Heritage

Capital M apartments target Airbnb travellers

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Artistic renderings of the pool (left) and lobby (right) of the Capital M building in Nairobi. Photos | Courtesy

Capital M, a property in Nairobi’s Westlands area, plans to enter into the untapped Airbnb business travel market.

Airbnb — a home-sharing site — is quietly taking root in Kenya especially in Coast as owners open up their beautiful villas to mostly tourists who want a home away from home accommodation.

For business travellers, their uptake of Airbnb is still low as many still prefer the finest hotel rooms which guarantee daily clean beddings, a bar or a gym and conference facilities.

However, Capital M - which will have 110 apartments and penthouses - has set the bar high in the residential property market and will have a conference centre, concierge services and a cafe.

Residents can also play indoor squash, swim or lounge on a rooftop pool or roof garden after work. The roof garden also insulates the building from heat and keeps it cool.

The high-rise property is set to compete with hotels such as Crowne Plaza, Radisson Blu and Villa Rosa Kempinski for business. It also has a business lounge.

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Aram Laloui, the director at Zana Group, the marketers of the property said its location makes it attractive to business travellers.

‘’Airbnb has high numbers of users and Capital M wants to leverage these travellers to attract higher rental income for property owners,’’ said Mr Laloui.

Their one-bedroom apartments are seen as the ultimate bachelor pads targeting the young and rich and will cost Sh14.25 million while a penthouse goes for Sh40 million.

Mr Laloui said currently a traveller staying in an Airbnb listed house pays between Sh11,000 to Sh20,000 a night in Westlands for one and two bedroomed-units respectively.

The property, set to be completed next year, will also target frequent travellers to Nairobi who want a permanent base.

The developers behind Capital M are Fedha Group which built Fedha Plaza and Executive Residency by Best Western.

The developers, Fedha Group, are among Kenyan companies that won global accolades last week.

The property won the Residential High-Rise Development category at the Africa & Arabia Property Awards in Dubai.

Beglin Woods Architects also won in the Residential High-Rise Architecture category for Kenya.

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