WINDHOEK, Namibia — As global hotel companies look to expand throughout Africa, which hotel brands do they start with?
Hoteliers based in the Middle East and Africa region turned specifically to the lifestyle hotel segment, a sometimes hard-to-define sector that's somewhere between upscale hotels and the highest luxury properties, depending whom you ask.
Wytze van den Berg, vice president of international operations and vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa of WorldHotels and BWH Hotels, said on a panel at the recent Africa Hospitality Investment Forum that he is confident lifestyle hotels will scale across Africa.
“There are two reasons for that. The arrival of new guests and that there is and will be the repositioning of assets to last another 10 years and to attract new clients,” he said, adding his company has three lifestyle brands amid 18 total brands.
Markus Lehnert, senior vice president of international hotel development at Marriott International, said any brand can be successful given all of the opportunities in Africa.
“That there is space for every hotel brand to establish themselves is very exciting for Africa,” Lehnert said.
For now, increasing scale of the lifestyle hotel segment is limited to certain markets in Africa. The panel agreed that an increase in lifestyle hotels needs a parallel growth in airlift — or how many international flights come through a market's airport — which has been a persistent issue over the years throughout Africa.
JS Anand, founder and CEO of Dubai-based Leva Hotels, said each market needs to be vetted to see if they are ready to have lifestyle hotels that lean toward the luxury segment.
“We need to move away from the number of keys and look at the foundations of markets. What does the market need?” Anand said, adding that if he thought a market was ready, empowering staff would not be a problem.
“The people are gold, and they can be trained,” he said.
Of course, some African hotel markets are further along than others, Anand admitted.
“Certain markets might be able to host luxury, but where I am, at the moment, no,” he said.
Elsewhere around the globe, lifestyle hotels are defined by their design, amenities, local touches and overall feel. But in Africa, a continent largely unknown to most of the world's travelers, the lifestyle aspects of the segment are expressed through the hotels' employees, Lehnert said.
“Lifestyle is not determined by the hotel, but by the staff. Service has to correspond with the idea of lifestyle, which changes from person to person,” he said. “We have no better word for what we consider is lifestyle.”
Anand agreed.
“We have beaten the hell out of that word, lifestyle,” Anand said. “Many have popped up over the years, and it is a bit complicated.”
Paul Mack, group executive director of The Latitude Hotels Group, said he could see a number of lifestyle brands not currently in Africa that could be successful if developed on the continent. Mack's company started operating hotels nine years ago in Malawi, and he said conversion brands can fit the mold of lifestyle brands with just a few cosmetic changes.
Marriott's Moxy and Edition brands are obvious choices to develop in Africa, Lehnert said. There are no Moxy-branded hotels in Africa yet.
“We think we can apply Moxy in many markets. We also might do a W or an Edition in the right market,” he said. “We know the traveler here is a discerning one. We have a pipeline of 70 hotels [across all Marriott brands] in Africa, but that is the same as we have in Germany.”
Anand said he could not see lifestyle elements coming to resorts in Africa, “apart from the very top end.” In his home market of Dubai, hotel firms such as his company introduced lifestyle brands in an extremely competitive market of approximately 160,000 hotel rooms.
Van den Berg, whose firm has 24 operating hotels in Africa, said tourism arrivals will continue to increase and Africa's hotel pipeline will keep expanding.
“Africa has a population of 1.4 billion people that is to double in the next 25 to 30 years, and that does not include international travelers,” he said. “We will open more of our upper-scale hotels in urban centers, and our WorldHotels-branded hotels in areas of beauty and wildlife.”
Bringing global hotel brands in upstart destinations will also help consumers feel more confident in booking and exploring an African city or town for the first time, Lehnert said. For new markets, where in all likelihood guests won't understand the local language, travelers might opt for their first visit to stay with an international hotel brand, but on a second, return visit they are more likely to book a lifestyle hotel that has more local touches.
“That is the lifestyle journey of the customer,” he said.
“And that of a lot of digital nomads,” Van den Berg added.
Anand said the lifestyle hotel segment got a huge boost when hoteliers focused more on design and public spaces.
“That has become more relevant post-COVID-19. What suffered is the boring four-star box,” Lehnert said.