Marriott, Landmark Africa add Lagos CBD hotel to Nigeria's pipeline

Lagos' mixed-use development Landmark Village will add two new hotels to its site in 2020. In partnership with Landmark Africa Group, Marriott International has signed Renaissance Lagos Hotel and Marriott Executive Apartments. The projects will be developed along the Atlantic Ocean waterfront in Lagos's Victoria Island central business district.

The 25-floor facility will have the 216-guestroom Renaissance Lagos Hotel and the 44-guestroom Marriott Executive Apartment with extended-stay apartments. The two hotels in Landmark Village, Africa's first mixed-use development—similar to Rockefeller Center in New York and Canary Wharf in London—will be near office spaces, apartments, retail and international restaurants within the site.  

As the country has been recovering from plunging oil prices and oil production and continues to stabilize the continent in both the political and economic arena, the need for quality travel and accommodation projects is on the rise. In the face of the growing demand, Nigeria has been deemed Africa' top market for planned hotel projects. The country contributes 48.9 percent to West Africa's current hotel construction pipeline with more than 10,000 hotel guestrooms in 61 hotels lined up. However, the limited hotel stock is being exacerbated by delayed development progress caused by various barriers, including high construction and material costs, high capital investment required and limited access to raw materials. Major hotel companies, including Marriott, have been fighting against these barriers by creating new expansion strategies to avoid any delays. "There is a growing need for high caliber short and extended stay lodging in Nigeria and we believe the two hotels together will help bridge this gap,” Alex Kyriakidis, president and MD Middle East and Africa, Marriott International, said in a statement. 
 

While the company follows through with its expansion plans across the country, Marriott recently added the Protea by Marriott Owerri Select in Nigeria to its growing portfolio in the region, following the $210-million acquisition of Protea Hotels in 2014. Marriott is on track to open or add to its pipeline over 200 hotels with 37,000 guestrooms by 2022 as part of a $8.5-billion capital investment across Africa by its real estate partners. 

Marriott operates hotels in 20 African countries: Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia. The company is now set to expand its brands in new markets, including Benin, Botswana, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal. This year, Marriott signed 1,300 new guestrooms, including its first hotel in Côte D’Ivoire and new hotels in existing markets Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria.