ARUSHA AND DAR ES SALAAM SET TO WELCOME GLOBAL STARWOOD BRAND
(Posted 16th July 2016)
The former Arusha Hotel, currently undergoing a major modernization and reconstruction, will reopen, according to a source from Arusha, as a Four Points by Sheraton hotel, brining another global hospitality brand to the city knows as ‘The Safari Capital of East Africa‘.
While an exact reopening date has yet to be announced is it now known that the hotel will offer 108 suites and rooms for guests plus a range of amenities usually expected from a hotel operated under this brand.
In Dar es Salaam is it the New Africa Hotel, which is undergoing the same transformation and on reopening will offer 126 suites and rooms in the heart of Tanzania’s commercial capital.
According to information sourced are presently some 8 Four Point by Sheraton in the pipeline for Africa, two of them now coming up in Tanzania while one is under construction in Nairobi near the international airport.
Starwood, like other global hospitality brands, has been pushing into Africa where several Sheraton operations, mostly under franchises, operate in Kampala/Uganda, Djibouti, Addis Ababa/Ethiopia but also in Nigeria. In the Seychelles does the Starwood luxury leisure brand Le Meridien manage the Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove in Bel Ombre.
Across the continent of Africa has in recent years become a focal point for global brands to establish or expand their presence, most recently with Carlson Rezidor coming to East Africa with two Radisson Blu hotels in Nairobi and Kigali. Marriott, Hyatt, Ramada and others too are competing for management contracts with Nairobi being on top of the list in the region, a sign of a vibrant economy and confidence in the future of the country’s tourism and MICE industries.
