South African property development company, Billion Group – known for its development of major malls – on Wednesday evening celebrated its inroads into hotel development with the opening of the four-star, R130-million Mayfair Hotel in Mthatha, adjacent to the company’s R1.4-billion BT Ngebs City regional mall.

“Recently, we’ve witnessed a noticeable shift in the nature of hotel development in South Africa and the manner in which such developments are funded and owned,” states Wayne Troughton, CEO of HTI Consulting, a specialist hospitality and real estate consulting firm.

In a research study commissioned by Tongaat Hulett and conducted by GIW Consulting (Pty) Ltd, director Graham Wood says following an analysis of STR Global's independent metrics of the Umhlanga Hotel market, several interesting conclusions arose.

Investment grade hotel assets on the continent are traditionally tightly held due to the dominance of owner operators, high net worth individuals and family offices.

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) has signed a management agreement with Group Sadiki to open its first hotel in Casablanca.

Fidentia fraud case, masterminded by Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown, is over as his One & Only Hotel is sold for R39m.

During what may be described as a tumultuous 2016 to date, while trading conditions in the property auction arena have proven challenging, retail shopping centres, service stations, hotels and residential blocks have shown resilience throughout this period and are still in strong demand.

Fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld announces he plans to launch his own branded hotel chain, with the first property set to open in the Chinese gambling hub of Macau in 2018.

For some firms, being awarded an instruction to value a property or portfolio of real estate assets is often not given sufficient regard, says TC Chetty, country manager for South Africa for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) today announced plans to debut Element Hotels , the stylish eco-incubator brand in Egypt in early 2019. Located in Cairo’s upscale Heliopolis district and slated to be the largest Element Hotel in the Middle East and Africa.