The group now has five hotels in SA‚ three of which are Hiltons. According to research by consultancy W Hospitality Group‚ the number of planned new hotel rooms in sub-Saharan Africa has increased significantly over the past year‚ with Hilton Worldwide “leading the way”‚ with 6‚230 rooms in its African pipeline in January.
W Hospitality Group MD Trevor Ward said in March that Hilton Worldwide’s planned new rooms in the region‚ through its Hilton‚ DoubleTree and Garden Inn brands‚ had shown “an extraordinary 84% increase” in the 12 months to January.
Jan van der Putten, Hilton Worldwide group vice-president of operations for Africa and the Indian Ocean‚ said in an interview at the Tourism Indaba in Durban at the weekend that while there was scope to introduce another of the group’s luxury brands on the continent – the Conrad – there were no specific plans yet. The “key drivers” of Hilton Worldwide’s expansion in Africa would be through DoubleTree by Hilton‚ Hilton‚ and Hilton Garden Inn.
Van der Putten said Africa “is one of the strategic objectives from a growth perspective”‚ and the group was targeting key capital cities in the region. “We have a lot of focus‚ attention‚ and dedicated work being done into African growth‚ and in the months and years to come we will see that come to fruition.”
Hilton Worldwide’s brands were also becoming more recognisable and abundant in SA and the region‚ which would spur further growth. “The more new hotels you build‚ the more interest there is from investors.” In the rest of Africa‚ the group would undertake mostly new developments‚ while growth in SA would be more focused on rebranding existing hotels under one of Hilton’s brands.
However‚ Van der Putten said there was also the potential for new builds in SA‚ especially in the coming few years when occupancies had improved to the point where investors were enticed back to the market. “We have exciting plans for Hilton in Durban and the Hilton in Sandton – to do some upgrades and refurbishments‚ and we are actively looking at new opportunities to grow the number of hotels‚ for which there are no specific plans but our development team is very keen in the market to talk to interested parties.
“I think the intentions that we have displayed in the past three years – with the Hilton in Cape Town‚ DoubleTree by Hilton in Cape Town and the Conrad Pezula – shows that we are keen and happy to move forward and become a bigger player in SA.”
Van der Putten said while SA’s local brands were strong and “very well established”‚ Hilton Worldwide intended to be the leading international brand in SA.
The range of strong local players as well as international operators was “a very attractive proposition” for consumers.
Gert Venter‚ GM of the Conrad Pezula Resort & Spa‚ said the resort – which was officially rebranded under the Conrad name in November – had experienced a range of visitors from new overseas markets since rebranding‚ including China and Taiwan.
This was largely due to the brand giving the resort “visibility”.
Source: BD
