Addis Ababa is most expensive hotel stay in Africa

Research from STR Global shows Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, has the most expensive hotel rooms in Africa, edging out Egypt, Morocco and South Africa.

The average rate in US dollars for a hotel room in H1 of this year in the capital was $231.78/ night.

Addis Ababa is a city of almost 3.5 million people, multiple F&B and hotel offerings, and approximately 32,685 people working in the hospitality industry.

Yet those numbers don’t come close to other African cities, such as Cairo or Lagos. So why is Addis Ababa so much more expensive?

Other major African city prices came in at:

• Lagos - $215.75
• Nairobi - $144.76
• Cape Town - $122.30
• Casablanca - $105.73
• Cairo - $103.54
• Johannesburg - $72.90
• Sharm El Sheikh - $70.70

This means hotels in the Ethiopian capital are almost three times the cost of those in Johannesburg, a popular tourist destination and a well-established international city, with a large number of five star hotels and a competitive market for accommodation.

Thomas Emanuel, director of business development, STR Global, says: “A great deal of the reason for the difference in rates across major African cities is simply supply and demand.”

According to STR Global, Addis Ababa has a shortage of top hotels. However, with the Ethiopian economy growing at more than 10% per annum for the past 10 years, there is a demand for premium hotel rooms.

Reasons for this could be that Addis Ababa is the seat of the African Union, which may be part of the reason Ethiopian Airways has also grown 10% YOY for the past decade, with new routes and increased passenger numbers.

Generally, room rates have risen almost 15% in capital the past year, with Johannesburg and Cape Town’s rates growing 11% and 10.8% respectively.

Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh has shown the biggest growth, with rates up 42.5% this year. Casablanca has shown a 4% decline this year.