Minor plans 50 hotels in Africa
MINOR Hotels sees further growth potential in Africa, with a target of 50 hotels on the continent in the next five years, says Sir Richard Hawkins, regional director Hotel Operations Africa of Minor Hotels.
The multibillion-rand plan will treble the group’s current footprint with high-end hotels planned for Cape Town and Johannesburg; Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria; and Ndola in Zambia. The group’s tactic is to negotiate management deals with hotels of 150 bedrooms or so, with the possibility of taking equity at a later point. No fixed budget has been allocated, but with each management deal likely to cost about R225 million, the potential investment is in excess of R11bn.
Minor Hotels is keen to establish a presence in South Africa through business hotels in Johannesburg, business and leisure hotels in Cape Town, and leisure hotels in the Western Cape. Three of the group’s brands are currently present on the continent – Anantara, AVANI and Elewana Collection. The boutique PER AQUUM brand will make its first appearance in the region in 2017, when the luxury hotel Essque Zalu Zanzibar on the north-east coast is rebranded. In North Africa, two new Anantara resorts are under development – Anantara Al Houara Tangier Resort in Morocco and the Anantara Tozeur Resort in Tunisia.
