- New hotel room developments in Kenya have dropped.
- With continued signing activity (19 hotels with about 5,200 rooms in 2023) Egypt now accounts for 28 per cent of the total pipeline.
- When it comes to hotels under construction, Marriott International leads the way, with 138 hotels (15,011 rooms) currently being built.
Kenya has ranked seventh in Africa among the countries with the highest number of hotel room developments by international hotel chains, a drop from position five in 2022.
This is according to the latest survey by Lagos-based W Hospitality Group, in association with the Africa Hospitality Investment Forum (AHIF). From the survey, Kenya has 31 hotels with a total of 4,268 rooms on the pipeline with an average room size in these hotels is approximately 138 square feet.
North Africa continues to dominate the planned supply, with Morocco and Egypt together comprising almost 31 per cent of the total for the 54 countries on the continent.
Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, top the continent on the number of hotel rooms under development followed by Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Tunisia, Kenya, South Africa, Algeria and Ghana closing the top 10.
“When analysed according by country and by the number of rooms in their pipeline, the top ten countries represent 69 per cent of the total hotels in the survey, and 74 per cent of the rooms,” reads the report in Part.
The world’s largest hotel chain, Marriott International has the largest number of pipeline hotels and rooms, followed by Hilton hotel and French multinational hospitality company Accor.
Over the past year, there have been significant trends in the regional hospitality sector, with North and sub-Saharan Africa experiencing a strong growth of over 9 percent.
Additionally, there was an increase in the number of very large hotels, with the average size of the top 10 hotels growing from 723 rooms in 2023 to 770 rooms in 2024. Resorts also saw rapid growth, with a 32 per cent increase compared to 2023.
Zanzibar stood out as a particularly strong performer in this context. The resort pipeline in Zanzibar expanded from seven resorts with 983 rooms in 2023 to 14 resorts with 2,048 rooms in 2024.
According to the report this growth indicates a high level of confidence in the appeal of these beautiful Indian Ocean islands.
Egypt continues to lead the country table, with almost 26,250 rooms in 109 hotels, but is streaking ahead of the pack, with well over three times the number of rooms in second-placed Nigeria and third-placed Morocco.
With continued signing activity (19 hotels with about 5,200 rooms in 2023) Egypt now accounts for 28 per cent of the total pipeline.
The hotel chains have deals signed in 41 countries in Africa. West Africa leads with 14 countries (out of a total of 18), followed by the Southern & Indian Ocean sub-region where there are 11 countries with pipeline development activity. This year we have lost Libya and Sudan (the single projects in each country were cancelled) but gained The Gambia.
French brand Accor, opened almost 300 rooms worldwide last year, Hilton’s number was almost 400, and Marriott International achieved almost 560 opening.
Read also: Nairobi, Mombasa hotels post improved performance in July
Hotel room developments in Africa
But of those, only two of Hilton’s total were in Africa, with four for Marriott International and six for Accor. Between the three of them, they opened 73 hotels and resorts (6 per cent of their 2023 achievements) in Africa in five years, split pretty equally between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
When it comes to hotels under construction, Marriott International leads the way, with 138 hotels (15,011 rooms) currently being built.
It is followed by Hilton (72 hotels, 5,955 rooms), Radisson Hotel Group (35 hotels, 5,748 rooms) and Accor (70 hotels, 3,346 rooms). TUI Hotels & Resorts has charged into the rankings in fifth place with 12 hotels (2,208 rooms) under construction.
Accor came out top of the list for openings last year, and it also tops the number of hotels and rooms opened over the past five years (2019-2023), with 34 hotels opening, comprising around 5,500 rooms.
In terms of “actualisation”, 2023 was an exceptionally slow year. However, that is likely to be offset by a strong 2024, during which the top 10 chains expect to open 139 hotels with 19,122 rooms.
“We look not just at signed deals and their status, but also at the historical actualisation of these deals. This year, we’ve placed greater emphasis than we have in the past on the actualisation, because if the deals don’t become operating businesses, generating profits for the owners and paying fees to the hotel chains, no one’s objectives are being met, are they” said Trevor Ward, Managing Director, W Hospitality Group.
He added that some 139 hotels and resorts will be opening in Africa in 2024, with expectations of a far greater actualisation rate than in recent years, as Africa strives to achieve its fair share of the global hotel industry.
Accor, Marriott International lead peers in Africa
When one considers existing hotels, as well as hotels in the development pipeline, the continent’s current king of the jungle is Accor, with 165 hotels, containing 29,041 rooms, open and trading.
Marriott International is in second place, 25,451 rooms in 143 hotels, Hilton is third, 12,525 rooms in 47 hotels and Radisson Hotel Group is close behind with 12,179 rooms in 61 properties.
However, if Marriott International delivers all the rooms in its pipeline, it is on course to overtake Accor and become pack leader, with 51,816 rooms in operation.
“The report reveals some very positive trends, including strong growth in new hotel projects, the emergence of high-quality white label hotel operators and governments successfully attracting investment into their tourism industries. All this bodes well for deal-making discussions at AHIF,” added Matthew Weihs, Managing Director of The Bench, which organises the Africa Hospitality Investment Forum (AHIF).
