Radisson Blu has for a second year in a row, secured the leading position as the hotel brand with the most hotels under development and the most hotel deals in its pipeline in Africa, according to the recently published 2019 W Hospitality Pipeline Report.
Radisson Blu, part of the Radisson Hotel Group™, took over as the fastest growing hotel brand in Africa last year and has for a second year claimed the title with the recent release of W Hospitality Pipeline Report 2019, the most authoritative source on the growth of the hotel industry in Africa. The report has ranked Radisson Blu as the leading individual hotel brand with the highest number of hotel deals and within this pipeline, the largest number of rooms and proportion of its pipeline actually under construction, in Africa. The Group’s upper midscale brand, Park Inn by Radisson, has also entered the same top 10 brand list, securing the fifth position.
“We are thrilled to see our flagship brand, Radisson Blu, continuing to lead the way in Africa with the most hotel deals signed and the most hotel rooms under construction, than any of the other 120 hotel brands it was ranked against. This is a true testament of our agility as a hotel group, as we can move quickly from deal signing to hotel opening. As referenced in the report, we had several hotels which were signed and opened within the same year. This is aligned with our development strategy, as we expect our future growth to arise from existing hotel take-overs and new build hotels. With economic headwinds in some African markets, we have identified further opportunities to exploit our vast knowledge and experience in converting unbranded, underperforming hotels, offices or apartment buildings and reposition them to the right brand and market segment within the Radisson Hotel Group brand portfolio,” says Andrew Mclachlan, senior vice president, Development, Sub-Saharan Africa, Radisson Hotel Group.
This growth has spiked Radisson Hotel Group’s portfolio in Africa to 99 hotels (20,500+ rooms) in operation and under development across 32 countries.
“We aim to add a further 12 hotels to our African portfolio this year, which will take us well over the 100 hotel mark by year end and confidently on our way to securing 130 hotels by the end of 2022.Our five-year development strategy focuses on creating scaled hotel growth in key cities and resort locations across Africa. With a focus on scaled growth in key locations across Africa, we can offer guests multiple hotels across different brands and market segments, at various price points and improved local hotel performance with strong local procurement and cluster select services in the same city.”
“Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lagos are our three gateway cities in sub-Saharan Africa where we aim to have scaled growth and an ambition of up to 10 hotels within the same city. Dakar, Abidjan, Douala, Luanda, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Addis Ababa are cities where we aim to have between three and five hotels due to the size of the economy, market, long-term fundamentals and supply and demand opportunities. In addition, we are not ignoring the smaller cities and larger towns across Africa where we’ve identified potential to penetrate the market with either our midscale Park Inn by Radisson brand or upscale Radisson,” concludes Mclachlan.
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