The Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) 2014 took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last week. Here’s a round-up of some of the news that was released at the event.
• The Wyndham Hotel Group has signed a management agreement for the company’s first property in Ethiopia, the 136-room Ramada Addis hotel. The hotel will open in the first half of next year and will offer 128 guest rooms and eight suites.
• W Hotels Worldwide will enter Morocco with the W Marrakech hotel, anticipated to open in 2017. The hotel will bring modern design and contemporary luxury to the cosmopolitan city of Marrakech. Starwood currently has three hotels in Morocco – Le Méridien N’Fis in Marrakech, Le Royal Mansour Méridien and Sheraton Casablanca Hotel and Towers, both in Casablanca.
• Best Western International, along with Great Abyssinia Plc and Noah Real Estate Plc, is to develop two Best Western-branded hotels in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, its first in the country. The Best Western Plus and Best Western branded hotels will open in 2015 and 2016 respectively. 
• Carlson Rezidor will extend its African network by adding two new properties in Uganda and Ghana. The Radisson Blu Hotel, Kampala will be a 195-room hotel and Carlson Rezidor’s first property in Uganda, due to open in the last quarter of 2016. The Radisson Blu Hotel Accra Airport in Ghana will be a 207-room hotel and will open in 2017. Carlson Rezidor also has future plans for the development of 30 new hotels in Africa. 
• Hilton Worldwide has announced the signing of two new Hilton Garden Inn hotels in Nigeria in Owerri and Abuja Airport. Patrick Fitzgibbon, senior vice president of development, Europe and Africa for Hilton Worldwide, said: “At Hilton Worldwide, we continually seek innovative ways to develop and operate our hotels, and our latest venture is no different.  Coupling this novel approach of modular design with the development prospects Africa presents, we are excited about the expansion opportunities of our portfolio on the continent.”  
• Marriott International, following its acquisition of Protea Hotel Group, continues to gather momentum with a packed schedule of 30 expected property openings across the continent by 2020, nine of which are scheduled to open by the end of 2015 in South Africa, Nigeria and Uganda, as well as Marriott International’s first properties in Ethiopia, Ghana and Rwanda. By 2020, Marriott International is expected to go from 120 properties, 14 000 rooms across 10 markets in Africa to 150 properties with 19 000 rooms across 17 markets on  the continent. As a result, the company, which currently employs 21 000 associates across Africa, will see its work-force increase by 10 000.
• Mangalis has unveiled its latest revolutionary economy brand: Yaas Hotels. The new hotel brand is following the launch of Noom Hotels and Seen Hotels, in the upscale and the mid-scale segments respectively. 
• Areen Hospitality continues to work closely with Lagos-based DAA Architects on the interior design for the 150-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Ibadan, Nigeria. It will be the city’s first internationally branded hotel. Areen Hospitality is also working on all the interiors of the 200-room Hilton Freetown Cape Sierra, a resort and business hotel in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
• Grant Thornton’s Gillian Saunders presented on how the liberalisation of Africa’s skies could spark significant growth in the tourism industry. Liberalisation between 12 of the 54 African countries would lead to an increase of over one million tourists and a need for 40 additional 160-room hotels in those 12 countries.  
• Colliers International released a report on Egypt, which stated that the country was currently going through a period of economic recovery, with tourism and hospitality at the forefront. The country’s economic status witnessed a downturn in the recent past due to market instability. Although this has had a downward impact on the country’s tourism sector, the state of the economy is expected to return to pre-2011 levels in the mid-term.
• Jumeirah Group has appointed Aboudi Asali Senior Vice President for Development for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. Aboudi takes up the leadership of the MEASA development team from Cherif Hosny, who left the company in August 2014.
• Taj Hotels Group wants to grow its hotel footprint in Africa and is exploring a number of management contract opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa for its Upper Upscale ‘Vivanta by Taj’ brand. 
• HVS, global hotel consultancy, has opened new offices in Cape Town, South Africa. HVS’s move into South Africa comes as a result of growing interest from hotel investors across the African continent. 
• Expedia launched a new tablet app that presents a fresh way for travellers to shop destinations. New search tools enable consumers to shop for both hotels and flights on one screen by selecting a destination.