HPA plans to compare its research into the demand for hotel jobs, which can be taken down to the detail of numbers of staff needed in specific roles, location by location, with a market study by Elevation Personnel.
Hotel Partners Africa (HPA), the new consultancy formed by four pre-eminent consultants to the hotel industry in Africa – Trevor Ward and Vernon Page of W Hospitality Group, Mark Martinovic of Hotel Spec and David Harper of Leisure Property Services – has signed a partnership with Johannesburg-based Elevation Personnel to provide recruitment services to its clients.
This move follows a research report from W Hospitality Group, a founding member of HPA, which revealed that 320,000 new jobs would be created in the hotel industry over the next three years. Of these, over 80% will be employed by just 10 global brands, Hilton, Carlson Rezidor, Accor, Marriott, Starwood, Louvre, IHG, Kempinski, Mowenpick and Rotana. The countries in North Africa are all creating jobs while in sub-Sahara Africa the countries with the highest demand for new hotel staff will be, in order, Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
HPA plans to compare its research into the demand for hotel jobs, which can be taken down to the detail of numbers of staff needed in specific roles, location by location, with a market study by Elevation Personnel, currently looking at the supply of staff and wage rates from city to city across Africa. HPA believes this coordinated analysis will give it a deep insight into the hospitality employment maket that will give it a competitive edge in sourcing talent.
HPA CEO, Vernon Page, said: “From working with clients on their hotel development projects in Africa, it has become absolutely clear to us that finding, training and retaining good people will be both critical to their success and a major challenge. Therefore, as part of our strategy to be turnkey advisers, we sought out a new partner with a first class reputation in hospitality recruitment. What drew us particularly to Petra was her focus on corporate culture and client service and her experience working in tourism and hospitality prior to starting Elevation Personnel.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Elevation Personnel will provide all recruitment services needed for HPA clients and in return HPA will market recruitment services as part of the services provided by HPA.
Petra Devereux, Managing Director, Elevation Personnel said: “I am delighted to be teaming up with Vernon,Trevor, Mark and David. In the Hotel industry, they are all well-known and highly regarded so I expect they will be able to effect many useful introductions to senior hotel executives all over Africa.”
The founders of Hotel Partners Africa will all be attending the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) in Nairobi at the end of September, where they will be actively debating the rapid expansion of hospitality on the Continent and the implications for employers. They will also be present at the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) in Berlin, taking place on 3-5 March, where they will be available for further discussion and media interviews.
Photo caption: Petra Devereux, Managing Director, Elevation Personnel.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
