa – in particular if Hilton, Carlson Rezidor and other international chains will follow Marriott’s example and seek to grow by acquisition?”

Jonathan Worsley, Chairman, Bench Events, organiser of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) which attracts all the major international hotel investors in Africa and where this report will be discussed in detail, added: “The main story of these findings is that more and new international hotel chains are seeking to play in Africa despite a relatively difficult operating market compared to Europe or China. It demonstrates that Africa, and especially the relatively untapped Sub Saharan Africa, is now being considered by the international investment community to offer attractive commercial returns.”

This year’s survey is based on the contributions from 27 hotel chains with 60 brands between them. Of these 27 hotel chains, 24 of them are already operating in Africa, with a total of approximately 84,000 rooms. The pipeline of new deals represents almost 50 per cent of the branded supply.

News Editor - TravelDailyNews Media Network | + Posts

Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.

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