“From a vastly improving infrastructure, major investments from China, rapid economic growth, rising personal incomes and a growing middle class – we are seeing exciting changes that are driving the African future and we intend to be a part of it,” he said.
Starwood plans to expand its portfolio in Nigeria, the company’s largest growth market in Africa, and in developing and established African countries such as Algeria, Egypt and South Africa. The company is also considering entering key emerging countries, including Angola, the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Confirmed new hotels to be opened by 2015 include the debut of the St. Regis brand in Egypt with St. Regis Cairo; a hotel under the Luxury Collection brand in Lagos, marking the introduction of the brand in Nigeria; expansion of the company’s well-established Sheraton portfolio in Africa with the opening of three Sheraton hotels in Dakar (Senegal), Annaba (Algeria) and Tripoli (Libya); three Four Points by Sheraton including two in Nigeria and one hotel in Oran, Algeria; and Le Méridien hotel in Cairo.
Further, Starwood will reopen three of its African hotels in the next 12 months - the Grand Mauritian, which will reopen next year after a major renovation; the Sheraton Cairo, following a major renovation as part of Sheraton’s global brand enhancement strategy; and the Four Points by Sheraton Tripoli, which closed last year due to political conflict in Libya.