Rituparna Chatterjee – Johannesburg
One of Africa’s largest and leading hotel groups, Protea Hotels, post its acquisition by Marriott International last year, is exploring the opportunity to expand its footprint in Africa and other international markets under any of its three brands namely – Protea Hotels, Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! and African Pride Hotels. Presently, Protea Hotels has 116 hotels under its umbrella with a significant presence in Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. “Though Protea Hotels is an African brand, we are exploring the opportunity to introduce Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! brand outside the continent in the future,” opined Dorcas Dlamini, group sales director, Protea Hotels adding, “Marriott International has 17 brands within its group and it would like to introduce more hotels in South Africa and throughout the continent either under the Protea Hotels brand or any of the other Marriott brands. We recently opened a hotel in Cape Town under the Protea Hotels brand and will soon be opening a hotel, in Pretoria under Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! brand.” When asked about the specific markets for expansion, Dlamini declined to elaborate.
Marriott International acquired Protea Hotels last year as part of its strategy to strengthen its presence in the African continent especially South Africa where the latter has a strong presence. Protea Hotels will reestablish and adapt itself to the best practices of Marriott International post the completion of the integration process by April 2016. Speaking about the brand, Dlamini mentioned, “Our USP is our service culture and truly African hospitality offered across all our brands. The Marriott component gives us a great opportunity to play in a global scale like other international hotel brands such as Hilton, Radisson, Starwood.”
A major segment of travellers to Protea Hotels is local and international corporate travellers, followed by MICE and leisure. “We are strategically located in every city in South Africa, which is a long haul destination for some international markets,” she said.