No city has ever been built in a day or by a single hand, and this encapsulates the remarkable story of the Airport View Hotel.
With evidence of hard work, dedication and concerted efforts behind a common vision as well as riding on the back of bold and calculated risks, the hotel opened its doors to the Ghanaian public 20 years ago on April 1, 2002, with 12 rooms furnished with six televisions and other facilities to make staying in the hotel comfortable.
“We took the bull by the horn with the Lord on our side,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Francis Fori Dwumah, recalls in a speech during the twentieth-anniversary celebration of the hotel.
“And if that success story has been written over two decades and counting, of sustained upward movement and growth, we have good cause to gather here in a celebratory mood as we have today,” he adds.
Indeed, 20 years in the life of any institution in our part of the world, especially if marked by consistent growth, is no mean achievement considering the ‘unthinkable’ challenges with financing, human resources and many others.
Airport View Hotel — the beginning
The edifice that in 2002 would be the Airport View Hotel was a residential structure which was shared between tenants. In 1999, Fori Dwumah, father of the current CEO, got an opportunity from the Ghana Tourist Board (now the Ghana Tourism Authority) to turn the premises into a temporary Panafest reception village which hosted tourists who had arrived for the celebration before being transported to Cape Coast. And the rest is the history being celebrated.
Fori Dwumah’s parents gave out the house, believing he could secure finance to turn it into a hotel — a very daunting and, maybe, risky task. It took him almost four years to get the project off the ground.
“The responsibility of breaking the hard earth and of servicing monthly installments, when due, while paying off other newer facilities contracted to finish the project, were nothing short of a herculean task and a miracle.
“The convenient and strategic location of Airport View, as its name indicates, especially for international clients who can access the Kotoka International Airport from our premises within a few minutes, is a lasting legacy to the late Kojo Fori Dwumah and Elizabeth Abena Fori Dwumah, my parents.
“Thank you, for believing it could be done, and offering the ‘giant shoulders’ on which we’ve stood to see and realise a brighter future. As proud of this progress as we all are, we wish you were here today to see what the Lord has done, Daddy. But I know you’re still giving me ‘Thumbs up’ in heaven. Rest well, Dad,” he said in an emotional speech at the 20th-anniversary celebration of the hotel last Friday.
The expansion
As an indigenous Ghanaian hospitality centre of excellence, Airport View Hotel has over two decades of experience in hospitality service delivery as well as contributing significantly to the development of tourism and business in Ghana.
The hotel, which was established in 2002 has, through a series of expansions, grown from a 12-room facility to a fully-fledged 3 Star hotel. It currently has a capacity of 101 comfortable rooms consisting of executive plus, executive suite, deluxe twin, deluxe room, standard twin and standard rooms.
Airport View Hotel is very committed to consistent renovations, reflecting current and modern trends and maintaining global service standards in the hospitality industry.
The opulent 3-star Airport View Hotel has other facilities such as 6 conference rooms (525 maximum sitting capacity), and a boardroom (20 maximum sitting capacity), among others.
