#ADVERTORIAL | DStv For Business
Hotels now sell far more than a place to sleep. Here is how DStv for Business is helping Addis Ababa’s hotels turn in-room entertainment into a better guest experience as COP32 approaches.
Not long ago, a hotel’s promise was simple: a clean room, a hot meal and a key that worked. Guests now expect much more, and over the past decade the industry has quietly caught up.
Today’s traveller wants connectivity that never drops, food and drink that feels chosen rather than merely available, spaces that suit both work and rest, and staff who remember their preferences. Wellness facilities, thoughtful design and seamless technology were once luxuries. Now they are the starting point. Business and leisure travel have blurred, too. The same guest may close a deal at noon, watch a match at six, and expect the hotel to serve both versions of themselves without friction.
The way guests judge has changed as well. A stay is no longer assessed privately at checkout. It is rated publicly, in detail, within hours, and those scores shape the next thousand bookings. Hotels compete on experience, not just on price or location, and every touchpoint, from the front desk to the restaurant to the room itself, is part of the product.
Of all the things that now define a stay, entertainment may be the most personal, because it is what guests turn to when the day is done. After the flight, the meetings or the sightseeing, a guest expects the match, the news, a film and the children’s channel to be waiting in the room, without effort. For many travellers, the room is where the stay is really lived. It is where they unwind, catch up with home and quietly decide whether they will come back.
Range matters, because hotel guests are never one audience. A European visitor wants familiar sport and a favourite series. A business traveller wants current affairs and documentaries. A family wants Ethiopian and African films. A group of friends wants the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, LaLiga, local leagues and motorsport, all carried by SuperSport. A lineup that serves only one of these audiences lets the others down.
That thinking is behind DStv for Business Stay, the in-room offering designed to make a hotel or lodge the best place for families, business travellers, sports lovers and kids. Channel packages can be tailored to each property’s character, so a busy international business hotel and a family-friendly lodge need not carry the same lineup. Crisp high-definition pictures and a well-set-up screen make the difference between a television that is simply switched on and one that makes a room feel like a welcome.
When it works, guests barely mention it. When it doesn’t, they remember, and they write about it.
Few cities have more reason to care than Addis Ababa. It is home to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and Ethiopian Airlines makes it one of the continent’s great crossroads. The capital has more than 500 hotels, most of them small, independently run properties, yet only around 25,000 accommodation beds. With COP32, the United Nations climate summit, due in November 2027 and more than 80,000 international delegates expected, the city plans to raise capacity above 80,000 beds.
The industry is already building. Ethiopia has nearly 6,000 rooms across 34 hotels in its development pipeline, and close to 80 percent of those rooms are under construction, the highest share in Africa. Major brands are expanding, including a planned Hilton Garden Inn within the Hilton Addis Ababa compound and an additional Sheraton-branded hotel within the Sheraton Addis compound.
But capacity is only the first test. When every new tower offers a comfortable mattress and a decent breakfast, rooms become a commodity, and the difference is made in the hours between meetings. Addis Ababa has already shown it can host large gatherings, with more than 50 international and continental events in six months last year. What decides whether those visitors come back is the experience inside the hotel.
Several of the country’s best-known names have already made that investment. Ethiopian Skylight Hotel, owned by Ethiopian Airlines Group and a short drive from Bole International Airport, is among the largest hotels in Africa and welcomes guests from every continent. Radisson Blu Hotel, Addis Ababa, sits in the Kazanchis business district at the centre of the city’s diplomatic and corporate life. Haile Grand Addis Ababa, part of the Haile Resorts group, and Lewi Resort and Hotel have also chosen DStv for Business, as has Boston Partners, the group behind the Kuriftu resorts, which are known for leisure and family stays. Their guests are very different, from airline passengers and delegates to holidaymakers and families, but they share a conviction that entertainment belongs at the centre of the stay.
The principle behind that choice is simple. A guest who walks into a room where the match, the news, the film and the children’s channel are all ready and looking their best feels that someone has paid attention. That sense of care is what turns a good stay into one worth recommending.
For Ethiopian hoteliers, the practical steps are straightforward. Start with the evening hours between seven and eleven, when guests return to their rooms and what is on the screen shapes how the whole stay feels. Then match the package to the property, thinking about who actually sleeps with you, whether business travellers, families or sports fans, and plan around major fixtures and large events. Finally, listen to your guests. Track their feedback on in-room entertainment and notice how it changes during big match weeks and busy conference periods.
With COP32 about a year away, the window to prepare is open. Guests don’t simply book a bed. They book an evening, a mood, a reason to linger. The hotels that understand this, and equip every room accordingly, will be ready long before the first delegate lands.
To find out how DStv for Business Stay can work for your property, contact DStv for Business today via dstvbusiness@dstvethiopia.com or visit our web site https://www.dstv.com/business/en-et/dstv-business-packages/