Two and a half years ago, I walked into the world of hospitality, having only experienced it from the guest’s point of view and my father’s attempt at bringing our experiences to the people in our hometown. Through his mistakes and learnings, I can say I had a fair idea of how hospitality businesses should run, but Transcorp Hotels Plc opened my eyes to much more.
I joined the company at the time the world, in an attempt to grasp what’s left of its sanity, also tried to recover, while still defining the shock that was 2020 and navigating the way forward. I joined a company that was already leading the charge nationwide but had to deliver a miraculous financial year when occupancy rates dropped from 70% in March 2020 to 5%. Add that to a change in leadership. I call it a learning junction, not a curve.
Prior to the COVID-19, our leading hospitality business had two assets, the award-winning Transcorp Hilton Abuja and Transcorp Hotels Calabar, operating like mini cities for some and a sanctuary for others. We had and still have your one-stop-shop for hospitality needs, providing exquisite rooms, cuisine, meeting rooms, events, luxury and essential stores, room service, medical clinic, recreational activities, concerts, and other ancillary services, perfect for business and leisure.
The pandemic turned a bubbling oasis into a ghost town, forced the world indoors, caused uncertainty, took lives and livelihoods but ultimately birthed innovation. As we navigated the new normal, I joined a community where it was not business as usual. It was ‘bleisure’. The COVID-19 pandemic brought out the strategic and creative thinking caps in us to create a segment that combined business and leisure, to attract and retain new and old guests. Our inability to cross borders, forced us to look inward and shine the light on domestic tourism. Hospitality is very much at home.
Joining the race to recover immediately showcased our tenacity and the strength of our people, not just as a team but as a Group. There was never a doubt that hospitality would bounce back and it was incredible to see that yet again, Transcorp Hotels Plc was at the forefront of the industry’s turnaround.
A major highlight for 2021 was the grand launch of Aura by Transcorp Hotels, a digital platform that allows you to book unique homes, hotels, and memorable experiences across our beautiful nation, Nigeria. This asset-light strategy was and still is our way of domesticating premium hospitality, bridging the gap between hosts and guests, all at the click of a button. Our platform has and will continue to create more hospitality entrepreneurs and reintroduce our people, to our nation, Nigeria.
We also launched Workspace by Transcorp Hotels at Transcorp Hilton Abuja, a co-working space that defines the convergence of business and pleasure. The goal of the Workspace is to further meet the business needs of our guests and deliver a well-rounded hospitality experience.
Despite the economic challenges, we recorded strong profitability and revenues grew at a great pace to close the year with N22bn, up by 100% relative to the N10bn recorded in 2020. Transcorp Hotels Plc also surpassed pre-COVID 2019 revenue of N20bn by about 8%. We achieved this through our efforts to drive cost-effective strategies.
Our achievements set the tone for 2022. I was optimistic, in a little over 9 months, I had seen enough BTS to know that we were truly onto something remarkable. To see how the unity of laundry, kitchen, sales, marketing, operations, security units, and more, create experiences that can be traded in for value and ultimately trickle down to the average person in our communities through CSR initiatives, job creation and generally attracting a visitor who serves as a market to members of our community. Of course, I was eager to see what was next, and 2022 did not disappoint.
This is not to say we did not have our challenges, but every ceiling we broke made all the late nights we spent strategizing worth it. It made our blood and sweat worth every drop and there is a sense of fulfillment in being a part of a winning team. 2022 was a smoother ride for me because I had gotten used to the pace at which we work and transform our continent.
Every campaign, partnership, event, and special mention to the AGM, where I dazzled in red, was an opportunity to contribute to telling the story of our business and bring my creativity to the fore. Rebuilding Aura and its community was a long but worthy process and seeing our potential, I can only imagine what life will be like 5 years from now when we achieve a lot more. 2022 was filled with wins, awards, recognitions, and sustained impressive performances. Africa’s leading business hotel, for the 8th consecutive year, isn’t a bad title to hold, alongside many more. Our year was so eventful that prose might do justice to it. We increased profit by 172% and upped our revenue by 47% to N31.4bn. In 2022 we said a few goodbyes but also said many hellos because the only thing constant in life is change and the future awaits.
It’s 2023, two and a half years and counting and the last 9 months have been nothing but phenomenal. There’s so much thinking room outside the box and all you must do is step outside of it. We have continued to prove that we are the leading hospitality brand with so much value to offer and the future is bright for us. Our 5,000-capacity event center is underway I believe it will change the game for events in West Africa as a whole. This is the season of sweating our existing assets to create and deliver value to our stakeholders and we have seen that in the performance of our share prices throughout the year. In the last year, our share price has grown by over 500% to N44.4 today. This is a testament to the continuous enhancement of service standards, expansion of our portfolio, and operational efficiencies. This is proof that our stakeholders and shareholders believe in us.
It has not been a long time, but the different phases I’ve experienced during my time here have felt like a lifetime. It is even better because it feels like changing the world with your family with a common goal to improve lives and transform Africa. With the life-changing work we do, we live and love every moment as we enjoy the services ourselves to provide better for our people.
P.S. I’m keenly looking forward to Transcorp Hilton Ikoyi, soon come!