Kempinski’s African portfolio expansion

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The company is poised to bring luxury hospitality to up-and-coming destinations around the continent

Kempinski Hotels has announced plans to expand its portfolio of luxury hotels in Africa. With two new properties opened in Kenya in 2013, Kempinski looks to add five more hotels to its African portfolio in the next year.

Upcoming openings in Africa in 2014 include the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra, Ghana, and the Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski in Cairo, Egypt, set to open early in the year, as well as a newly signed 450-room hotel in the future capital of Equatorial Guinea, Oyala. Additional plans are moving forward to open hotels in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo by the end of the year.

“Kempinski expects its growing portfolio in key destinations across the African continent to become a major source of revenue for the company, as well as provide new sources for talent and talent development across the company,” said Reto Wittwer, President and CEO of Kempinski Hotels.

Kempinski Hotels currently operates 82 hotels in 31 countries and has 37 more hotels under development worldwide. Kempinski currently operates hotels in Egypt, Djibouti, Tchad, Seychelles, and Kenya. With five hotels set to open in Africa in the next year, Kempinski will hire more than 1,500 people in the next 12 months, nearly doubling its current workforce on the continent, and will draw heavily on local talent in each destination.

Kempinski General Manager Bernard Mercier chatted to Business Traveller Africa in September about the hotel’s approach to Africa – see story here.