Kate

There’s not been a great deal of activity in terms of new hotel construction and openings in West Africa recently. I hear that work has started on the new Mövenpick in Abidjan and, by the time you read this, the Marriott Accra may finally open – that’s been a very long time coming! Marriott also have new hotels under...

 Eurowings is expanding its portfolio of routes in Southern Africa with the addition of a Mauritius – Munich service. The first flight, operated with an Airbus 330 long-haul jet, took place on 22 April. Flight EW225 departs Mauritius on Sundays and Tuesdays (as of 17 July) at 08h00 and arrives in Munich at 17h50. Flight EW224 departs Munich on Saturdays and Mondays...

Marriott International tops this year’s table for the most planned new hotel rooms under construction in Africa, according to the influential annual hotel pipeline survey by W Hospitality Group. Details of the report will be one of the key discussions at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), which the Kenyan government recently announced will return to Nairobi in October this...

Sun International’s Time Square in Menlyn is now complete. One year since the opening of the casino and restaurant complex, and four months since the launch of the multipurpose 8,500-seater Sun Arena, the group has launched the final phase of the project, The Maslow at Time Square. The property is a 238-room specialist business hotel, offering multi-level accommodation options – from...

South African hotel group Premier Hotels & Resorts has begun construction of two new hotels in Umhlanga, to the north of Durban. The group’s R380-million ($30m) investment will result in a four-star Premier Hotel and a three-star Splendid Inn by Premier. The Premier Hotel will consist of 130 bedrooms, a restaurant, swimming pool and gym, while the Splendid Inn by Premier...

Avis Rent a Car is now offering digital membership cards for all Avis Preferred members. The new digital Avis Preferred functionality means customers can now download their cards to their smartphones and devices. The digital cards have been successfully rolled out in the European market and were introduced in South Africa at the beginning of this year. The only Preferred cards that...

Premier Hotels & Resorts will be expanding its national footprint to Bloemfontein, with the construction of a brand new three-star hotel comprising 88 bedrooms, a restaurant, rooftop function area, lounge, business centre and conference facilities capable of accommodating up to 150 delegates. The new hotel is situated on the site of what was previously the Stanville Hotel at 85 Zastron...

Effective 6 May, Airlink will launch direct flights between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. The new service will be served by one of Airlink’s recently-acquired 74-seat Embraer E170 aircraft. The flights will depart O.R. Tambo International Airport at 18h10 and arrive at Port Elizabeth International Airport at 19h40, Monday to Friday and on Sundays. The return flight will depart Port Elizabeth at 06h45...

Travelport and Comair have announced the renewal of a long-term full content agreement. Under the agreement, Travelport will continue to support Comair by providing Travelport-connected agencies with real-time access to search, sell, and book its full content and inventory. Comair will also continue to use Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding merchandising tool, which gives agencies and travel bookers a graphically rich...

Marriott International has announced that it will introduce one set of unified benefits across Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) for its members in August. This will create a hospitality loyalty programme in which members will earn more points faster than under the prior programmes - on average 20% more points for every dollar spent. For the...

Tsogo Sun has announced the official opening of its newest offshore hotel property, StayEasy Maputo, located in Maputo. This addition to the Tsogo Sun Hotels portfolio brings the number of properties outside of South Africa to 11 and it’s the group’s third in Mozambique. StayEasy Maputo is conveniently located along the coast in Mozambique’s capital and is only nine kilometres from...

The digital transformation continues to improve the travel experience and luggage management is no exception to this. Simple tracking and self check-in of luggage is continuing to make the lives of the traveller much easier. Lufthansa German Airlines evaluates the way luggage management is going digital in today’s era. Expectations of travellers are not only shaped by how well an...