With a view to doubling its African portfolio in order to tap growing visits by both African and Chinese travelers, Hayatt Hotels Corp is planning to open its first hotel by the end of 2018 in Ethiopia. In October, Hayatt Corp said it would invest an estimated USD 200 million to open new hotels in Africa.
According to Kurt Straub, the company’s vice president for the Middle East and Africa, the Corporation will open new Hotels in Algeria and Kenya in 2019 and 2020, respectively following the Hotel which will be opened in Addis in 2018. Indicating the recent policy measures taken by Ethiopia, Straub said, “Things are opening up in Ethiopia, it’s very exciting what’s going on there… It’s much easier now that it’s open, there’s a path.” In addition to opening a hotel in Addis Ababa, Hayatt is also considering opening outlets in Hawassa and Mekelle. Hyatt will run the Ethiopian hotel through a management contract with U.K.-based ASB Development Ltd.
Acording to Straub, Hayatt is open to franchising opportunities. The company’s regional vice president for sub-Saharan Africa, Tejas Shah, said the company also sees major opportunities from a growing Chinese market and intra-African travel.
Hyatt was founded by Jay Pritzker in 1957 when he purchased the Hyatt House motel adjacent to the Los Angeles International Airport. Over the following decade, Jay Pritzker and his brother, Donald Pritzker, working together with other Pritzker family business interests, grew the company into a North American management and hotel ownership company, which became a public company in 1962. In 1968, Hyatt International was formed and subsequently became a separate public company. Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation were taken private by the Pritzker family business interests in 1979 and 1982, respectively. On December 31, 2004, substantially all of the hospitality assets owned by Pritzker family business interests, including Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation, were consolidated under a single entity, now Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
Source: Bloomberg and Hayatt’s Official Website
