In this podcast, we speak to Matthew Tripolone the Vice President of Development for InterContinental Hotels Group MEA. We discussed the history of IHG in the region, the pipeline for the brand, the VOCO brand growth and the overall opportunities in the Middle East and African markets.

Premier podcast de la série du Forum de l'Investissement Hôtelier Africain 2020 avec Alexis Janoray, Chef de développement pour l'Afrique chez le Groupe AccorHotels; le commanditaire principal de cet évènement annuel. Une perspective sur les opportunités d'investissement dans l'immobilier hôtelier en Afrique de l'Ouest et de l'engagement du Groupe AccorHotels dans la région et sur le continent.

In this podcast, Karl de Lacy Director, International Hotel Services for Best Western Hotel Group talks about how the recent acquisition of WorldHotels brand has added value to their organization. In particular, we look at how this increase in brands enables them to work with more owners from luxury down to mid-scale products.   

Rick Taylor, the Founder of Business Tourism Company spoke to us about his organisation as one specialising in destination development, branding and tourism marketing strategies in emerging markets.  We focus on some of the work they have done in Rwanda enabling them to embrace the potential of MICE as a way to diversify their tourism products and look forward to the work in Ethiopia. 

In this podcast, we speak to Cyril Jacob, Managing Director at Ascentis, an engineering and project management organisation. We explore the similarities between the work he’s done in Asia and Africa; what the current challenges are for his organisation in the market and we look forward to his session on Developing Hotel Projects at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum on 24th September 2019 at Sheraton Addis, Ethiopia

This podcast with Nicolas looks at the changing role of media in Africa.  We discuss the investment into the sector and the impact this is having on local media, discuss the impact this will have and explore the role of media portraying the continent.  We also discussed the APO/AHIF partnership and what this will look to achieve – not least bringing interesting new speakers to the conference such as Amadou Gallo Fall, Vice President of National Basketball Association (NBA) and President of the Basketball Africa League (BAL)

In this podcast, we explore more about the CityBlue Hotels concepts and look at what plans it has as an African brand. Explore the challenges for the brand and the opportunities that come from being a regional player. Finally, we discuss Jameel’s coming session at the African Hotel Investment Forum and look at their needs as a regional brand and the types of deals they are considering. 

In this podcast, we talk to Fabio Nava, Vice President of Capital Markets, JLL (Hotels and Hospitality) and Wayne Godwin, Head of Hotel Advisory in Sub-Saharan Africa from JLL who, as part of their survey into the current investment sentiments, are producing an independent report on the current state of debt financing and hotel lending across Africa. We discussed how commercial and DFI banks view financing, requirements for banks, cross border lending, portfolio, and single asset lending requirements, tax incentives and mezzanine funding options.

In this Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) podcast, we speak to the Founder of Stuart & Partners, James Stuart about his work in the African hospitality market. Working closely with local independent hoteliers and helping them develop their own brand we explore why the African market is so important for him, the comparisons to this continent to his work previously in Asia and how he expects the African market to develop.

In this podcast I talk to Thomas Emanuel, Director of STR, looking at the African hotel performance data from Q1 2019.  We also look at the pipeline data and discuss the markets that are looking strong across the continent.

This Africa Hotel Investment Forum podcast speaks to Trevor Ward, Owner and Managing Director of W Hospitality Group about the recent publication of the 2019 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa. I asked Trevor about the findings of the report – what it tells us about branded development across Africa – which countries are leading and what it tells us about the key international and regional brands strategies

In this podcast, we talk to Panos Loupasis the Vice President of Development for Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. Panos covers Africa, the Middle East and Eurasia for development so we explore how the brand looks to develop geographically. The podcast also explores the plans for the company and what products work for these markets.  Finally, at the AHIC conference, Panos was presenting the Ramada Encore product at the 3-minute pitch session so he outlines this brand and why it is good for the Middle East and African markets. 

In the first podcast of AHIF 2019, we speak to Daniel Silke, Director of Political Futures Consultancy, before he presents his keynote session at the AHIF Regional Briefing in Cape Town on April 24th. Daniel has been a keynote speaker of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum previously and will present on the Headwinds and Tailwinds of the African economy at the briefing.  In this podcast we discuss whether the slower global growth will affect Africa, understand more about which regions he expects will sustain high levels of growth and explore the South African market with elections looming, power and water shortages is it just doom and gloom? 

In this podcast, with Maria Zarraluqui, the Vice President of Global Development for Melia Hotels International, we talked about the recent successes of Melia in the MENA region and the plans for the development of their brands in key markets.