Morocco is a classic travel destination. Cities like Casablanca and Marrakech have attracted visitors from across the globe for decades, if not longer. Casablanca has even been immortalized by an all-time great Hollywood film of the same name.
CapitaLand's wholly owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), is boosting its record growth this year with its first foray into Africa. It has secured contracts to manage two properties in the heart of Accra, one of Africa's top cities for investment. The 220-unit Ascott 1 Oxford Street Accra will open in phases from 2019, while the 40-unit Kwarleyz Residence will open in 4Q 2018.
On 10th October,2017, the Rwanda Social Security Board signed a Hotel Management and Marketing Agreement with one of the African leading hotel management and marketing firms, Mantis Collection, headquartered in Queen Elizabeth Park, South Africa.The purpose of the 10 years management and marketing agreement is to boost revenue performance of the facility while attracting and retaining global clientele. The Mantis has a highly demonstrated capacity and systems for management and marketing of such facilities. The Akagera Game Lodge itself, located in one of the Rwandan most attractive and strategic tourist sites, Akagera National Park, provides high potential for profits and would highly contribute to tourism development and leisure in Rwanda.
BON Hotels continues its dominance in the Nigerian hotel space with the recent acquisition of an additional four properties, bringing the total up to sixteen hotels under management agreements within only 18 months. This makes the Company the largest hotel operator in Nigeria, including hotels in Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa and Namibia.
A new swathe of reclaimed land from the Atlantic Ocean and close to Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria, will be home to a series of new hotels that will form part of the Eko Atlantic development. Billed as the "new economic capital of Africa", Eko Atlantic will contribute 10 million square meters of new residential, commercial, retail and recreational space to the Nigerian capital. The new-build city will rival similar cities such as Dubai and Abu-Dhabi, and will be one of the most vibrant and desirable locations in East Africa. Structurally sound and sustainably engineered, a bounding wall, known as the Great Wall of Lagos, will separate the new city from the sea beyond, and a 24/7 power supply will facilitate all of the residents' needs around the clock.
Barcelona, Mangalis Hotel Group is continuing to pursue its ambitious plans in the African continent by unveiling its upper midscale hotel brand with the launch of Seen Hotel AbidjanPlateau.
Deutsche Hospitality is now able to offer two hotels in Tunisia for the first time. Since the end of April, guests travelling to the holiday destination of Sousse have had the option of staying at the Steigenberger Hotel Kantaoui Bay or at the Jaz Hotel Tour Khalef. Both hotels have opened following the successful completion of extensive modernisation works and will be operated by the locally based Tunisia Hospitality Group – SARL within the scope of a management agreement concluded with the owner Zohra Driss.
One&Only, created exclusively for the ultra-luxury market, and conceived as a hallmark of excellence, is evolving its portfolio beyond award-winning Beach Resorts with One&Only Nature Resorts, One&Only Urban Resorts, and One&Only Private Homes. These new experiences will complement the existing award-winning resort collection, set in some of the most beautiful locations in the world, offering guests a distinctive style and personality borne of its local culture, a genuine hospitality, and a lively energy that is unparalleled.
Hilton (NYSE: HLT) (www.Hilton.com) has signalled its intention to ramp up its expansion in North Africa with the establishment of a dedicated development office in Casablanca. Building on an active pipeline in the region, which has grown to 15 hotels across Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, Hilton has identified North Africa as a focus area for further growth. Its office is located in Casablanca, the city where it announced its debut hotel earlier this year, Hilton Garden Inn Casablanca Sidi Maarouf.Carlos Khneisser, vice president, development, MENA Hilton said: "Having a dedicated presence in the market is important for us in order to sustain further growth. We pride ourselves on forging strong relationships with owners and being present on the ground is the best way to achieve this. We have almost 5,000 rooms under development in North Africa at this stage but with the majority of those being in Egypt there is a great opportunity for us to expand our presence more widely across the region."Having worked within Hilton's Development team in Dubai, Feras Hasbini takes on responsibility of spearheading Hilton's growth in North Africa and will now be located in Casablanca. Hasbini said: "It is very exciting to focus on North Africa at a time where we are beginning to make real strides in terms of our positioning in the market. We are bringing a portfolio of world-class brands to the region with new offerings at every sector of the market. From the mid-scale Hilton Garden Inn to our Upper Upscale collection brand Curio, our brands are ideally suited to North Africa and owners have more opportunities to work with us than ever before."
AccorHotels, world leading travel and lifestyle group, today announced the signing of a hotel management agreement (HMA) with New Mauritius Hotels Limited, one of the oldest and largest owning and management hospitality companies based in Mauritius. The new agreement will see AccorHotels relaunch the existing property under the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts brand in May 2017. The reflagging will mark a major step for the luxury brand in Africa.
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the world's leading luxury hospitality company, and the Mabrouk Group, Tunisia's preeminent investment group, will be introducing a new luxury experience to Tunisia with the opening of Four Seasons Hotel Tunis in late 2017.
In East Africa alone the brand is set to open three more hotels later this year with the opening of Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport, Four Points by Sheraton Dar es Salam and Four Points by Sheraton Arusha
"Diversifying into more than one property sector is not new in the South African context, but it's a growing trend that's impacting the hotel pipeline," says Wayne Troughton, CEO of specialist global hospitality and real estate consultancy, HTI Consulting.
Hyatt announced today that a Hyatt affiliate has entered into a management agreement with Société d'Investissement Hôtelière EPE SPA for a Hyatt Regency hotel to be located at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers, Algeria. The hotel, expected to open late 2018, will mark the first Hyatt-branded hotel in Algeria. Hyatt Regency Algiers Airport will add to Hyatt's growing brand presence in Africa, following the successful openings of Hyatt Place Taghazout Bay in Morocco and Park Hyatt Zanzibar in Tanzania in 2015, which brought the total number of Hyatt-branded hotels in Africa to six.
Park Inn by Radisson, the colorful and dynamic mid-market brand, today announced the opening of its first property in Polokwane. The Park Inn by Radisson Polokwane is the ninth hotel in South Africa by The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies in the world.
BON Hotels, a hospitality company that owns, manages and markets hotels throughout Africa, has added a tenth property to their Nigerian portfolio - BON Hotel GRAND Pela, located in Abuja. The grand opening, held on Friday 10 February, was attended by VIP guests, members of the press, dignitaries, politicians, airline executives, hotel owners, stakeholders and government representatives.
The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies in the world and a member of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, is very pleased to announce the addition of a new member to its luxury Quorvus Collection: The Pearl of Africa Hotel Kampala, Uganda. The 296-room property will welcome its first guests in Q2 2017.
Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, a leading operator and developer of luxury hotels, resorts and spas, has announced the development of Anantara Zanzibar Resort, expected to open in 2020 as part of the Zanzibar Amber Resort mixed-use lifestyle community. Occupying in excess of 1,000 hectares of prime Indian Ocean coastline in the north east of Zanzibar, Zanzibar Amber Resort is an integrated project which is currently under development blending contemporary lifestyle aspirations with premium hospitality and world-class facilities. The master planning and infrastructure works for Anantara Zanzibar Resort have already commenced. The luxury waterfront resort is to feature 100 guest rooms, alongside 50 one- and two- bedroom pool villas. Leisure facilities will include a luxury spa and wellness centre, a gym, a kid's club and a teen's club, in addition to three restaurants and bars. There are also plans to introduce marine life and coral to restore and re-create a reef ecosystem. Anantara Zanzibar Resort guests will have access to Zanzibar Amber Resort, a mixed-use project which will offer a retail souk, a tropical aqua park, a marina, an equestrian centre and international polo club, along with further hotels. In addition, Zanzibar Amber Resort will also feature East Africa's first signature golf course, which is confirmed to be designed by Ernie Els. The owning company, Pennyroyal (Gibraltar) Limited, is working in close collaboration with local stakeholders, including the government and the Ministry of Environment, to master plan a self-sufficient and sustainably designed community with energy plants, agriculture, aquaculture and potentially an airfield in the later stages of the project. Dillip Rajakarier, CEO of Minor Hotels, parent company of Anantara, comments, "Anantara Zanzibar Resort will be the first property in the region to showcase Anantara's authentic luxury and personalised hospitality. Whilst offering a unique addition to Anantara's portfolio, the resort's discerning guests will benefit greatly from the project's integrated lifestyle facilities. We believe Tanzania has enormous growth potential in the tourism and lifestyle sector, and we look forward to working with Pennyroyal Gibraltar to maximise the resort's potential. The development of Anantara Zanzibar Resort marks a key strategic move that provides synergy and diversifies Minor Hotels' well-established presence in East Africa, complementing the Elewana Collection of luxury safari camps, lodges and beach resorts in Tanzania and Kenya." "We are delighted to have Anantara as a founder hotel partner of Zanzibar Amber Resort, their distinctive lifestyle brand profile and commitment to creating outstanding luxury hospitality product being of significant appeal to us. We anticipate that this strategic partnership will bring Zanzibar Amber Resort to the attention of a modern, cosmopolitan, thoughtful traveller that represents exactly the kind of market demographic to which we aspire, and look forward to a successful and enduring partnership between Pennyroyal Gibraltar and Minor Hotels," commented Brian Thomson, Principal, Pennyroyal Gibraltar.
Renaissance Hotels, the brand known around the world for helping business travellers discover unexpected experiences, has announced the opening of its first hotel in Sub-Saharan Africa — the Renaissance Lagos Ikeja Hotel. Located in Nigeria's commercial centre and city known for its music, fashion, cuisine, art and nightlife, the Renaissance Lagos Ikeja offers world-class amenities, modern aesthetic, sophisticated service and unique programming that reflect the brand's signature approach to feed the curiosity, fuel the imagination and excite the senses of its guests.
Mangalis Hotel Group announced the opening of its first revolutionary Yaas Almadies Hotel Dakar. The first of its kind hotel in Senegal to deploy the Plug & Play solution, of pre-fabricated modular building. The hotel provides 89 state of the art rooms, combining novel energized design and latest technology. Located in the trendy chic area of the vibrant city of Dakar, enjoys close proximity to the city hub, business and diplomatic district, with easy access to the shopping centers, and not too far from the airport. The hotel which caters to not only business.