Sandra Kneubuhler Takes Over At Radisson Hotel Group As MD For Africa, Brings Radisson Academy To Nigeria

Radisson Hotel Group has announced the promotion of Sandra Kneubuhler to Managing Director for Africa. Based in Johannesburg, Sandra now oversees the Group’s operations across English-speaking African countries, continuing to build on its strong presence and success across the continent.

Since joining Radisson Hotel Group in February 2019, Sandra has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a commitment to excellence. Previously serving as Country Director of Sales and District Director for South Africa, Sandra played an instrumental role in developing and leading the company’s Cluster Sales Team in South Africa, further establishing Radisson Hotel Group as a leader in the region. Under her guidance, Radisson saw impressive growth, including an 11% increase in corporate revenue during her first year. Sandra’s strategic focus and ability to cultivate high-performing teams have positioned her as a driving force in the Group’s success in South Africa. In addition, she led the commercial and operational teams in South Africa with a focus on delivering long-term, strategic value for all stakeholders.  Her holistic approach resulted in strong performances across all key performance indicators such as market share, profitability, guest satisfaction, and employee engagement.

In her expanded role, Sandra will now lead operations across Radisson Hotel Group’s English-speaking markets in Africa. This appointment reflects the Group’s commitment to investing in regional talent and strengthening its footprint across Africa, one of its key growth markets. Sandra’s extensive experience in the African hospitality sector and her expertise in strategic revenue growth, team development, and operational excellence uniquely equip her to oversee the Group’s operations across this dynamic region

Sandra Kneubuhler visited Nigeria recently and was unveiled during a cocktail night at Radisson Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.

She spoke to some top media players and General Managers of Radisson Hotels, where she described Nigerians as people with genuine and authentic hospitality and promised to bring the company’s academy to Nigeria.

 Her words:‘’ Next year, we are going to bring Radisson Academy life to Nigeria. It is a business school that will focus on training and development. We have Radisson Academy online that has over 30,000 training courses available free to our employees at any point, but the true part is training people face-to-face. This is face-to-face business and we are excited to bring Radisson Academy to Nigeria.

‘’I know that our team will embrace and make the most of it. It will be part of Nigeria amazing story, Kneubuhler added.

On Nigeria’s economy, she said ‘’Our goal is to maintain Radisson’s position as market leader in Nigeria. Nigeria has a great market potential. It oozes opportunities. Our goal is not only to maintain that position but to enhance it.

‘’We currently have five hotels in operation and to further aid our development; by 2027 we will have 2000 operated hotel rooms in Nigeria. We will open Radisson Benin City next year and following that in 2026, we will open Radisson Abuja.’’

According to her,’’ Hospitality is not just about growing buildings, the most important part of hospitality is growing people and this is where our commitment is absolute. It is  such a joy to see our colleagues who have grown consistently in their careers, throughout their careers working in Radisson, and that will grow and accelerate.’’

In terms of market leadership in Nigeria, Radisson Hotel Group continues to be a market leader with a robust portfolio of 13 hotels currently in operation and underdevelopment.

The Radisson family of brands portfolio includes Radisson Collection, art’otel, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Radisson Individuals, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, Country Inn& Suites by Radisson, and Prize by Radisson, brought together under one commercial umbrella brand, Radisson Hotels

On what informed the aggressiveness in building businesses in Nigeria despite the declining economy, she said, “We build businesses for the future. We have a sustainable long-term vision. So economies come and go. We operate in very volatile markets, I think the key is strong hotel development. You keep pushing forward and sticking with your long-term strategic plan.

We have a long- term vision and we think for the future.”

On what she intends to do differently during her tenure, she said with her strong commercial background, “I will far rather make more revenue than think about how to cut cost and that is my general business philosophy and I have a very deep focus on making more.

“I think we can be very strategic, very smart without having to go crazy running around businesses. My big focus is on prime commercial business and I also believe we can score a 100 per cent.”

On what she intends to do about Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and exhibitions (MICE) competitions among some big hotels in Nigeria, Kneubuhler said, “Nigeria has a very robust MICE market and it has been a very good education in the last three days understanding this market. What you guys do very well in Nigeria is big volumes. What will be great is to uplift it experimentally so that we can attract more international MICE travellers.