Marriott International Inc., the
world’s second-largest publicly traded hotel company, said it
will continue expanding its chains in African markets following
the acquisition of South Africa’s Protea Hospitality Holdings.
“We have 25 Marriott brand hotels under construction in
seven countries in Africa that will come on stream over the next
four years,” Alex Kyriakidis, the chain’s president for the
Middle East and Africa, said in an interview in Cape Town
yesterday. The new hotels “are going to bring us into Benin,
Gabon, Ghana, Ethiopia and Mauritius. With our existing hotels
plus those in the pipeline and those Protea operates today we
will be in 16 countries in Africa by 2017.”
Marriott yesterday concluded a deal announced in January to
buy Cape Town-based Protea for about $200 million. The
transaction almost doubles the Bethesda, Maryland-based
company’s rooms in Africa to about 23,000 and will help it
expand further in the region, where a growing middle class and
rising travel are fueling the fastest pace of hotel development
in the world.
Protea manages, franchises and leases 79 hotels in South
Africa and 37 others in Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania,
Uganda and Zambia. Marriott operates or franchises more than
4,000 hotels in 79 countries, according to an e-mailed statement
from the companies. Marriott shares have gained 15 percent this
year, valuing the company at $16.78 billion.
Protea hotels will be marketed on Marriott’s global
distribution platform and exposed to its 42 million loyalty-program members, Kyriakidis said.
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