W Hospitality Group’s Trevor Ward Discusses Strong Growth Potential in Africa’s Hotel Industry as Nigeria Attracts Investment

Trevor Ward is a specialist consultant in the hospitality industry, specifically the hotel sector. From the late 1980s he has specialised in the provision of advisory services to clients in developing countries, and for 20 years has been based in Nigeria, advising clients there and throughout Africa.

His international experience includes advising clients on hotel and tourism development in more than 90 countries in Africa, Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean and Asia.  With a special focus on Africa, where he has worked in 40 countries so far, he is working with many of the international hotel and real estate groups who are seeking a presence there, and with existing players.  

As the Nigerian industry gathers at Hotel Expo Nigeria 2026, what key market signals or developer trends are you watching most closely on the expo floor?

I was interested to see the dynamics and professionalism of the various operators and suppliers to the Nigerian hotel industry.  There are a significant number of tech firms offering operating and other systems for hotels, which can alleviate the cost and remote support issues with foreign suppliers.

There are also suppliers of equipment for hotels such as TZE Hotel and Home Collection, who provide hotel-quality operating supplies and equipment (OS&E), priced in Naira, and therefore reducing an Owner’s need for foreign currency to import those items.

Your 2026 Pipeline Report shows a record 675 new hotels planned across Africa; how much of this momentum is actually translating into active ground breaks here in West Africa?

This is an issue for us all to tackle.  the 675 new hotels and resorts are signed contracts with the international and regional (African) hotel chains, an essential part of the process for sure, but not the same as actually opening a property to generate profits (and fees for the hotel chains).  As noted in the report, only 52 chain hotels opened in the whole of Africa in 2025, less than one per country, and only 31% of the number that the chains said would open last year.  Of those, only two were in Nigeria (Abuja and Warri), two in Cape Verde, and one each in Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea and The Gambia (nine in total).

The chains’ forecast is for 183 hotels and resorts to open in 2026, of which 36 are in West Africa.Nigeria remains in the top five for total signed rooms but lags behind East Africa in actual construction rates; what are the biggest financial bottlenecks keeping Nigerian projects stuck on paper?

There are several challenges with funding hotels.  We are a long-term industry, and there is a lack both of “patient capital” and long-term, affordable debt.  For those with equity, there are sectors where capital can be returned faster than investing in hotels, but at the same time we generate much higher returns over the long term than any other form of commercial or residential real estate.  

Then there’s the high cost of hotel development, with a high foreign currency component (>80% of development cost).

Sadly, not all projects are “stuck on paper”, there are a number of hotels on which construction was started and then discontinued, mostly due to a lack of funding.  They remain there as very visible eyesores.

With inflation and rising supply chain costs heavily impacting the region, how are you advising local developers to restructure their initial feasibility studies?

Important is not to be too ambitious at the get-go – ambition is fine, but not every hotel has to be 5-star, not every hotel has to have a 5,000-seat convention centre, not every hotel has to be 500+ rooms. When engaged to advise an owner on the market and financial feasibility of a proposed hotel or resort, we often suggest that it is down-scaled in size and market positioning in order to make it more doable.

Global chains like Marriott and Hilton currently dominate 80% of the African pipeline; what specific strategic partnerships must independent Nigerian owners form to remain competitive?

Not every hotel needs a brand – look at Lagos, where the largest hotels – Eko, Lagos Continental, for example – have no brand affiliation, nor do some of the leading small hotels – Wheatbaker, George, Delborough et al.  It’s interesting that, with the exception of the last mentioned hotel, all of those hotels were previously affiliated with an international hotel chain, but the owners no longer see the benefits.

Independent hotels, large and small, definitely have a role to play, but any hotel needs professional management and marketing in order to survive in competition with the big boys, they need to find their unique niche in the market in order to portray differentiation to the customer.  We help owners to do just that, as well as advising on the relationship with an international hotel chain where that’s appropriate for the project.