BERLIN — Accor's development pipeline of approximately 90 hotels in the Northern and Western Africa region underline the weight, confidence and strategy that the French hotel firm has in the vast region.
Reda Faceh, Accor's vice president of development in Northern and Western Africa, said in an exclusive interview with Hotel News Now at the International Hospitality Investment Forum that he sees particular opportunity for developing extended-stay hotels and branded residences in the region.
One thing that never seems to change in Africa are the challenges that appear more burdensome than they do in other areas. Access to debt heads the list, he said.
“The rates are very high, and the terms of duration are very short, which puts high pressure on the early years of the operation of the hotel. Also, the development costs are much higher than in Europe — for example, by 40% to 50% in some occasions,” he said.
Strong relationships and partnerships are key in trying to overcome these barriers, he said.
Faceh said each hotel in his regions of Africa needs something new, something different, to be a success. For example, the appetite for new food-and-beverage concepts is growing in many of his markets.
“Unfortunately, during the last period, all the hotel and hospitality industry has had a classical approach, but now it is time to have a distributive approach, to give more added value and enhance the guest experience in order for Africa to be, definitely, a flagship for the rest of the world,” he said.
For more of Faceh’s comments, watch the video above.