Hilton announced on September 1 that it will enter the Zimbabwean hotel market for the first time, after signing an agreement with Terrace Africa to develop a Hilton Garden Inn property in Harare’s upmarket Highlands Precinct, Tourism Update reported.
The 140-room hotel is expected to open in early 2029 and will include a restaurant, terrace, lobby café and bar, along with a gym, swimming pool and meeting rooms, according to Tourism Update. The Highlands Precinct is one of Harare’s established residential and diplomatic neighbourhoods, situated around 25km from Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
The Zimbabwe signing extends a run of rapid growth for Hilton across the continent. The group signed a record 29 deals across 15 African countries in 2025 and is working towards a pipeline of more than 100 hotels, which would take its total footprint on the continent, trading and in development, to more than 180 properties, according to Hilton’s own announcement at the Future Hospitality Summit Africa, reported by Travel Daily News. Carlos Khneisser, Hilton’s chief development officer for the Middle East and Africa, said the region remained central to the company’s growth ambitions. “Sub-Saharan Africa remains a strategically important growth region for Hilton, where we continue to see strong long-term potential driven by expanding business hubs, improving connectivity, and increasing investment in tourism infrastructure,” he said, cited by Travel Daily News.
Zimbabwe has drawn a wave of international hospitality investment in recent years despite the country’s broader economic challenges. Dubai-based ASB Hospitality reopened the Meikles Hotel in Harare as the Hyatt Regency Harare The Meikles in 2019, and this year expanded its Zimbabwe holdings with the acquisition of the Kingdom Hotel in Victoria Falls from First Capital Bank, according to Equity Axis. Minor Hotels has also entered the Victoria Falls market with its Anantara Stanley & Livingstone property, while Radisson Hotel Group has signed a deal for a hotel in Harare and is developing a Park Inn by Radisson resort in Victoria Falls to serve rising demand for leisure and meetings facilities, IOL Business Reportreported.
Harare in particular has lacked internationally branded hotels with dedicated conference and events space, a gap that industry figures say is becoming more visible to investors as pension funds look to deploy capital into the sector, according to IOL Business Report.
Hilton’s Garden Inn brand has been a consistent vehicle for the company’s African market entries, having already been used to open properties in Ghana, Angola and other new markets across the continent as part of the wider expansion drive, according to Travel Daily News.