In a world where volatility has become the norm, hospitality is emerging as one of the few sectors still capable of offering something powerful: hope, dignity, and transformation.
This was the central thread of a conversation between Jeremy Maggs, veteran broadcaster and moderator, and Hamza Farooqui, founder and CEO of Millat Hospitality , during a fire side chat titled Luxury Hospitality as a Catalyst for Urban Renewal. The discussion, at the just-ended FHS Africa conference in Cape Town brought together deep reflections on risk, community impact, and the real power of execution.
“We are in an incredibly volatile world,” Farooqui began. “But it all points to a very simple thing. Human beings, we are deeply vulnerable. If there’s one sector and one business which has the capability today to transform that, it’s our business. It’s the hospitality tourism business.”
For Farooqui , luxury hospitality is not just about indulgence: it’s about offering experiences that reconnect people to what matters. In a post-pandemic world where uncertainty looms large, travel and hospitality have become more than mere escape routes; they are “a choice of hope.”
But beyond emotional impact lies the harder question: can hospitality meaningfully contribute to the transformation of cities?
“There isn’t the kind of intentionality, there isn’t the kind of real desire to transform spaces,” Farooqui said. “Execution capability is where the challenge is.”
According to him, many players: including banks, brands, and governments: remain risk-averse, paralysed by inaction. What’s missing, he argues, is the will to “get stuff done.”
Gentrification or Growth?
Luxury developments often invite criticism for fuelling gentrification, displacing locals rather than including them. Farooqui said ,
“We shouldn’t be apologetic. There’s always going to be circumstances where you will have to replace buildings, people, and spaces,” he acknowledged.
But for him, the real question lies in how it’s done.
“ When a luxury brand arrives in an urban space… there is significant good which it brings. It brings brand awareness. It brings skills. It brings an optimised supply chain.”
He cited his first hotel in Bo-Kaap, a historically sensitive part of Cape Town. “We found a path on how to make the community a very inclusive part for that. We found a common thread.”
And inclusion, he insisted, doesn’t always mean offering replacement housing: it can also mean creating meaningful economic pathways.
Beyond Entry-Level Jobs
Farooqui pushed back against the common critique that hospitality jobs begin and end at low-wage positions.
“Entry-level jobs is where you start, but you need to really make sure that you are career pathing people into higher skills,” he said.
His company is opening what he called “the world’s smallest park Hyatt” in the coming weeks, and the training strategy is radically different.
“I have an entire team which is doing a very curated training program. Not the brand-delivered training program, but a military-delivered training program.
Because when you build the people with a very unique skill set, and I’m not talking about the standard training which the industry does, but when you start training staff and people on emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, you start making them a lot more employable. You start making them better individuals. So, I think the move towards entry-level jobs and really upskilling people is, again, a function of intentionality.”
What’s needed, he said, is a deep move toward intentional upskilling not copy-pasting European or American frameworks, but building local training ecosystems that reflect local realities.
Accountability Through Action
When asked how developers like himself should be held accountable, Farooqui answered,
“At the end of the day, it’s about the results… There just isn’t enough execution. There’s a lot of talk. There’s a policy. But there just isn’t enough execution.”
For Farooqui , real credibility comes not from checklists or policies, but from track record. “Execution capability,” he said, is the real metric by which hospitality leaders must be measured.
Capability Over Capital
In the broader African context,Farooqui believes the challenge isn’t lack of money; it’s lack of capability.
“A great idea finds money . Money should never be anyone’s challenge. There’s a serious lack of execution capability.”
He added: “Then you enter the space of will, right? There just isn’t enough of a public sector framework to support that.”
Even in the face of competition: which he welcomes: he says what’s missing is a consistent level of skill and cohesion across the sector.
Hotels as Social Infrastructure
According to Farooqui , hotels are more than commercial assets.
“Hotels are a vital fabric of countries, societies. We should deem them as social infrastructure,” Farooqui said.
Too often, he argued, authorities treat hospitality as a luxury indulgence, taxing hotels heavily without appreciating their deeper social and economic role.
“Hotels are platforms for success, where business, where communities come together. If you look at a hotel P\&L today, there’s still great leakage… cities just claiming rates and taxes and valuing them on the same commercial property scale.”
For true urban renewal, he suggested, governments must offer smarter incentives and reframe hotels as engines of growth .
“ I think those incentives aren’t there. That incentive will come when I think the government starts to understand that hotels, travel, tourism are important drivers. If you look at other parts of the world, they got it and look at where their economies are today.”
Lessons from Abroad
When asked which global cities are getting it right, Hamza Farooqui elaborated ;
“Go look at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today… It’s exceptional. Go with a story that everyone is deeply familiar with the UAE. Look at how they’ve transformed their cities.”
While both countries had the advantage of capital, their success, he argued, ultimately came down to something Africa often lacks: execution capability.
“If Africa can take a piece of just getting it done… sitting on the fence and just getting things going, I think we’ll transform and renew the cities.”
The Environmental Question
Maggs didn’t let him off the hook on sustainability either; especially in a climate-stressed country like South Africa.
Faruqi responded;
“In the first instance, you’re hoping that the government would have invested in the right infrastructure. That’s not the case, and that’s not the doing of luxury hospitality.”
Still, he insisted that the economic impact of luxury travellers can be massive.
“If a luxury traveller comes and spends $1,000, that’s equivalent to probably 10 select service or full service room. There’s a huge opportunity and value leakage which governments and the ecosystem benefit from.”
Final Call: Service, Not Favour
Farooqui’s final message was directed at city officials and planners.
“There needs to be a concept of accessibility and service. Government is here to serve, right? And if there’s a concept of service; not that they’re doing the private sector a favour: then I think we can really build a very helpful ecosystem.”
In that final statement lies the beating heart of his argument: hospitality, done right, can be a catalyst for economic uplift, cultural revival, and real urban renewal. But only if those with the power to shape cities stop sitting on the fence and start building something real.
