Hilton Garden Inn announced at Africa’s Travel Indaba that it has 14 hotels in the pipeline for Africa, which will bring additional capacity of 2 400 rooms to the continent.

Through these properties, Hilton Garden Inn will welcome several first-in-country properties over the next few years, including Hilton Garden Inn Kampala in Uganda and Hilton Garden Inn Mbabane in Swaziland due to open this month, the first properties to open in the countries for both Hilton Garden Inn and the Hilton enterprise.

Later in the year, Namibia will see the opening of Hilton Garden Inn Windhoek – another first in the country for Hilton Garden Inn; with other countries in the pipeline including Malawi, Uganda, Ghana, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.

Jan Van Der Putten, Hilton’s VP of Operations for Africa and the Indian Ocean, says: “Countries such as Botswana and Uganda are some of the fastest growing economies in the world, with impressive visitor offerings. The Hilton Garden Inn brand appeals to the rise of middle-class travellers into and across Africa, providing an opportunity for us to open hotels and meet guest demand in key destinations.”

John Greenleaf, Global Head of Hilton Garden Inn, said: “We have positioned Hilton Garden Inn for success in Africa with a prototype developed specifically for the region. This prototype has been curated to meet the expectations of both travellers and owners throughout Africa, while maintaining the brand’s signature light, bright and airy design as well as the consistent, core guest offerings and amenities that the brand is recognised for around the world.”

As Hilton Garden Inn expands in Africa, the enterprise as a whole is expecting to double its footprint across the continent – from the 44 hotels it has currently, to almost 100 over the next several years.