Number of Kenyan five-star hotels doubles on new rating

The number of Kenyan hospitality establishments with a five-star rating has more than doubled following the classification of hotels and restaurants in Nairobi.

In a gazette notice published last week, the Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA) said that it had completed classification of 40 businesses most of which are in the Nairobi region.

Out of these, eight hotels were categorised five-star. This brings to a close a national exercise that had already identified seven other five-star category establishments, bringing the total to 15.

The hotel and restaurant industry pegs its pricing on the star-classification system. These classifications are also used as marketing tools.

“This is an international benchmark. If you’re rated five-star, then all your international guests know to expect a certain level of service,” said Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and Caterers chief executive Mike Macharia.

The five-star hotels in Nairobi are Villa Rosa Kempinski, Hemmingway’s Nairobi, Sankara Nairobi, Fairmont The Norfolk, Sarova Stanely, Tribe Hotel, Dusit D2 and Radisson Blu Hotel.

Nine hotels were deemed four-star, six were categorised three-star, 11 were two-star and one was classified one-star. Two lodges were both three-star establishments; a tented camp was deemed a three-star establishment while two restaurants were classed two-star and three-star.

This list of classified establishments is far from comprehensive of the region. However, Mr Macharia says that while restaurants and hotels are required to submit themselves for assessment, they may request delays in the process.

The geographic spread of the highest classified facilities is at odds with the patterns for Kenya’s tourism sector. The Coast region, a tourism hotspot, only has three five-star facilities.

However, Mr Macharia argues that this has to do more with the assessment criteria than the quality of facilities.

“To be a five-star hotel, you must have rooms and conference facilities in certain sizes for instance. Outside of the urban areas, this may not make much sense for investors. They may opt for smaller facilities,” said Mr Macharia.

These classifications are also reflective of intensive investment in the hotel sector over the past five years that has seen the entry of luxury brands into the Kenyan market with a focus on Nairobi.

At the beginning of 2016, it was estimated that at least sixteen new hotels were planning to set up in Kenya.

The star rating system assesses hotels and restaurants on everything from the quality of their location and the quality of their décor to the grooming standards and linguistic diversity of staff.

Five-star rated facilities are expected to exceed these standards— providing larger and more luxurious facilities with high standards of customer service.