While international hotel giants and regional players agree Africa is coming into its own, how and where they plan to capitalize couldn’t be more different.
When it comes to Africa, ditch the No. 2 pencil. This isn’t a multiple-choice test. Operators — whether giants like Carlson Rezidor with its 22-property pipeline or hungry newcomers like Spain’s Mangalis Development Group with nine properties —must provide their own solutions. The easy answers that applied in 2000 — or even 2013 — aren’t quite as right in 2015. In fact, even the questions are different.
A few givens remain. Nigeria still has a massive pipeline. East Africa still lags behind West Africa in the numbers. Regional players continue to make the most of micro opportunities, and international financing remains less prevalent than local funding — despite high-profile deals like Minor Hotel Group’s partnership with Sun International and Marriott International’s acquisition of Protea Hotels.
That’s where the familiar part of this massive continent’s development picture ends. The 79 deals signed in 2014 don’t just represent a series of bungee jumps for companies safely tethered to high-performing assets in more mature markets elsewhere. Africa is on the map as more than a place to plant a token flag. Gateways like Cape Town, Cairo and Lagos are just that — stepping-off points for operators who are now tracking opportunistic development across the continent. For more about what is going on in the region, read the report in September issue of HOTELS.
Azalaï a new name to drop
One local play with bold plans to double its size by 2018 is Azalaï Hotels Group.
Azalaï CEO Mossadeck Bally isn’t yet a name-droppable star in the hospitality world, but that may soon change. Behind the disciplined executive and investor who patiently nurtured his portfolio from its 1994 debut in Bamako, Mali, to its current five hotels (four were added in Mali and Guinea-Bisseau), there is a keen observer with a knack for seeing the right offers, the right markets and the right timing.
In his view, this is Azalaï’s moment. Bally plans to more than double the size of the company by 2018 with openings in Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Guinea.
“After having opened our hotels in Nouakchott and Abidjan later this year, Azalai will have the most complete hotel network in the West Africa region and will be able to offer most of the destinations to our guests,” Bally says. “Where we are not present yet, we have projects under development.”
Bally knows just building it won’t make them come — if “they” are the international business travelers many hoteliers see as the target market. But he’s thinking small to get big.
In addition to teaming up with Worldhotels to boost the company’s visibility, Bally is taking local connections to the next level. “We have recently also accompanied international conference organizers in our markets and established contact with local authorities to help them,” he says.
Rather than looking to standardized brands, Bally is borrowing pages from the likes of CitizenM and Mama Shelter to create hotels with a sense of place and social magnetism. “Brands like these have put experience first and then process,” he says.