City Lodge Hotel Group updates African expansion progress on Africa Day

Construction has begun on the 147-room City Lodge Hotel Dar es Salaam in Tanzania’s capital city with the hotel expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The hotel will be the City Lodge Hotels Group’s fourth hotel in East Africa, joining the 127-room Fairview Hotel in Nairobi, the 84-room Town Lodge Upper Hill (also in Nairobi) and the 169-room City Lodge Hotel Two Rivers, currently under construction at Nairobi’s upmarket Two Rivers mixed use development.

City Lodge Hotel Dar es Salaam will be the 59th hotel in City Lodge Hotel Group and its fifth hotel outside of South Africa. The group has 54 hotels in South Africa, two in Kenya, one in Botswana and two under construction in Kenya and Tanzania.

“There have been some regulatory delays in starting construction in Dar es Salaam, caused partly by cabinet portfolio changes after Tanzania’s recent general election, but we now are really happy to be getting underway with this exciting project which will add significantly to our East African footprint,” said Clifford Ross, chief executive of the City Lodge Hotel Group.

Ross said good progress is being made with the development of City Lodge Hotel Two Rivers in Nairobi with the building around 25% complete. This hotel is on track to open to guests in the second quarter of 2017.

Updating the group’s other expansion plans in southern Africa, Ross said construction of the 151-room Town Lodge Windhoek in Namibia’s capital is likely to begin in June. The project has been slightly delayed as the builders are awaiting completion of the basement above which the hotel will be constructed. This hotel, which will be the 60th in the group, is expected to be opened to the public in the third quarter of 2017.

Meanwhile, remaining regulatory approvals are being sought for the development of the 148-room City Lodge Hotel Maputo in Mozambique’s capital city. The group hopes to be able to open this hotel in the third or fourth quarter of 2017.

“It has been quite a slow process, but we are happy that we are beginning to gain strong traction in our targeted African expansion programme, taking our well-established brands to a number of cities in east and southern Africa,” said Ross.

The group, which has opened two new hotels in South Africa in the past six months, is still examining other expansion opportunities in South Africa, east Africa and southern Africa.