These insights come from the Future Hospitality Summit Africa 2025 stage sessions, where operators, investors and partners explored what it takes to run high-performing hotels while protecting what makes African hospitality distinctive.

Operating hotels in Africa demands two disciplines at once: operational rigour and a guest experience with real meaning. Ubuntu gives hospitality its soul. Ops protects delivery. Together, they create loyalty, margin and momentum.

F&B as social infrastructure

The lobby and restaurant no longer sit on the edge of the operation. They shape the hotel’s role in the neighbourhood, and that role can drive revenue.

In leading lifestyle hotels, Food and Beverage can account for 40% to 50% of total revenue. That shifts F&B from “support” to a primary profit centre, with design, programming and partnerships pulling in the same direction.

The strategic ROI of technology

Operators don’t need more shiny tools. They need solutions that fix core problems, fast.

One example came up repeatedly: automated revenue management. Fewer than 20% of independent African hotels currently utilise automated Revenue Management Systems (RMS). Speakers positioned RMS as one of the fastest ways to optimise ADR decisions in volatile markets, where demand patterns can shift quickly.

The Ubuntu edge

Ubuntu - “I am because we are” - is not a slogan. It’s an operating choice.

Operators who embed local storytelling and community partnerships into the guest journey build stronger guest loyalty because they create connection, not just service. That is where Africa can lead, not by imitating elsewhere, but by amplifying what is already true.

The talent multiplier

Hospitality is one of the continent’s most powerful youth employment engines, and the implications are operational as much as they are social.

Tourism can generate up to 8 direct and 24 indirect jobs for every 10 new hotel rooms opened. The imperative for operators is to turn “jobs” into “careers” through aggressive upskilling, clear progression and confident leadership development.

Capturing the USD 6.8 trillion wellness market

The global wellness economy is now valued at USD 6.8 trillion. Africa is uniquely positioned to lead by offering holistic, nature-based healing experiences rather than just traditional spa treatments.

The opportunity is bigger than treatment rooms. It includes sleep and recovery, outdoor and nature-led experiences, food as wellbeing and culture and place as the differentiator that makes it credible.

Next at FHS Africa in Nairobi

FHS Africa is an African deal-making platform where the hospitality investment community connects, exchanges knowledge and explores new partnerships. We curate the conversations that matter, bring the right decision-makers into the same room and turn ideas into practical next steps. If you’re investing, developing, operating or advising in African hospitality, FHS Africa helps you find signal fast and meet the people who can move projects forward.

More insights for owners, operators, investors, advisers and brands will follow, building on what surfaced at FHS Africa 2025 and carrying it into FHS Africa 2026, 31 March - 1 April in Nairobi.

Watch the stage sessions

These insights were gathered from FHS Africa 2025 stage sessions:

Ubuntu in Action: Hospitality with Soul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joP9NGiNKtc

Tech ROI Unlocked: What Every Hospitality Investor Should Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9_mrXM4Iws

From Potential to Prosperity: Africa's Tourism Growth and the Role of Public Private Synergy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtNu8G0plKY

Luxury Hospitality as a Catalyst for Urban Renewal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLKISDUXcgc