By Wedaeli Chibelushi – May 13, 2016


Ibis Styles is the front-runner for the number of planned hotels in Africa, emerging ahead of Hilton and Radisson Blu.

The Annual Hotel Chain Development Pipeline Survey, from W Hospitality Group, compiled a top 10 brands list, of which Ibis Styles came top. It has 28 planned hotels, followed by Radisson Blu with 25, Mercure with 24, then Hilton with 16. Ibis Styles and Mercure’s positions are a result of AccorHotels mega-deal for 50 hotels in Angola.

The W Hospitality Group 2016 survey provides a clear image of hotel development across Africa – 36 hotel chains and 86 brands with more than 64,000 rooms in 365 hotels. The survey, is published ahead of the AHIF Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), which is organised by Bench Events, and takes place in Togo on June 21-22.

While Ibis Styles leads on the number of planned hotels, the top 10 rankings by number of rooms show different results. Radisson Blu leads this category with 5,693 planned rooms, Hilton is in second place with 4,851 and Ibis Styles comes in third with 3,822.

The hotel pipeline for Hilton’s core brand has decreased slightly but the Hilton Garden Inn brand shows increased growth, now at 14 hotels with 2,556 rooms. Also seeing strong growth, is the Fairmont brand, up 109% with 1,412 planned rooms.

Top 10 Brands

1. Ibis Styles

2. Radisson Blu

3. Mercure

4. Hilton

5 = Marriott

5 = Hilton Garden Inn

7 = Swiss Spirits

7 = Golden Tulip

9 = Sheraton

9 = Four Points by Shaton