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Kigali - An accelerated African growth strategy for Carlson Rezidor, one of the world’s largest hotel groups, is on track to achieve its target of more than 23 000 rooms open or under development in Africa by the end of 2020.
Rezidor’s president and CEO Wolfgang M. Neumann, who is a speaker at the Africa Hotel Investment Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, says the hotel group launched its accelerated African growth strategy in 2014 with ambitions to double its portfolio in Africa by the end of 2020.
“Africa has always been close to our hearts. We were the early movers on the continent in 2000 when we established our dedicated business development base in Cape Town. Today, Africa is our biggest growth market with a fully functional area support office in Cape Town since 2016. We also converted our joint venture company with the four Nordic Government Development agencies, AfriNord, from a mezzanine debt funding facility to a minority equity investment vehicle to support our strategy and owners,” said Neumann.
Rezidor first entered Africa in 2000 when it opened its first Radisson Blu in Cape Town. Today Carlson Rezidor’s footprint in Africa has grown to include 69 hotels open and under development in 28 countries, incorporating more than 15 000 rooms.
Neumann said in the past 24 months Carlson Rezidor has signed a new hotel deal in Africa every 37 days.
“Of course, we are aware that it is not just about signing. It’s really about delivering the pipeline. We have opened a new hotel in Africa every 60 days over the past two years. This year, we have already opened six Radisson Blu hotels and expect to open a Park Inn by Radisson in South Africa in the next six months. We intend to keep up this momentum of signings followed by successful openings,” he said.
The six hotels opened in 2016 include Radisson Blu hotels in Nairobi (Kenya); Marrakech (Morocco); Maputo (Mozambique); Abidjan (Ivory Coast); Lomé (Togo); and the Radisson Blu Hotel & Convention Centre in Kigali, Rwanda. This is now East Africa’s largest convention centre and host to the 2016 Africa Hotel Investment Forum.
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