Kempinski Hotels focuses portfolio expansion on Africa

150 150 Daniel Fountain
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Kempinski Hotels, Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group, has announced plans to expand its portfolio of luxury hotels in Africa. With two new properties opened in Kenya in 2013, Kempinski looks to add five more hotels to its African portfolio in the next year. Upcoming openings in Africa in 2014 include the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra, Ghana and the Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski in Cairo, Egypt set to open early in the year, as well as a newly signed hotel and golf resort in the future capital of Equatorial Guinea, Oyala. Additional plans are moving forward to open hotels in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo by the end of the year.

At a press conference at the new Villa Rosa Kempinski in Nairobi this week, President and CEO of Kempinski Hotels, Mr. Reto Wittwer told reporters that following the company’s success expanding into the Middle East and China over the past twenty years, Kempinski expects its growing portfolio in key destinations across the African continent to become a major source of revenue for the company, as well as provide new sources for talent and talent development across the company.

Recent and upcoming openings in Africa:
The five-star Villa Rosa Kempinski is located on Chiromo road, within the Westlands area in the heart of Nairobi. It is only a half-hour drive from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and five minute drive to the Nairobi Central Business District. The new luxury hotel will consist of 200 spacious rooms and suites distributed over ten floors, including two Presidential Suites on the top floor. The hotel will feature three concept restaurants in addition to an all-day dining restaurant, a bar, and a cigar lounge.

Olare Mara Kempinski luxury camp is located in the beautiful Olare Orok Conservancy, which is home to some of the Mara’s largest lion prides. The property features twelve spacious luxury tents, which are built on elevated decks with private balconies that offer unhindered views of the Mara Plains and the Ntiakitiak River.

Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City Accra set to open in early 2014 will offer 269 rooms, including 22 suites and two Presidential Suites and will feature include two restaurants, a lobby café with outdoor seating, a cocktail bar and lounge and 6,000 square metres of retail space. The 3,000 square metre Resense Spa (the first branded Resense spa in Africa) will offer 10 treatment rooms, a beauty parlour, a fitness centre, a yoga studio, an organic food bar, a 25-metre outdoor pool, two table tennis courts and two tennis courts. It will set new standards for luxury, quality and service across all of West Africa.

Set atop the budding desert hills of New Cairo and just minutes away from Cairo International Airport, the Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski will be beacon of grandeur and luxurious hospitality. Guests will enjoy cool breezes of desert evenings in lush open spaces, the aromatic flavors of signature restaurants, as well as the serenity of 244 spacious, stylish rooms and suites. Housing the largest ballroom in the Middle East the hotel is set to become the most sought after venue in the city for conventions and celebrations.

Daniel Fountain / 29.10.2013

Editor, Hotel Designs

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