KCB to sign Ole Sereni Hotel expansion funding deal

What you need to know:

Ole Sereni Hotel will use the KCB loan to develop another outlet to take advantage of the growing demand driven by business travel and conferencing.
While announcing the expansion in January, Ole-Sereni said it was missing out on conferencing business because of its small meeting rooms.
The planned expansion targets to grow into this niche market by having big conference rooms and additional bed capacity.

The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) is Tuesday set to sign a multi-million shilling deal to finance expansion of Ole Sereni Hotel in Nairobi.

The hotel, located on Mombasa Road, will use the bank loan to develop another outlet to take advantage of the growing demand driven by business travel and conferencing.

Ole-Sereni in January while announcing its expansion plans said it had been missing out on conferencing business because of its small meeting rooms.

International conference organisers often prefer to host delegates and events under the same roof. However, because of constraints of space and size of meeting rooms, many hoteliers are missing out on the lucrative business opportunity.

The planned expansion targets to grow into this niche market by having big conference rooms and additional bed capacity.

“The development is part of the hotel’s expansion plan to meet the increasing demand for hospitality services while at the same time providing world class services in the dynamic industry,” read a media advisory sent on Monday by KCB.

The works will see Ole-Sereni build a separate five-star hotel next to the current one. The project is valued at Sh1.8 billion, but KCB is expected to reveal on Tuesday how much it will advance to the hotel as part of the financing deal.

READ: Ole Sereni to spend Sh1.8bn on expansion

This is the second mega hospitality business KCB is funding. Two years ago, the lender funded the Sh5 billion construction of the English Point Marina in Mombasa.

KCB is the largest bank Kenya in asset base and market capitalisation. The new hotel will have double bed capacity unlike the current hotel.

The Ole-Sereni Hotel is an African themed establishment overlooking the Nairobi National Park. The park and its wildlife has been a great selling point for the hotel, which has 134 rooms and suites.

The slump in leisure tourism has coincided with a surge in demand for travel and business accommodation.

Safari Park Hotel & Casino is one of few facilities in Nairobi with large meeting and conferencing venues. Investors are now moving in for a piece of this market.

Businessman Deepak Kamani, who is linked to the Anglo-leasing corruption cases, is also planning to set up a mega conferencing facility in Diani. This will be part of expansion on his five star Diani Reef Hotel.

The Heron Portico Hotel announced last week it had acquired a Westlands-based boutique hotel for Sh1 billion.