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World’s Largest Hotelier Expands Properties in Africa

Fresh off the mega-merger that created the largest hotel company on the planet, Marriott unveiled its very first property in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The acquisition of Starwood Hotel and Resorts immediately made Marriott International the largest single hotelier in history. It seems, however, that the hospitality giant isn’t satisfied with its impressive standing as it moves forward with ambitious plans to expand its operations in Africa.

Approval from Chinese regulators was the final step in Marriott International’s bid to become the dominant force in the hospitality industry. The newly created conglomerate now controls more than half of the hotel room inventory in international markets that include Chicago, Mexico City, New York and Shanghai.

USA Today reports that the just-opened Marriott Hotel in Rwanda, a 254-room property that officially opened its doors on Tuesday, is now one of the largest hotels in the country.

Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson told the newspaper that the takeover of Starwood provided a springboard into expanding new markets in Africa. “There are about 30 countries that are brand-new to us with the Starwood acquisition,” he noted. “How many of those would we have gotten into without this? I would think as a theoretical matter, most of them would be markets we would have had a shot at anyway but this obviously accelerates that global expansion which is one of the advantages of the deal.”

New Marriott branded hotels are currently in development in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

[Photo: Marriott Hotels]

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