Windhoek
One of the world’s most recognised hospitality franchises, Marriott International, yesterday completed the acquisition of the rights to manage the Protea brand hotels in the country. The United Africa Group (UAG) owns all the ten hotel properties trading under the Protea brand in Namibia.
The acquisition of the Namibian management rights follows Marriott’s last year purchase of the Protea portfolio of management or franchise agreements in Africa at a cost of US$200 million.
Marriott now manages or franchises the Protea Group and the African Pride brand throughout the continent, making the hotel group the largest operator of hotel rooms in Africa. Marriott International owns 4 200 properties in 79 countries and territories.
The international group, headquartered in Maryland, United States of America, reported revenues of nearly US$14 billion during the 2014 financial year.
“For Marriott International this is a strategic acquisition because we believe in the future of Africa and the way that you build a presence is to acquire not only the brand but also the people,” said Marriott Middle East and Africa’s President and Managing Director, Alex Kyriakidis.
Protea consists of about 10 000 staff members across Africa, including nearly 300 executives in Cape Town where the Protea Group is headquartered. The landmark deal gives the 52 million Marriott Reward Loyalty card members direct access to Protea facilities. According to Kyriakidis the Marriott.com e-commerce platform is one of the top ten e-commerce platforms in the world, making it the only hospitality e-commerce platform in the global top 10.
“Our Marriott Rewards members in the Middle East and Africa region give us nearly 40 percent of our room nights so it is a very significant part of our value-added to our business and to our owners,” noted Kyriakidis.
“For us Africa is a growth story. It was this that led us to invest U$200 million to acquire Protea because we believe in the future and the growth potential of the continent,” said Kyriakidis during an exclusive interview with New Era.
“With the Protea Teams alongside the Marriott International teams and hotels we are focussing on what I call upper growth out of the African continent. We are also looking to bring the Marriott brand into Namibia because we see Namibia’s potential as a tourism and leisure destination as a significant opportunity for Marriott International,” added Kyriakidis.
Speaking on behalf of UAG, founder and Executive Director Haddis Tilahun noted that UAG has been in the hospitality business for the past 15 years.
“We have a philosophy to get the best partners who can make a difference to position Namibia in the global market. Marriott is now going to position Namibia as a destination throughout its global distribution channels and network,” noted Tilahun.
He added that UAG has started upgrading some of its properties as Marriott is an international organization that requires a certain expectation and customer confidence.
“Based on that Protea has to be incorporated within the global machine to deliver the global Marriott standard.
Therefore we have embarked on further investments and improvements of the properties and we will ensure they on on par with Marriott’s global standards,” said Tilahun.