Le Meridien quietly exited Ibom Hotel & Golf Resort last year

Yet another international hotel brand has been deflagged from a hotel property in Nigeria.  This makes the third that we have reported on, this year.  The first two being the Renaissance Ikeja and the InterContinental Lagos.  This is also the second Marriott brand to be deflagged (Marriott completed its acquisition of Starwood, who owned the Le Meridien brand prior, in 2016), after the Renaissance.

In 2017, it was reported, by Premium Times Nigeria, that Le Meridien was terminating its management contract on the 163-room hotel.  The operators of the hotel, which is owned by the Akwa Ibom State government, claimed in letters written to the state governor that the government had failed to pay its debt to the hotel when due, and had also failed to deposit required funds in the hotel’s operating accounts when required.  As of March 2017, the government was in default of N394 million payable to the hotel’s operators.

The hotel was built in 2007, and had suffered poor performance over the years, despite its choice location and facilities. Le Meridien finally removed its flag from the property in December 2017, and the hotel is now independently operated.