The Regional Director for Africa, Radisson Hotel Group, Bert Fol, says the brand plans to expand its hotel business operations in Nigeria and other African countries from 100 to 150 hotels by 2025.
He also said the company would double its presence and operations in Nigeria within the period.
According to him, Nigeria is among the company’s four focus countries on the continent and, as such, Radisson plans to aggressively increase its portfolio in the West Africa nation.
He stated this during a news conference in Lagos.
Fol, who recently took over as the hotel company’s new regional director for Africa, is expected to lead its operations in English-speaking African countries.
He said, “It is interesting to see that business is coming back to Nigeria. The hotel business has gone through a very difficult time over the last two years and has managed to perform so well. Thanks to the excellent partners that we have in Nigeria and to our excellent, dedicated, and passionate team. Africa is a tremendous focus for us within the company and I’m sure that is not a surprise to anyone in the room.
“We know a lot about Radisson history in Africa. We now have 100 hotels in Africa either in operations or in the pipeline. These are confirmed signed deals. And it’s our ambition and our aim to increase that to 150 hotels both in operations and pipeline by 2025.
“And specifically, looking at Nigeria, this is a tremendous one of four focus countries within Africa, and again that’s hardly surprising given this is the largest economy on the African continent. So, it’s our aim within Nigeria to more than double our portfolio and our presence in the country by 2025.”
As part of the expansion strategy, the brand is planning to develop each of its six brands in Nigeria including the newest Radisson Individuals brand to support potential conversions.
“These ambitious expansion plans and the success of our hotels in Nigeria-even through difficult periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where our operational hotels in Nigeria continued to be leaders in the market, not only in the country but in the continent-is only possible because of our wonderful partners and our passionate teams,” Fol added.
According to him, four properties are currently under development in various locations in the country and are billed to open by 2025, while adding that the organisation is looking for new partners.
He noted that even though the pandemic affected the development of hotels, Radisson had witnessed a much faster expansion within Africa in the past five to six years.
The regional director explained, “We already have in the pipeline four new hotels that we plan to open within the next three years and we are constantly looking for new partners and new hotels we will build to manage, going forward in the future. We are never tired of talking about how much we want to expand within the continent and also within Nigeria.
On how prepared his hotel brand is for competition, he said, “Radisson Blu is prepared for competitors, and I will expand that answer by saying the global brand hotel industry is extremely competitive. And one of the things that is quite surprising in Nigeria is that it is not so competitive in terms of the global international brands, and I think that is going to change in the future and it is already changing.
“In most of the markets we work in, there is severe competition. And one of the key things we will continue to do in Radisson is to differentiate ourselves from the companies in terms of our flexibility, delivering results for owners, and delivering excellent service for our guests. Whatever things hotels are trying to do, we believe we are doing a bit better and taking care of our people.” (Punch)
