A local company in the business of building rental, Sheger Plc, inaugurates a hotel worth a quarter of a billion Birr in the Bole district of Addis Abeba.
The hotel, called Sheger Royal, has been under construction for the past three years and inaugurated today.
The six-storey hotel has 40 rooms, a gymnasium, two bars, a restaurant, and two meeting halls – the last three of which can accommodate up to 280 people. Occupying 600sqm of land, it will provide 80 to 100 people with employment opportunities.
“We have noticed a gap in the hotel industry, which needs tremendous effort in order to be filled,” said Tadelle Kassa, founder and chairman of Sheger. “It is a sector with more potential to make profits and create job opportunities than the one we are used to.”
Sheger rents building spaces for the purposes of offices, bank branches, retail shops, supermarkets, cafés and restaurants. The company is best known for Sheger House, which was built 15 years ago and has three branch buildings. The hotel’s construction was carried out by a construction wing under Sheger, while Moges Desta Architects & Engineers consulted and supervised the project.
“Addis Abeba is an important destination for tourists and diplomats given the nation’s cultural attractions, and the international organisations situated in the capital,” said Tadelle. “Bole was the preferable area given the Bole International Airport being located there.”
There were 164 star-rated hotels that have a total of 8,000 rooms and 10,000 beds in Addis Abeba as of August last year. Sheger Royal hotel expects to receive a four or five-star rating, according to Tadelle.
Most recently, Magnolia Hotel & Conference Centre joined the hospitality industry in the Bole district, after a half a billion Br cost for construction.
Just as prevalent has been the proliferation of internationally branded hotels, the nation expects to have around 30 of such establishments within half a decade.
Worku Mengesha, communication officer at the Addis Abeba Culture & Tourism Bureau, sees this as a good phenomenon.
“The coming of new hotels to the sector is welcomed as it helps the tourism sector. But, hotels should deliver quality service to their customers,” Worku added.
Esayas Woldu, an independent managing consultant that has worked for over a decade, agrees that the addition of new hotels creates job opportunities and fills the gap in the sector. But he stresses that the new hotels must tackle the shortage of finance, trained human resource, experience and be able to compete to survive.
“As the sector needs care by its nature in order to thrive, sustainable peace and stability are mandatory,” Esayas told Fortune.
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