My mantra has always been “don’t generalise about Africa”, a continent of 54 sovereign states, each as different from one another as are the 50 states of the USA, and the c50 countries in Europe (the exact number  depends on how you count!).

For business and leisure travellers, serviced apartments hold a certain type of appeal, becausecompared to a “traditional” hotel they provide greater flexibility, more privacy, the freedom to serve yourself as and when required, and space to entertain, and they can work out to be greater value for money due to the absence of extensive facilities […]

As one of the smallest countries in Africa, both by size and population, it rarely features in any of those “African top 10” lists.  And for some reason, the IMF classifies it as a Middle Eastern country in its World Economic Outlook.  But the Republic of Djibouti is indeed in Africa, strategically located in the […]

From west to east I was walking down a Nairobi street the other day, and a local chap falls into step with me and greets me in a most friendly way with “How do you like Africa?!”.  I was so surprised, I just said “Fine” and hurried away.  I wasn’t concerned for my safety, despite […]

As evidenced by the record number of new hotel deals signed by the international and regional (African) hotel chains (see Ai May/June 2015 edition), there are likely to be more hotels built in Africa in the next five years than in any previous period.  There are several markets which are in need of new hotels, […]

Is there an article to be had on the opportunities for local providers to hotels? Interior decorators, IT companies, furniture providers, etc.? Are they competing with international providers? Especially in regards to big chains? Some 270 hotels with almost 50,000 rooms are in the hotel chains’ development pipelines, as reported in Ai [DATE].  Using an […]

Really, when you look at it, nothing much has changed in hotel design since – well, since the introduction of ensuite bathrooms.  The Savoy Hotel in London, which opened in 1889 was, the tale goes, the first to have ensuite bathrooms, and the owner, Mr Richard D’Oyly Carte, faced criticism, along the lines of “why […]

One of the fastest growing sectors of the global tourism industry is that which goes by the acronym of MICE, which stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions.  The common denominator is that the events all involve groups of people, sometimes but by no means always travelling together, coming to the same place (destination) with […]

 Many people know me as being extremely bullish about Africa – after all, I have livedand worked on the continent for almost 12 years, and I have had an involvement in the African hotel industry, particularly in West Africa, for more than 25 years.  I have written in this journal for some years now, explaining […]

As far as I can tell, the agreements that owners sign with hotel management companies are unique to our industry.  They are frequently misunderstood, not only by those who have no previous knowledge of such agreements, but even by those who sign them! In a nutshell, the owner of a hotel invests his money to […]