MARRIOTT International has
completed its acquisition of the
116-hotel Protea Hospitality
Group (PHG), increasing 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. The company
has a strong pipeline of upcoming
properties in Africa, which now also
includes the Protea Hotels brands,
in several markets including Nigeria,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Benin and Algeria.
Marriott International also expects to
recruit more than 5 500 staff over the
next four years 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.
Protea ceo, Arthur Gillis, will join
the Marriott International family as
non-executive chairman for Africa
Development of Marriott International,
focusing on exploring opportunities
for new African hotel growth for all of
Marriott International’s brands. Mark
Satterfield, currently chief operations
officer for Marriott International’s
MEA region, will relocate to Cape
Town, Protea’s headquarters, to act
as business leader overseeing the
integration of the two companies.
Marriott paid approximately R2,02bn
for PHG. As part of the transaction,
the previous owners of PHG created
an independent property ownership
company that retained ownership of
the hotels PHG formerly owned, and
entered into long-term management
and lease agreements with Marriott
for those hotels. The property
ownership company also retained a
number of minority interests in other
Protea hotels. Marriott now manages
approximately 45% of Protea’s rooms,
franchises approximately 39%, and
leases approximately 16%.
