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Kempinski Hotels is Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group, with properties in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The group currently has seven African hotels in its portfolio, but that number appears likely to grow quickly in the coming years, as Kempinski has embarked on an aggressive African strategy. Editor Dylan Rogers caught up with Avsar Koc, the Regional Sales & Marketing Director for the IMEA region.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is one of the big players on the international hotel scene, with a portfolio of nearly 250 properties, including 37 hotels in 19 African countries. That number is set to grow, as Starwood, like most of its competitors, has plans to further strengthen its presence here. Editor Dylan Rogers sat down at Meetings Africa with Martina Boettcher, the group’s Regional Director of Marketing for Africa & Indian Ocean, to get a clearer idea of what the Starwood approach is.

The second half of 2014 will see the XL Travel Group celebrate 10 years as a consortium, which started with 15 shareholders and is now made up of 150 members. Rod Rutter is the group’s chief operating officer, and he sat down with editor Dylan Rogers over a coffee in Johannesburg, to chart the group’s history, expand on what it has to offer, and touch on some of the travel industry’s most pressing issues.

Cresta Hotels is one of Southern Africa's largest hotel management groups, managing or operating 17 hotels in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia, three of which the group owns. Ten of those properties are in Botswana, but editor Dylan Rogers was drawn more towards what Cresta CEO Glenn Stutchbury had to say on Zimbabwe, where the group has five properties, covering Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls.

It's been a busy year for Virgin Atlantic, with new leadership, a big joint venture announced, plenty of restructuring and a review of all parts of the business. Their man in Johannesburg also has a new job, so editor Dylan Rogers tracked down Simon Newton-Smith, the man now heading up the Middle East & Africa, and managed to grab 20 minutes of his time over coffee in Hyde Park.

Dylan Rogers chats to Hertz's new CEO Wils Raubenheimer about the company's African expansion, e-tolls, vehicle damage and dodgy drivers.

Otto de Vries, CEO of ASATA chatted to Editor Dylan Rogers about three big issues the association is dealing with at the moment.

Vishal Koovejee, CEO of Salsa Tours, had coffee with Editor Dylan Rogers to chat about the wholesale corporate travel industry

Johannesburg-Nairobi

Dylan Rogers chats to Hendrik du Preez, Sales Manager at Emirates about its growth and prosperity.

Dylan Rogers chats to Travel with Flair's Johanna Mukoki (MD) and Tibor Zsadanyi (Operations Director) about the past, present and future of their company.

Lesotho is a landlocked country and enclave, completely surrounded by South Africa. It is just over 30,000 square kilometres in size and has a population slightly over two million. The name Lesotho translates roughly into the land of the people who speak Sesotho. About 40% of the population live below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day.