In July 1984 when Otto Stehlik founded the Protea Hospitality Group, he envisaged a global hospitality brand with roots in Africa that would give foreign brands a run for their money.
The Austria-born Stehlik succeeded as the hotel brand, his brainchild, grew from just four hotels in South Africa to over 20 across the continent, especially in South Africa, in its 20 years in business.
The feat was sustained even in its 30 years in business, with the Protea brand becoming a benchmark of African hospitality, as every country and region of Africa wanted a Protea hotel.
At its peak, the Protea brand was also something African business travelers, leisure and corporate guests were happy to identify with.
Of course, the individual country’s hotel market and the African market at large, were impacted positively by Protea’s feat, with more indigenous brands such as Rockview Hotel Group in Nigeria, Noom Hotels in Francophone West Africa, Icon Hotels in Kenya, Southern Sun and Sun International in South Africa, among others, trailing behind the Protea brand.
As well, the Protea brand truly gave international chains in Africa a run for their money with offerings conceived for business and leisure travellers looking for first-class, luxury accommodation in Africa.
This month, July, the Protea brand is celebrating 40 years in business in Africa, with over 60 properties throughout South Africa and eight other African countries, including Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and now Angola.
But the celebration is under a new identity, Protea Hotels by Marriott, which reflects the new owner, Marriott International, which acquired the once successful African hotel brand in April 2014.
The 40 years celebration is also without Otto Stehlik as the chairman, as the once proud founder and chairman of the hotel group, has since joined Guy Stehlik, his son, at BON Hotels, a South African-based company.
As expected and as planned by Marriott International, the acquisition of Protea Hotel Group made the Bethesda USA-based hotel chain, the largest brand in the world and in Africa.
Before the acquisition, Protea had 116 hotels with 10,148 rooms in seven African countries.
Presently, Marriott International’s portfolio in Africa features nearly 140 properties and more than 24,000 rooms across 20 countries and 19 brands, while Protea Hotels by Marriott represents more than 40 percent of Marriott International’s portfolio in Africa with over 60 properties and more than 6,500 rooms in operation across nine countries.
However, most hospitality experts regret that the Protea lost its brand appeal and patronage on the continent as most Africans on intra-Africa trips shifted their accommodation preference to other ‘seemingly’ standard local brands such as Serena in East Africa, Southern Sun and Sun International in Southern Africa, Noom brand in Francophone West Africa, among other unpopular but upcoming indigenous brands.
Some also went back to other international chains like Hilton, InterContinental, Radisson, but not Marriott.
“We were once proud of Protea as tour operators. Then, we recommended the brand to our clients and they liked their offerings. The support was a pan-Africa thing for us.
“But since the ownership changed to an American company, that patronage based on supporting ‘our own’ is no longer there,” Jonathan Kamau, a Kenyan tour operator noted.
Read also: Marriot Group expands in Nigeria, opens Protea Hotel Select Ikeja
According to him, the hotel lost home base patronage and its appeal to some African guests after the acquisition.
“Immediately after the acquisition, many of our usual guests, including corporate clients, started telling us not to book Protea for them. There were allegations then, especially that many of our brothers and sisters are going to lose their jobs in the hotels that met Marriott standards because so many hotels did not and others that met the standards voluntarily pulled out of the new franchise arrangement,” Kamua further said.
In Nigeria, Protea Hotel Lagos Kuramo Waters Victoria Island, Lagos and Protea Select Ikeja, the only two properties that met Marriott standards after the acquisition, initially did not really reap from the huge Marriott network and Bonvoy programme, Marriott’s reward system, as guests were skeptical of the hotels that made the Marriott list from the original 12 Protea Hotels in Nigeria then.
It was much later that Protea Select Ikeja started picking up due to its proximity to the Lagos State Secretariat and Government House.
But Jide Ademola, a former staff of Protea Hotel Lagos Kuramo Waters, noted that after the acquisition, patronage was very slow despite the stunning views of the Kuramo hotel and its vantage location in a prime business district in Lagos.
“About 70 percent of our patronage then came from Nigerians, who started adjusting to the change in the brand name and ownership. There was also a wrong notion that the Marriott brand is very expensive. It was much later that things started picking up, even until I left, there were some guests that never returned,” Ademola, who now runs a restaurant and lounge in Ikoyi, Lagos, said.
However, the brand thinks its African portfolio is doing much more than it anticipated.
Speaking on the 40th anniversary of the brand, Sandra Schulze-Potgieter, vice president, Premium & Select Brands, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Marriott International, said that Marriott is happy to celebrate Protea’s four decades of exceptional service and genuine African hospitality .
“What better way to commemorate this milestone than by further strengthening Protea Hotels’ legacy with our first hotel in Angola and the ongoing expansion of the brand in South Africa,” she noted further.
As well, Karim Cheltout, regional vice president – Development, Africa & All-Inclusive, EMEA at Marriott International, noted that Marriott is reaping from the long-established legacy of Protea in Africa, hence the excitement at further strengthening the brand’s footprint in the continent with new signings.
It would be recalled that in June 2023, Marriott International continued its expansion of Protea Hotels by Marriott with five new deal signings in Africa in Nigeria, Tanzania, Botswana and Ethiopia.
As Marriott counts its gain with the Protea acquisition, most African hotel experts still think that the continent lost its foremost brand as many former guests have been looking elsewhere since then, some of the hotels formerly under the brand have gone under, and some hospitality professionals were affected by the acquisition, either left the industry or are still struggling to find their feet.
