Serena Hotel gears up for Sh4bn upgrade as it unveils new camp

TPS Serena has announced a Sh4 billion plan to upgrade the Nairobi Serena hotel as competition intensifies in Kenya’s hospitality industry The revamp will see the hotel chain establish a separate wing adjacent to the Nairobi hotel that will have a 300-seat conference centre, a car park, 40 new rooms and refurbished public areas. The annex will be built on a piece of land that is currently used as a car park by hotel guests.

“If we do not reinvest in improving our properties, then they will become boring especially for repeat customers,” said the TPS Eastern Africa Group managing director, Mr Mahmud Janmohamed.” The expansion will start in December and take three years to complete.

Mr Janmohamed was speaking at the opening of the Lake Elmenteita Serena Camp in Naivasha, its 24th property in the six countries it operates in. TPS Serena’s hotels and lodges are located in Kenya, Rwanda, Zanzibar, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique.

The Sh360 million camp has 24 luxury tents and a furnished suite named Flamingo for travellers seeking privacy and comfort in a natural setting.

Located within a private ranch - the Soysambu Conservancy - 28 Kilometres from Nakuru town and a kilometre from an airstrip, the facility will host tourists visiting Lake Elmenteita. The Lake is the only breeding ground for the white Pelican in East Africa.

Lake Nakuru national park, the Kariandusi pre-historic site and the Kikopey hot springs are other tourist attractions within reach from the camp.

Unlike hotels and lodges that offer a mix of business and pleasure, luxury camps offer an exclusive experience in the wild. It is set on 25 acres within the 40,000 hectare ranch that is home to three species of giraffes. The location will help it tap into the shift in preferences by visitors towards environmental tourism.

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) is the principal shareholder in TPS Eastern Africa Ltd, which runs the Serena hotel chain.

His Highness Prince Amyn Aga Khan, chairman of the AKFED Executive Committee, called on the government to ensure that the relevant infrastructure is installed to support further investments in the country. “We in the Serena Group, are proud and grateful that we have been able to play a leading role in the growth and development of this country.

Prince Amyn said the main aim of investing in Elmentaita Serena Camp was to strengthen the hotel chain’s western Kenya Safari circuit and link it with the Masai Mara Serena Lodge.

“Places like this sanctuary can contribute significantly to the national economy while educating future generations of both citizens and foreigners. Serena will continue to do all that it can to promote and assist in conservation efforts,” he said.

The tourism ministry has invited private investors to provide diversity by setting up accommodation facilities outside the main beach and game segments of the sector.

“Such investments will be critical to ensure that we reinvent our products to meet the changing needs of our tourists,” said Tourism Minister Najib Balala. There is a deficit of 25,000 beds in the country during the peak season.

The shortfall has attracted new entrants such as Ole Serani, Sankara and Crowne Plaza in the past two years, which have seen Nairobi’s bed capacity grow by of 2,000 rooms.

Mr Balala projects that arrivals will increase by at least 20 per cent this year to cross the two million mark.

Latest tourism figures show that the number of tourists to Kenya in the first four months of the year grew 16.1 per cent to 390,148 from 336,179 recorded in the same period a year earlier, with players upbeat that the growth will continue to the end of the year.

“We expect at least between 5 to 10 per cent growth in our business this year, said Karl Hala, the East and Central Africa Director of Operations Intercontinental Hotels. “Kenya is also benefiting from the recent events in the Middle East and North Africa,” he said.