REGIONAL PROFILE : AFRICA
Essque Zalu Zanzibar , already under Minor Hotel Group management , will be rebranded Per Aquum in Q1 2016 .
TOTAL PIPELINE Q2 2015 : 240 projects , 42,685 rooms 131 projects under planning ; up 58 % YOY construction ;
Carlson ’ s Radisson Blu up 25 % year-over-year has the most projects : 39 projects
14 with 2,763 rooms scheduled to start in
Top five franchise companies account for 40 next 12 months
%
AFRICA
PIPELINE
TOP MARKETS LAGOS , NIGERIA : 23 projects , 4,285 rooms MARRAKECH , MOROCCO : 13 projects , 2,687 rooms NAIROBI , KENYA : 12 projects , 1,812 rooms
KAMPALA , UGANDA : 8 projects , 1,517 rooms ADDIS ABABA , ETHIOPIA : 7 projects , 1,238 rooms
Lodging Econometrics
76 projects in early of construction projects
matchmaker between each market and the “ just right ” offer . A quick look at the pipeline for hometown heroes and global giants alike shows upscale is threatening to overtake the standby midscale development of years past .
Whether it ’ s Radisson Blu , Four Points by Sheraton , the seven properties in Azalaï Hotels Group ’ s pipeline or Mangalis ’ Noom brand , 4-star offers are stealing the top 10 spots in the pipeline from midscale flags .
Guego points out no single-sector play is the catch-all . “ In our pipeline for Angola , the midscale segment will actually be caught up by the economy segment and the emergence of luxury hotels ,” he says . “ Fifty hotels ( more than 6,200 rooms ), from luxury to economy , will open in Angola between 2015 and 2017 .”
Smaller flags like CityBlue are taking a scaled-down version of the same approach ( the company ’ s three brands offer economy , midscale and luxury choices ).
At the same time , Jagersbacher isn ’ t
so quick to hop off the midscale bandwagon . “ We will have 11 Hilton Garden Inns across the continent in the next few years or so , and that number continues to grow ,” he says . “ We do also continue to see strong growth in our full-service portfolio with 18 Hilton Hotels and Resorts-branded properties in our pipeline across Africa , as well as good pickup for our DoubleTree brand . I don ’ t think luxury ever really plays catch up — it ’ s a different way of operating hotels and a different customer .”
Hilton Worldwide and the Swaziland Public
Service Pensions Fund will open a Hilton Garden Inn in Mbabane ,
Swaziland , in 2017 .
OPERATIONS : Built for speed
With more opportunities than ever in Africa , it ’ s not just go big or go home . It ’ s also go fast or go home .
Hilton Worldwide has 11 signed deals for its Hilton Garden Inn brand alone . Radisson Blu clocks in with a 22-property pipeline .
That means taking cost-effectiveness and efficiency to the next level . Hilton ’ s partnership with CIMC Modular Building Systems circumvents infrastructure issues with modular guestrooms and corridors that can be manufactured and partially assembled at the factory in China .
42 HOTELS September 2015 www . hotelsmag . com