Radisson Hotel Group is adding six new hotels to its African portfolio, with one each planned in Durban and Kempton Park – bringing the total to almost 100 hotels across 32 African markets.

Radisson Hotel Group executive VP and chief development officer Elie Younes says the addition of the six hotels, following the announcement of Radisson Hotel Saint Denis earlier this year, places the group firmly on track to reach over 150 hotels in operation and under development across the continent within the next five years.

“The new hotel announcements include our debut in new markets, the introduction of additional brands and the strengthening of our presence in cities we have identified for scaled growth.”

Radisson Hotel Group Development, Africa & Turkey VP Ramsay Rankoussi adds that the group aims to further accelerate its presence across Africa through conversions, especially as liquidity remains a critical challenge.

“We have revisited our brand architecture to enable us to quickly integrate existing hotels to our network. This strategy will be reinforced as our brands continue to demonstrate a better value proposition to our owners.”

The seven new hotel deals include the Radisson Hotel & Convention Centre Johannesburg, situated at the OR Tambo International Airport and the Park Inn by Radisson, which will be situated at the King Shaka International Airport.

Scheduled to open before year-end, the Radisson Hotel & Convention Centre Johannesburg will introduce the group’s upscale Radisson brand to Johannesburg. Located on a private estate in Bredell, Kempton Park, the hotel has easy access to major highways joining Johannesburg and Pretoria and is about ten minutes’ drive from OR Tambo International Airport, Africa’s biggest and busiest airport, facilitating more than 21-million passengers in 2018.

The newly built hotel will offer dining options, including four restaurants, three bars, an entertainment deck and an executive lounge. It will also have 289 modern rooms, of which 248 will be newly built, and 41 which have been converted from an existing hotel.

In addition, this facility will have a large meetings, incentives, conference and exhibitions facility, which includes a significant conference centre with a 1 260-seater auditorium and five conference rooms. The leisure facilities will include a gym, spa and wellness centre, as well as three outdoor pools.

The Durban iteration is a new-build hotel, introducing the upper midscale Park Inn by Radisson brand to Durban and strengthening Radisson Hotel Group’s current portfolio of 15 hotels (3 007 rooms) in operation and under development in the country. It will also complement the national business circuit with a Park Inn by Radisson in each of the three major cities of South Africa (Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg).

This facility is also the first hotel within Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone, which forms the heart of the first purpose-planned aerotropolis in Africa, around King Shaka International Airport. 

The 168-room hotel is scheduled to open in 2022 and will have a lobby bar, rooftop all-day dining restaurant and rooftop pool terrace with eight different meeting and event venues.

Other hotels making up Radisson’s new list include the Radisson Collection Hotel Bamako, in Mali; the Radisson Blu Hotel Abuja City Centre, in Nigeria; the Radisson Hotel Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia; and the Radisson Hotel & Apartments Accra, in Ghana.