Marriott opens its first hotel in sub-Saharan Africa
The Renaissance Lagos Ikeja Hotel is the first for the Marriott International brand in sub-Saharan Africa.
A statement from Renaissance said the hotel in Nigeria’s commercial centre “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”.
Mark Satterfield, chief operating officer for Middle East and Africa for Marriott International said: “This is not just a landmark signing for Renaissance Hotels but also for Marriott International as it marks our fourth debut in an African nation, following the opening of Marriott International properties across a number of its brands in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Morocco.”
Only 5km from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Renaissance Lagos Ikeja Hotel has 155 guest rooms including 17 loft suites.
The statement said the hotel’s business amenities included eight meeting rooms that could be adapted to cater for anything from a six-person meeting to a banquet-style event for up to 280.
“Stylishly designed with elegant African touches and lots of natural light, the rooms feature expansive seating areas with large LED TVs with 70-plus channels. The hotel’s outdoor pool with city views and 24-hour fitness centre provide guests with picturesque facilities in which to work out and unwind,” it added.
In October last year More the the Amdec Group announced that $225m (Rand 3billion) will be invested in South Africa for five Marriott International branded hotels.
These hotel developments are expected to have positive economic spin-offs, with about 8 000 construction-related jobs and more than 700 permanent new hospitality jobs expected to be created.
Alex Kyriakidis, the president and managing director for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) for Marriott International, said that the group would by 2020 have 77 hotels in South Africa, of which 60 were its existing Protea Hotels portfolio.
He said the 77 hotels and almost 10 000 rooms would make South Africa Marriott International’s third-largest market in the entire MEA region.
“Our mission now is to grow the Marriott portfolio of brands right across the country. We are gearing up to do that. We have a lot of enquiries and a very healthy pipeline of dialogue with prospective (hotel) owners,” Kyriakidis said.
Three of the new hotels to be developed by Amdec in partnership with Marriott International are in Cape Town.
They include a 200-room Marriott Hotel at Amdec’s mixed-use Harbour Arch development in the Culemborg node; a 189-room AC by Marriott at Amdec’s Yacht Club development at the gateway to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront; and a 150-room Residence Inn on Cape Town’s foreshore.
The Harbour Arch development is expected to open in 2019, while the ACT Hotel Cape Town Waterfront will be ready for guests from June 2018.
These new hotel developments, announced yesterday, represented an extension of Marriott International’s partnership with the Amdec Group. It follows the announcement last year of the development of the first two Marriott-branded hotels in South Africa at the Melrose Arch precinct in Johannesburg.
A sod-turning ceremony took place for the 150-room Johannesburg Marriott Melrose Arch and 200-unit Marriott Executive Apartments Johannesburg Melrose Arch. Both are expected to open in 2018.
Of the expected 700 new hospitality jobs to be created in South Africa, 470 were expected to be created in the three new hotels in Cape Town and 320 in Johannesburg.
Marriott International’s expansion in South Africa formed part of its growth strategy for the MEA region.
Kyriakidis said with the acquisition of Starwood Hotels, Marriott International had 140 properties and 25 000 rooms in 19 countries in Africa, employing 40 000 associates.
But Kyriakidis said the company had 60 hotels under construction, including the hotels in South Africa.
This would increase its presence to 27 countries and 200 hotels and about 37 000 rooms in Africa by 2025, with the total number of associates rising to 60 000, he said.
