Marriott Says Protea Acquisition Helps Boost Occupancy In MEA

International hotel operator Marriott revealed that its April acquisition of the South African hotel chain, Protea, helped increase its RevPar (revenue per available room) by 3.9 per cent in the Middle East and Africa region during Q2 2014.

The company also saw occupancy rate rise by 4.4 per cent year-on-year during the second quarter, as a result of strong demand in the region, it said in a statement.

Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director of Marriott International, Middle East and Africa, said, “On the 1st of April, we completed our acquisition of Protea, whereby we leap-frogged our competition to become the number one hospitality company in Africa and second largest operator across the Middle East and Africa. The positive results reaffirm the growing popularity of our brands across the region and the successful integration of Protea into the Marriott family.”

During the second quarter, two new Protea Hotels were opened including the Protea Hotel Lusaka Tower located in Lusaka, Zambia and the Protea Hotel Select in Lagos, Nigeria.

Marriott International’s particular focus in Africa was discussed earlier this year by the company’s president and CEO Arne Sorenson, who revealed that he plans to add 10,000 more employees across 13 different countries including Egypt, Algeria and Morocco in Africa.

According to a report produced by the African Development Bank, the continent is set to achieve a growth rate of 4.8 per cent in 2014 and a growth rate of five to six per cent in 2015.

However, for now, tourism in Africa is threatened by scares of the deadly Ebola virus. The raidly-spreading virus, although prevalent only in West Africa, is causing serious concern among tourists and businessmen planning to travel to the continent.

DUBAI CONTINUES TO DRAW CROWDS

Marriott’s two new launches in Dubai during the first quarter of the year – the Al Jaddaf Marriott Hotel Dubai and Marriott Executive Apartments Al Jaddaf Dubai – helped the hotelier strengthen its hold on the UAE market in Q2, 2014.

The JW Marriott Marquis Dubai also witnessed strong demand; the hotel opened its second tower in June, bringing its total operational room count to 1,500 to meet rising demand, said Marriott.

Globally, the company added 162 new properties with 18,729 rooms to its worldwide lodging portfolio in the second quarter, including 113 properties (10,016 rooms) related to the Protea transaction.

Nine properties (1,134 rooms) exited the system during the quarter. At quarter-end, the company’s lodging group encompassed 4,087 properties and timeshare resorts accounted for nearly 697,000 rooms.

The company’s worldwide development pipeline increased to roughly 1,300 properties with nearly 215,000 rooms at quarter-end, including 213 properties with more than 30,000 rooms approved for development, but not yet subject to signed contracts.