Following the bitter court battle resulting in losing the case to a local hotel bearing the name Crown, Tsemex Hotels & Business Plc, diverted to Accor Hotels to bring MGallery by Sofitel Hotels to Addis Abeba.
Tsemex reached an agreement with Accor after dragging its deal with Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) to bring Crowne Plaza. Tesmex and IHG signed the deal in September 2014. But it could not be realised following the court battle that was filed by Zewditu Mesfin, owner of Crown Hotel- located in Qality.
Zewditu took the case claiming that she deserves the brand and the case was finally closed by the ruling of the Cassation Bench of the Supreme Court in her favour. The case has also reached the constitutional inquiry board and was reviewed by House of the Federation.
This led Tsemex Hotels & Business to divert its negotiation with Accor with the consultancy service of Calibra Hospitality Consultancy & Business Plc, which facilitated the previous deal with IHG too.
Calibra has been in the consultancy business for the past nine years. Currently owned by Yonas Moges and Neway Berhanu, the company is consulting 18 management deals, of which two are currently operational; Golden Tulip and Ramada Addis hotels.
The official agreement signing between Tsemex and Accor is scheduled to take place by the end of October 2017, according to Rezene Ayalew, managing director of Tsemex Hotels & Business.
Located on Liberia Street in Lideta District, Tsemex has already erected the structure of the 11-storey building, which will feature 218 guestrooms and suites. In line with the MGallery by Sofitel brand standards, the hotel will have designs depicting African and Ethiopian identity.
MGallery by Sofitel Addis will have a meeting and event space, two restaurants on the eighth floor of the hotel as well as three bars, swimming pool, a gym and a spectacular spa. It is expected to open its doors towards the second half of 2018.
The interior design of MGallery by Sofitel Addis Hotel will be done by Darley Interior Architectural Design (DIAD), a South African interior design company which has worked on different hotels and projects in Africa & the Middle East, such as the Royal Mirage Hotel, Dubai and the Shangri La Hotel, Abu Dhabi.
“This project reaffirms our ambitious development strategy for Africa, with Ethiopia as one of the key-targeted markets,” quoted Steven Daines, CEO of Accor Hotels for Africa & Middle East on the Hotel’s website.
Three years ago, Accor inked a deal with Eniy Real Estate for the management of Pullman Addis Hotel, located in front of Zemen Bank on Tito Street. The two agreed to bring a hotel with 300 rooms, two restaurants, seven board and meeting rooms, two bars, one connectivity lounge, a fitness and spa centre and a swimming pool. The construction of Pullman Addis is currently in progress.
Accor manages 4,200 hotels across 20 brands in 95 countries with an annual revenue of 5.6 billion euros.
Tsemex Hotels & Business, a subsidiary of Tsemex Global Enterprise Plc, is owned by Rezene Ayalew and his family. the family business engages in importing and distribution of water work-related materials and real estate development.
For this hotel development project, Tsemex received a loan amounting to 9.5 million dollars from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) to develop a property, which is estimated to cost a total of 37 million dollars.
The number of operational international brand hotels in Addis Abeba has reached six and the construction of about 25 hotels is in progress after the deal between the local property developers and international companies was signed. Hilton Addis, Sheraton Addis, Raddison Blu, Golden Tulip, Marriott Executive Apartments and Ramada Addis are the operational international franchised hotel businesses in Addis.
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