A wider remit in Kinshasa
Compagnie Hôtelière et Immobilière du Congo (CHIC) has announced an expanded role for Willy Walter Youbessi, who steps up to the position of Cluster General Manager. He now oversees three Accor-branded properties in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the Novotel Kinshasa La Gombe, the Ibis Styles Kinshasa and the Novotel Lubumbashi.
In his new role, he brings his experience to bear on the two Kinshasa properties while continuing to lead the Novotel Lubumbashi. CHIC has set four priorities for the assignment: operational excellence, guest experience, commercial performance and talent development.
Lubumbashi, an opening that has proved its worth
Willy Youbessi led the opening of the Novotel Lubumbashi in May 2024, in one of the country’s main mining hubs in the south. According to CHIC, he and his teams have since delivered strong commercial growth, strengthened operational performance and established the hotel among the country’s benchmark addresses.
The property was named “Democratic Republic of Congo’s Leading Hotel” at the 2025 World Travel Awards – an accolade the Novotel Kinshasa La Gombe had won the previous year, in 2024.
CHIC, a Congolese developer backed by Accor
Founded in 2017 by entrepreneurs based in the DRC whose business interests span real estate and construction, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, mining and technology, among others, CHIC positions itself as a hotel owner and developer. The company builds its properties itself.
Its partnership with Accor covers the development of five hotels under the Novotel and ibis brands across four cities, totalling 660 keys. Announced in 2019, the programme initially targeted Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Kolwezi for the Novotel brand.
In its announcement, CHIC presents the appointment as a reflection of its ongoing commitment to strengthening leadership across its growing hotel portfolio in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
THT Analysis • A more competitive Congolese market
Bringing the three properties under a single leadership comes as major international groups step up their presence in the DRC. In Kinshasa, Marriott International made its debut in the country with the Protea Hotel by Marriott and the Four Points by Sheraton, while the Hilton Kinshasa opened in August 2023.
Radisson Hotel Group has also lined up several projects in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, as part of a strategy that has taken it past the 100-hotel mark in Africa. Against this backdrop, entrusting both markets to the same executive allows CHIC to bring to Kinshasa a method already proven in Lubumbashi.
