Southern Sun Hotels, the largest hotel and gaming group in southern Africa, is to realign its brand portfolio into three main sectors and is set to expand its operations beyond its home base of southern Africa.
Helder Pereira, the managing director of Southern Sun Hotels, said the group was operating successfully in six countries outside South Africa: Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles and Tanzania. It was developing international hotel projects in Dubai, the Seychelles and Nigeria.
Pereira said Southern Sun Offshore was the newly formed division of the group to focus specifically on international expansion, with Richard Weilers as managing director.
Weilers said the success of the group's international operations was a strong base on which to build its expansion."Beyond our ... new developments, we are also considering expanding our African footprint. We shall operate our hotels outside of South Africa, under the Southern Sun, Garden Court, Holiday Inn and InterContinental brands," he said.
The realignment to its brand portfolio would result in deluxe, premier and economy hotels. The group would operate its economy hotels under the Garden Court brand, which was recently acquired from InterContinental Hotels Group.
The Southern Sun brand would be grown as the group's premier category of four- and five-star hotels; and the third tier would comprise a collection of deluxe properties known for ultimate luxury and individuality.