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Holiday Inn bought by South African company

Southern Sun Hotels will take over Nairobi’s Holiday Inn from next month for an undisclosed fee as South African firms seek a presence in Kenya’s tourism sector. The hotel group will from August 1 assume ownership of the city hotel and re-brand it Southern Sun Mayfair Nairobi, highlighting the growing interest by South African firms to enter the East African market with Kenya as their gateway. This should be the first major acquisition by a South African firm in the hotel industry as they have previously focused their attention on banking, telecoms and manufacturing where they have made a number of acquisitions. Other firms have entered East Africa’s largest economy in a bid to explore growth opportunities. Many have been facing saturation in their home markets and are expanding. Holiday Inn is part of global hotel chain known as InterContinental Group of Hotels which runs Nairobi’s InterContinental and manages the newly opened Crowne Plaza in Nairobi. However, the local Holiday Inn has for the last 15 years been managed by &Beyond whose lease ends this week. Southern Sun, which was founded in 1969, is one of the leading hotel groups in South Africa and has been expanding its presence in the region and beyond. It has hotels in Zambia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tanzania, Mozambique as well as in Dubai. The firm follows in the steps of South Africa’s Protea Group of Hotels which was brought in by Greenhills Investment to manage the Tribe Hotel in Gigiri through a management contract under its African Pride brand. Holiday Inn, formerly known as Mayfair Court Hotel, is one of the leading establishments in the city, mainly attracting the conference niche. Built in the 1940s, the hotel has managed to attract both domestic and international conference tourists especially those with interests at the UN Complex in Gigiri. Source BD