Companies

Thailand firm to open Nairobi luxury hotel

dusit

DusitD2 event in Nairobi last year. PHOTO | FILE

Thailand-listed hotelier Dusit International has set a September opening date for its five-star hotel in Nairobi.

The Bangkok-based hotel and resort chain will operate a hotel dubbed dusitD2 Nairobi located off Riverside Drive in the upmarket Lavington Estate in Nairobi.

The luxury hotel was scheduled to open by the end of last year, but construction delays forced the developers to push back its opening to June and now September.

“We are already receiving bookings and will open in early September. We are targeting business travellers and the local MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) industry,” said Olivier Francais, general manager at dusitD2 Nairobi.

Dusit International in May tapped Mr Francais from the Sheraton Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco to oversee its launch in the Kenyan market. He was previously as general manager at Sheraton, Le Meriden Hotels and Sofitel Hotels.

In January, dusitD2 Nairobi began recruiting staff like chefs, bartenders, accountants, house keepers and security officers.

The hotel is set on a development christened 14 Riverside, owned by the Sanghrajka family, the proprietors of Tile & Carpet Centre.

The hotel will be managed and operated by Dusit International, marking its entry into the hospitality industry in sub-Saharan Africa. The Thai hotel chain owns the Dusit Thani LakeView Cairo in Egypt which opened in 2009.

The 101-bedroom dusitD2 Nairobi Hotel is expected to increase Nairobi’s bed capacity which has witnessed increased demand for accommodation due to its status as the regional hub for many multinationals.

Dusit International, listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, says it plans to open more hotels in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

“The company has put a greater emphasis on increasing its hotel management services overseas, especially in those promising regions, which are deemed major emerging markets with high purchasing power and potential to grow,” says Dusit International in its 2013 annual report.

Dusit’s total revenue grew 7.4 per cent to 5.1 billion Thai Baht ($160.3 million) in the year ended December 31, 2013 and posted a net profit of 90.1 million Thai Baht ($2.8 million).

The Thai firm becomes the latest global hotel chain set to open shop in Kenya which has recently recorded increased activity with a pipeline of planned entrants.

Its opening comes at a time when Kenya’s tourism sector and hotel industry has been battered by the state of insecurity at the coast, which has seen many holiday makers cancel bookings.

Another Bangkok investor, the Chirathivat family -Thailand’s second richest family with a net worth of $12.3 billion – announced in September last year plans to set up a hotel in Nairobi under the Centara Hotels & Resorts brand.

Malaysian billionaire Tan Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes plans to open his low-budget Tune Hotel brand in Nairobi by mid-2015.

Mr Fernandes is the owner of English Premier League club Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and founder of budget carrier AirAsia where he serves as group chief executive.

Other international hotel chains looking to open in Kenya in the next two years include Marriot, easyHotels by Lonrho, Hilton Garden Inn and Dubai-based Emaar Hospitality.