Fast-growing Radisson Blu to add 50 hotels to African suite
dioxide. In addition to that, one person dies from waterborne illnesses every 10 seconds on this planet,” he said.
Friesen said when it came to water the world was still living in the era of the Roman Empire, “waiting for the stuff to fall out of the sky, pray to the rain gods, or whatever it might be, wait for it to soak into the ground, pump it, treat it, flow it downhill to your home.
“Yet at the same time, we’ve got supercomputers in our pockets that have all of humanity’s information – all of this knowledge; other channels that allow us to leapfrog well-point infrastructure. So the question became, could we be creating leapfrogging water,” he said.
Friesen said Zero Mass Water’s Source hydropanes are a world-first technology, which use sunlight and air to make safe, pure drinking water.
The system is powered entirely by solar, and extracts pure water vapour from the air and converts it into liquid water, similar to distilled water.
The water is mineralised with magnesium and calcium before being delivered directly to a tap.
Friesen said the Source system made water without any external electric or water input, and the significant advancement in drinking water access was made possible through the combination of thermodynamics, materials science and controls technology.
He said that for developers and architects who are incorporating smart-home technology into their designs and offerings, Source is a differentiating feature in a modern home.
For the hospitality sector, it adds value when built into scalable arrays.
The hydropanels are modular and can be aggregated to meet the drinking water needs of a hotel, lodge or office building.
“With the high-cost and environmental damage of bottled water, hotels and attractions need a better choice for their guests. Our system provides a daily supply of delicious, high-quality drinking water, while offsetting the carbon footprint of bottled water,” he said.
Zero Mass Water has partnered with local firms Rubicon and Energeia. The cheapest system costs about R30 000. RADISSON Blu aims to anchor its position as Africa’s top hotel brand by opening a further 50 hotels on the continent.
The hotel brand is part of the Radisson Hotel Group, the largest upscale brand in Europe, and it now takes over as the fastest growing hotel brand in Africa.
The group, in a period of strong growth, has doubled its African portfolio in the past four years, opening a new hotel every 60 days and signing a new hotel deal every 40 days, spiking its portfolio in Africa to 86 hotels, equating to 17 800 rooms in operation and under development across 30 countries.
The W Hospitality Pipeline Report 2018, released last week, ranked Radisson Blu as the leading individual hotel brand with the largest number of hotels under construction in Africa.
Elie Younes, the executive vicepresident and chief development officer at the Radisson Hotel Group, said the group was delighted that Radisson Blu led the way in Africa with more hotels under development than any other hotel brand, with 111 hotel brands active on the continent today.
“Our strong growth is set to continue with the execution of our ambitious fiveyear development plan that will focus on scaled growth in 23 of the 60 larger cities in Africa to create operational synergies,” said Younes.
Andrew McLachlan, the Radisson Hotel Group’s senior vice-president for development for sub-Saharan Africa, said the group aimed to add a further 50 hotels to the continent.
McLachlan said of the 50 hotels, 65% of the group’s future hotel supply would come from its newer brands, specifically Radisson, which was in the full-service upscale segment and was perfectly positioned between Radisson Blu in the upper upscale and Park Inn by Radisson in the upper midscale segments.
“We will selectively add a number of key Radisson Collection hotels and grow on the successful opening of RED Radisson in Cape Town in the lifestyle upscale segment of the market,” he said.
According to the group, the Radisson RED at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town is the only one in Africa.
McLachlan said that with the group’s new brand segmentation, it had the potential to operate more than 10 hotels within cities such as Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lagos, providing real scale and operational synergies, while cities such as Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Durban and Dakar had the potential to have more than five hotels under its various hotel brands.
“This strategy will reinforce our presence in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia. It will also develop a robust portfolio across the cities within Africa’s three largest economic communities,” said McLachlan.
The group announced earlier this month that the first Radisson Blu was set to open in Durban. The Radisson Blu Hotel Durban Oceans Umhlanga was scheduled to open within the next two years.