Accra hotels on journey to recovery

Having no family and acquaintance to accommodate him, he decided to lodge in one of the several hotels in the city.His business associate, whom he had come to meet for consultation highly recommended to him a three-star hotel at the Central Accra. Enthusiastically he called a taxi as he bade his seat mate goodbye. “I […]

Having no family and acquaintance to accommodate him, he decided to lodge in one of the several hotels in the city.
His business associate, whom he had come to meet for consultation highly recommended to him a three-star hotel at the Central Accra. Enthusiastically he called a taxi as he bade his seat mate goodbye. “I am off to the hotel where I will be lodging”.  Barely 30 minutes later, he returned visibly disappointed. “The hotel is fully booked. I tried two near-by hotels and the story was the same,” he said.
Basilica’s experience typified the hitherto booming nature of hotel business in Accra. Buoyed by the nascent oil and gas sector and a stable democracy, the fast growing economy was witnessing enormous foreign presence.
From the Kotoka International Airport, which was daily besieged by visitors to the tall buildings sprouting in several parts of the city, the teeming visitors at the holiday resorts, the city evidently was a treasure the world desired.
The flourishing hotel industry catered for the cocktail of business conferences and teeming tourists visiting Accra to explore either the investment environment or to unwind in the serene environment.
But 2014 will arguably go down as one of the worst years in Ghana’s recent history. The global recession added to government’s fiscal indiscipline put pressure on the economy. It triggered the fall of the cedi against other major currencies.
The free-fall of the local currency, epileptic power supply and spiraling inflation eroded investors’ confidence in the economy and a combination of government policy direction impacted negatively on the industry.
The General Manager of upscale, Holiday Inn, Mr. Bruce Potter recounts, “Business has been growing by 10 percent from 2008. We hit plateau last year, February and the year was looking strong. We have generated a lot of interest, because of the oil and sustained democracy in Ghana.
“But it took a turn last year when the Bank of Ghana started to enforce some restrictions on the dollar/cedi that had a big blow on business,” he explained.
Another factor that impaired business in the industry was the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease. Ghana never recorded a case of the disease, but the government placed a ban on international conferences, as a preemptive measure to keep the country free, the decision almost comatose the industry, according practitioners.
Potter, who is also the Vice President of Ghana Hotels Association, revealed that the hotels lost millions of dollars within weeks, even as he reeled out statistics to buttress the huge impact of the embargo placed on international conferences.
“Some of the hotels lost 70 percent of business in one week. So the average occupancy in the city dropped by 20 percent in August. So August, September, October, November, Accra was actually doing 20 percent on normal room occupancy, never minding the conferences, meetings and banqueting cancellations,” he disclosed.
Dora Naana Amoah Padi, Sales Coordinator, Conferences and Banqueting, La Palm Royal Beach Hotel corroborated the fact that Ebola was a setback for business.
“Business had been good, but because of the Ebola scarce towards the end of last year, patronage went down. Usually during Christmas we have a lot of families coming to spend the holiday, but Ebola scare has minimized this kind of patronage,” she posited. Touted as the gateway to West Africa, Accra plays host to several regional conferences. As the second largest economy in West Africa coupled with its low criminal record, it is ostensibly a preferred destination for continental and sub-continental events. Massive local and foreign investments in the hospitality and service sector have seen a tremendous upgrading of standard in the industry. Accra has an assortment of hotels that meet international requirement.
For instance, the luxurious and prestigious Movenpick Hotel is a five-star hotel situate on a sprawling area of the central area of Accra. The facility has several meeting rooms and one of them has the capacity to take over 600 people at a time. It hosts several of state and international conferences and banquets.
La Palm Royal Beach Hotel is a premier resort that can boast of hosting presidents, eminent personalities, and the affluent. Located within the view of the Atlantic Ocean, this resort center is ideal for business and leisure. It is a perfect get away location for fun seekers and even business tycoons desiring to mix pleasure with work.  
Overlooking the Kotoka International Airport is the tower housing the Holiday Inn. The highbrow hotel according to its General Manager, Mr Bruce Potter relies more on transient business, because of its airport location.
Alisa Hotel, a three-star hotel is located at North Ridge, Accra. Its serene and exclusive location makes it an apt location for both business and leisure pursuits. The hotel has its own share of the thriving industry going by the remarks of a staff of the hotel.
“We usually have a full house. We have 14 halls; the largest is the Ridge arena, which can take as many as 600 people. Last week all the conference halls were occupied. Today is quiet, only four halls are in use,” Dorinda of the public relations unit explained.
Best Western hotel and M-Plaza are located at the highbrow Airport Residential Area. The three star hotels attract elite local and international conferences. There is also Coconut Grove Hotel at the Ridge. It is an epic event center and attracts international conferences. The groundswell of opinion is that the industry has slowed down due to a multiplicity of factors.
The industry is recovering from the slump in business and may not hit a plateau anytime soon according to industry experts, but the worst appear to be over.
 “In January we had a small change. February was an increase of about 10 percent, but we are back to normal in March for the first time in one year,” Potter declared.
The tourism sector has lost several opportunities because of the challenges it faced last year, not even the airlines are insulated from the contraction in business.
Med View Airline is a Nigerian owned company operating in Ghana. It operates a single flight daily from Accra to Lagos. For a year it has been competing with other airlines to dominate business along the route.
Mr. Clement Ifeanyi Nwabor is the Country Manager and he also complained of the impact of the Ebola outbreak on business.
“Ebola was a very big setback. We lost a lot of passengers. The fear of having a lot of people on the aircraft, sitting in a confined place reduced the passenger movement for that period,” he revealed.
Business is believed to be gathering momentum again, but for Mrs Joana Biney-Afful of Doscar Travels and Tours, the road to recovery is tortuous.
“The unfavorable economic situation in the country is having its toll on business. Most companies that used to organize training courses for their staff abroad are cutting down cost. They would rather send someone to train the members of staff. Families have cut down the number of holidays abroad. I can tell business is constricting,” she lamented.
For her, in these tough times entrepreneurs have to be more innovative, resourceful and provide good services to retain their clients.