‘With Aenon Suites, Osogbo, we’re looking to start Nigeria’s first hotel franchise’

Perhaps, Osogbo, capital of Osun State, may not be the place for the birth of a hotel franchise dream. In fact, given Nigeria’s management slips in most sectors, the dream of building a wholly Nigerian hotel franchise, a service-driven sector, where South Africans have since taken the lead, would seem a misplaced dream. But promoters of Aenon Suites, Osogbo, new entrants to the sector, are confident they already have the best foot forward with what they have created.

And they are inviting serious-minded investors to come to Osogbo to see for themselves a new era in hoteling business in the country. Located in the serene, GRA Osogbo, Aenon Suites is a four star hotel providing five-star hotel services, with an eclectic design that borrows from successful hotels from around the world from China to the Caribbean and the Middle East, with facilities that are top class.

Visitors from around the world to Osogbo for the famous Osun Osogbo Festival, who usually agonise over a good place to stay, can heave a sigh of relief as Aenon Suites,’ with its luxurious 41-room, now beckons. Aenon Suites came into being as a result of the promoter’s nasty experience in 2012, when he came visiting his hometown from Abuja and could not find a comfortable place to lay his head. That was how Aenon Suites’ president, Mr. Ademola Adedapo, made up his mind to give Osogbo the gift of a standard hotel.

According to him, “In 2012, I came to Osogbo at about 4pm and was looking for a place to sleep; I spent hours looking. I like making myself comfortable. Well, I got a place eventually but it was not what I liked. I had to build something of standard. Let’s have a high standard hotel in Osogbo. At Aenon Suites, dreams do come true; today, we are here. I appreciate good things; I will maintain standards”.

That was the inspiration for Aenon Suites. Maintaining standards is usually the bane of most service-oriented businesses in Nigeria. Adedapo assured that it won’t be a problem for the hotel as he has thought it through before venturing out.

As he noted, “I have retained the services of international hotel managers, Barefoot Hotels. They have references and we will use performance indicators to measure what they do. They have high standards to meet. Our slogan is ‘Luxury at the peak’. So, if you have high standard, good taste, Aenon Suites is the place for you”.

The high standards, notwithstanding, Adedapo said the room rates “are too good to be true for the standard. Affordability is key, no matter the standard. We will need to have people here, different category of persons. From the plans and the facilities in the hotel, I can assure that we are here for business and for the long haul. From Osogbo, we will go to other parts of the state and the country. We might start a franchise for Aenon Suites. We try to model the hotel after a hotel in China, our beddings after Sheraton; we picked up models from here and there”.

Adedapo said the target market for Aenon Suites includes Osogbo, Ibadan and Ife.

Managing Director of Barefoot Hotels, Mr. Pierre Diata, gave insight why most Nigerian hotels are poorly maintained. He said international hotels set aside a portion of its earnings in a bank specifically for maintenance, which also yields interest. Diata said Aenon Suites has taken that model for its operations to sustain the standards the new facility has set.