Sheraton Addis, the iconic boutique-like hotel located near the national palace, is going to be renamed Marriott Addis.

According to sources at the hotel, which opened shop twenty years ago, the new brand change is to happen by the end of the year. This is two years after Marriott purchased Starwood Hotels & Resorts, owner of the Sheraton brand at a reported USD 13 billion merging the world’s famous brands under a single portfolio.

Marriott – the world’s largest operator of hotels – has been in an aggressive drive to expand its brand within the African continent aiming to open two hundred hotels, by either acquisition or by construction of new hotels with the aim of offering 37,000 guestrooms by the year 2022.

While the purchase of Starwood took place in 2016, Marriott has had a slew of challenges to flip some of the newly bought brand hotels to that of its famous Marriott brand.

Marriott International announced its transformation plan this summer aiming to refurbish the Sheraton brand after the latter lost some of its luster over the years. “From the moment we closed the Starwood merger in late 2016, the revitalization of Sheraton has been a top priority for our company,” it’s CEO and President Arne Sorenson said. “We knew that the way to restore this incredible brand was to focus and collaborate with our hotel owners”.

The owner of the local Sheraton, Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi remains in a Saudi Arabia prison and his new role remains unclear. There was to be a milestone celebration in February of this year, but was abruptly cancelled due to the situation of the owner.

There is currently a Marriott brand in Addis Ababa named Marriott Executive Apartments, the first Marriott branded property in the continent owned by real-estate mogul Samuel Tafesse, Sunshine Investment Group.

The Reporter reached out to Sheraton Addis for comment and was referred to its managing director, who is currently on vacation.