Business Traveler

BITE WITH THE EDITOR
Strong Growth
Neil Bald
CEO - AHA HOTELS
& LODGES
Aha Hotels & Lodges is Tourvest’s accommodation division and is wholly-owned by the South African TMC.
In the past five years it has grown into a significant player in the Southern African hotel industry. CEO
Neil Bald has been at the forefront of that growth, and was happy to unpack some of those details over a coffee
with editor Dylan Rogers in Johannesburg.
Alot has happened since Neil
Bald joined aha five years
ago.
The group has grown its portfolio
from 12 hotels and lodges to over
40, acquired a major competitor
in the form of Three Cities
Hotels, launched a new brand to
the market, and grown its staff
complement to over 60.
All of this adds up to the second
biggest hotel management company
in Southern Africa and the fourth
biggest hotel group in South Africa.
“The plan when I joined was to
grow it considerably and it still is,”
says Bald.
So, it sounds like he is on track.
The aha brand now consists of
a diverse selection of hotels and
lodges spread across South Africa,
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and
Botswana, with the plan to extend
that footprint into other African
countries.
“Outside of South Africa, our
plan, from a hotel point of view, is
to be represented in capital cities,”
says Bald, whilst acknowledging
that aha Hotels & Lodges still has
some way to go before becoming
a recognisable brand, particularly
to international travellers. As a
result, aha are open to operating
properties under franchise
agreement, if all the right boxes are
ticked.
“We are seeing demand for
regional operators who know the
lay of the land, possibly already
have representation in the area,
and understand how to work with
the local labour force,” says Bald
of the international brands who
favour this approach over trying to
make it work on their own.
Besides the countries already
mentioned, aha has fairly recently
gone into Ethiopia with a deal for
a group of properties over a few
years. The first hotel is expected to
be complete in the next year, with
the second one due to start soon
and two more on the cards in the
future.
“It’s going to be a very
interesting couple of years,” says
Bald, whilst conceding that the
Ethiopian expansion goes a little
against the grain of aha’s growth
strategy, which focuses largely on
South Africa and its neighbouring
countries.
“The plan is to grow more than
one property in a destination and
to ‘grow countries’,” he says. “If
we do that we can start putting in
country management etc.”
East Africa, though, also
remains of interest to Bald and
aha, and whilst the group has had
a look at and considered one or
two opportunities in the likes of
Nigeria, Ghana and Angola, one
gets the sense that West Africa is
currently just not as appealing.
“We haven’t focused on growth
too far from home, but rather on
neighbouring countries and East
Africa, where there just seems to
be more opportunity than West
Africa,” says Bald.
Back home, aha are still
optimistic about their South
African growth in the hotel space,
with Bald citing Johannesburg and
Cape Town as the key locations
from a business travel point of
view, whilst also conceding that
there is currently a hole in their
portfolio.
“To be recognised as a serious
player, you need to have key
locations, and in corporate travel
you have to be in Sandton,
where we currently don’t have
representation,” he says. “We’ve
recognised that, although it’s not
that simple to get in there, but
we are working on a couple of
options.”
From a lodge point of view, the
focus is slightly different.
“Growth outside of South Africa
will more likely come from the
lodge space, and we want to be in
key/iconic locations,” says Bald.
“So, it’s Etosha, the Serengeti,
Maasai Mara and Kruger National
Park. There is demand for operators
in these locations.”
Five years is a nice round number
and, arguably, an opportunity to
reflect for Bald.
Aha Hotels & Lodges have come
a long way since he joined in 2012,
with the Three Cities acquisition in
2014 giving the group the kick-start
it was looking for, catapaulting it
from 20 to 40 properties, giving it
the critical mass Bald wanted, and
establishing aha as a South African
hotel group to be taken seriously.
Now for the next five years… C
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