Lonrho plc, London, revealed to Bloomberg in a Monday interview that it plans to open 50 budget hotels across Africa by 2016.
Lonrho signed an agreement to operate the EasyHotel Ltd. franchise in July and is determining where to set up its first hotel. Lonrho is a conglomerate with primarily agribusiness holdings.
The hotels are planned for South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Ivory Coast and four properties are planned to open within the next 12 months.
Lonrho already operates a small string of hotels, with a total of 400 rooms, in Africa.