Marriott International has completed its acquisition of the 116-hotel Protea Hospitality Group (PHG), doubling its presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region to more than 160 hotels and 23 000 rooms. According to the latest published information by Marriott International, this will make it the largest hotel company in Africa.
At the same time, Marriott said that its pipeline of new hotels in the Middle East and Africa, including Protea’s pipeline, was now more than 65 hotels and 14 300 rooms, including more than 20 hotels and 3 000 rooms in sub-Saharan Africa. Marriott International also expects to recruit more than 5 500 staff over the next four years in order to meet the needs of its growing portfolio of hotels in Africa.
Marriott expects that the Protea portfolio will be available for booking on Marriott.com or via Marriott International’s Global Reservations Centres toward the end of May, and the hotels will join the Marriott Rewards guest loyalty programme later, at a point to be announced. Alex Kyriakidis, president and md of Marriott International’s MEA region, said there were no current plans to change the brands' identities.
For more on this story, see TNW April 9.
