Valor Hospitality Partners, a leading global hospitality brand, is looking back at a strong year as an organization—opening six properties and adding 28 Hotelitarians to the global home office teams as part of the ongoing growth. Valor also celebrated 10 years of operating on the African continent and receiving over 20 nominations for property awards including some of the industry’s most prominent recognitions: the Connie Award by Hilton, the Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Award and Travel + Leisure’s 500.
With properties in America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Valor Hospitality continues to expand its global portfolio of nearly 100 hospitality projects. In 2023, Valor notably opened the Holiday Inn Express Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA and the sleek and modern five-star Hilton Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo—the organization’s first property in Central Africa. Strides were also made in current development projects across all global regions including the announcement of the 2024 openings of Cloudland at McLemore Resort, Lookout Mountain, a five-star spa and resort in Rising Fawn, Georgia, USA, and the five-star boutique hotels, Seaton House, in St. Andrews, Scotland and Dunluce Lodge in Portrush, Northern Ireland.
In autumn 2023, Valor Africa announced its partnership with InnSight Advisory, becoming Valor Advisory, enabling the global hospitality brand to expand its top-tier advisory services to destinations in Africa, the Middle East and Indian Ocean islands. In addition, Valor U.K. announced a partnership with Zeal Hotels to manage a net zero carbon property development and Valor Middle East partnered with Petra Sea Resort to develop more than 50 acres of land into internationally branded resorts, leisure and wellness facilities and a wide variety of lifestyle food and beverage outlets in Batumi, Georgia. Less than one month later, the company was named lead operator for The Octa Karachi, a multi-use development in Pakistan, further progressing the company’s development in the Middle East.
The organization also continued on its drive to be a leading sustainability ambassador announcing its partnership with South African footwear brand Veldskoen shoes. Hotelitarians from The Harpeth Hotel in Franklin, Tennessee received a pair of shoes that are produced with ethically sourced materials and zero carbon emissions from the brand’s Heritage line. As a part of the partnership, Veldskoen Shoes made a charitable donation of 60 pairs of shoes to One Generation Away, a non-profit working toward a more ethical future by upcycling quality surplus food from grocery stores. Valor plans to work towards seeing nearly all of their 7,000 Hotelitarians in a pair of shoes by the end of this year.
"I am thrilled with the year we have had as we continue to grow and innovate globally," said Euan McGlashan, global co-founder and CEO of Valor Hospitality Partners. "Our intention during 2023 was to strengthen our internal teams for the ultimate benefit of what we do best: developing our teams personally and professionally while delivering some of the strongest commercial returns in the industry for our clients. We continue to be obsessed with remembering why we all do what we do and that is creating memorable experiences for our guests."
Apart from managing, consulting, operating and preparing openings for nearly 100 projects in its portfolio, the company itself was also named as IHG’s "Revenue Team of the Year" in the UK region at the IHG Connecting Brilliance Awards and recognized among the 2023 Top 6 Best Places to Work in the UK Hospitality industry by The Caterer. Over the course of the year, Valor also introduced several new technologies and methods to streamline internal communication and training processes for guest-facing team members in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The company remained committed to global philanthropy when celebrating its ten-year anniversary of Valor Africa with a donation to its previous partner in the annual Cape Town Cycle tour, the Amy Foundation. Valor also donated towards The Click Foundation, a non-governmental organization that helps under-serviced primary schools in South Africa improve foundational literacy, numeracy and digital skills through the deployment of relevant online programs.
Additionally, Valor America engaged with local Alabama communities to assist in the maintenance of cleaning facilities at Foley High School and the other projects at the Lakeshore Foundation, an organization focused on creating the opportunity to live healthy lifestyles for individuals with disabilities in Birmingham. Properties located in the company’s U.K. region remained actively involved with local charities and community activities.
