Africa is set for the launch of Easy Group’s orange hotel brand, with 50 hotels due to open within the next five years.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has signed franchise agreement with Lonrho Budget Hotels to open and operate an Easyhotel network across the continent.
New Easyhotel locations will initially be in destinations served by Easyjet, which currently include Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada and Luxor in Egypt, plus Agadir, Marrakech, Casablanca, Fez and Tangier in Morocco.
The hotel group will also focus on opening properties in other large cities in Africa.
Sir Stelios, Easygroup’s chairman, said the aim is to establish Easyhotel as the “pre-eminent pan-African budget hotel chain”.
“The economic development of the African market,” he said, “supported by the significant number of foreign visitors, large scale urbanisation and the growing disposable income of the one billion people in the domestic market, clearly provides significant opportunities for growth.”
Lonrho currently owns and operates three hotels in Africa, in Zimbabwe, Congo and Mozambique.
David Lenigas, Lonrho’s executive chairman, said the company is “delighted” to have the exclusive rights to develop the Easyhotel concept in Africa.
“The low-cost value hotel market is currently undeveloped on the continent yet is arguably the fastest growing sector of the global and African hotel markets,” he said.
The first African Easyhotel is on track to open in 2012, added Lenigas.