Protea Hotels by Marriott is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n hotel and leisure company headquartered in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. As of December 31, 2018, it was the largest hotel company on the African continent, with 80 properties in ten countries with 8,497 rooms in addition to 14 hotels with 2,498 rooms in the pipeline. The company was named for the flowering plant

Protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). Etymology The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...

, which is unique to South Africa, and its logo features a representation of the flower.

History

Otto Stehlik and six business associates established the company in 1984. At that time, the founders held 40% of the stock, the remaining 60% being held by Bankrop, now part of

Barclays Africa Group Absa Group Limited (ABGL; formerly Barclays Africa Group Limited), and originally Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a South African-based financial services group, offering personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and invest ...

. Initially, the company had four properties under management; two in

, one in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

and one in KwaZulu Natal South Coast. Expanding to 20 within a year, over 100 existed after two decades. In November 2013, Protea Hospitality Holdings, the holding company of Protea Hotels, signed a letter of intent, to be acquired by Marriott International, the parent company of

Marriott Hotels Marriott Hotels & Resorts is Marriott International's brand of full-service hotels and resorts based in Bethesda, Maryland. As of June 30, 2020, there were 582 hotels and resorts with 205,053 rooms operating under the brand, in addition to 160 ...

. The acquisition was approved by regulatory agencies in the respective nations, and on January 22, 2014, it was announced that Protea had been sold for $186 million. All hotels controlled by PHH have since been rebranded as Protea Hotels by Marriott, but retaining the historic protea-flower logo.

Accommodations

Historical

From 2015

Locations

The company owns, manages or franchises three, four and five star properties in nine African countries. The majority of its properties are located in

, where the company was founded and where it maintains its headquarters. Other countries of operation are Algeria, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and recently Botswana

References

External links

* {{Authority control Marriott International brands Hotels established in 1984 2014 mergers and acquisitions 1984 establishments in South Africa