Acacia Premier a big boon to bed capacity

By VERAH OKEYO
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The first thing that strikes you when you enter the rooms at Acacia Premier Hotel in Kisumu is the playful yet out-of-the ordinary colour palette used.

Blue, indigo and a tinge of grey— a colour more commonly associated with commercial settings rather than homes or hotels — splashed asymmetrically on either the curtains or the furniture.

This might be considered somewhat symbolic because just as grey is defying interior design and décor trends in the hotel’s rooms, the hotel’s debut is also changing the  face of the lakeside town in regard to hospitality.

The Chair of the Western Kenya Hospitality Association, Robinson Anyal, said that the opening of Acacia Premier Hotel, classified as a four-star institution, had gone a long way in bringing world class hospitality to Kisumu.

“For a long time this region’s growth was limited by lack of beds, and by opening its doors, Acacia  has solved part of the problem but there is still much more to be done,” he told DN2.

FIERCE COMPETITION

Mr Anyal said that in the last five years, investors in the hospitality industry have been engaged in fierce competition, leading to the construction of the Great Lakes Hotel, The Vic and Impala Ecolodge, among others.

A report on tourism by the International Development Corporation (IDC) in 2012 It had mentioned  that while Kisumu presented opportunities for an up-market clientèle, a lot more needed to be done to make its products internationally branded and affordable.

“The quality of our hospitality facilities has also been a great impediment to growth”, Mr Anyal said, “and Acacia hotel’s grading as a four-star facility, with a Sh55,000-a night presidential suite, will change that.”

For the last five years, reports and experts in ecotourism and hospitality management have described Kisumu as a place with potential to change the hospitality industry in the Lake Victoria region.

The IDC report, which studied the hospitality industry in select East and West African countries, singled out Kisumu as “an up-and-coming hospitality hotspot in the continent”.

And Dr Shem Maingi from Kenyatta University’s Department of Tourism Management described Kisumu as an area “rich in the Nilotic culture that would be an anthropological hub if marketed properly”.

According to the IDC report, Kisumu, with 12 graded hotels, was third in Kenya, coming after Nairobi, which had 63, and Mombasa, with 27. The 12 hotels in Kisumu are  all within a five-kilometre radius of the town’s central business district.

Barely 800 metres from the 94-room Acacia, are hotels  such as Sovereign, Imperial, and Royal City Hotel (which has three branches in the town) and Kisumu Hotel.

More hotels can be found slightly further towards the lake near Kilimani estate, while Rock Resort is located about 10 kilometres from the city centre on the way to Maseno.

For decades the 86-room Imperial Hotel was the largest  in the region.

A look at the Acacia Hotel’s visitors’ book indicates that dignitaries such as  governors and renowned businessmen have been accommodated at the facility barely three months after it was officially opened.

The governor’s conference, which took place at the Tom Mboya Labour Hotel in April this year, seemed to have been a wake-up call for Kisumu’s hotel owners.

Mr Anyal said that members of his association were  working hard to exploit “emerging destinations”.

“The beaches are a favourite for people but security and their cleanliness are not working in our favour”, he said, adding that “there are also other  tourist attractions around us such as Kakamega Forest, parks such as Ruma, Ndere, Impala, the Kisumu Museum and Kit Mikayi boulders on the outskirts of the town.

He said the investors would also exploit  the fame of US President Barack Obama’s ancestral home in Kogelo in Alego, Siaya County, to promote tourism.

Check Also https://parkviewhotelkisumu.com/

 

Attraction Sites Discovered

A beautiful evening at Jambo Impala Eco lodge, within Impala Sanctuary Kisumu- A great attraction site worth visiting http://jambochesterhotels.com/impala

BY OUR REPORTER

The Western Kenya Tourism Circuit has grown over time following the development of more market oriented attraction sites.

The sites not only target domestic tours but also have the capability of meeting international standards required of the trade.

Traversing various counties in the western region gives one a chance to sample at least 69 attractions of which quite a number have been gazetted and documented.

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) is currently working with tourism promoters and partners in the industry not only to identify but also facilitate registration of new attractions.

They have also engaged tourism players in keeping an inventory of all new attractions for ease of marketing and subsequent official registration into the Kenyan tourism map.

In line with the Vision 2030, magical Kenya as the outfit for marketing Kenyan tourism products has worked tirelessly with the western Kenya tourism promoters to record sites and activities in the KTB inventory.

Among the identified attractions, the western circuit provides a variety from the expansive Lake Victoria having lush beaches that border Siaya, Homa Bay, Kisumu, Migori and Busia counties to unlimited number of caves found in some of the smallest hills around the region.

With the advent of devolution, a number of these sites have become strategic targets for revenue generation in the regions where they fall with others being taken care of by the municipal councils, National Museum of Kenya and Kenya Wildlife Service conservancies.

Mr Antony Ochieng, an expert in the sector, says that the western circuit was ripe for any form of tourism that would build on the existing domestic tourism market.

Starting with Kisumu County which boasts of being the hub of tourism in the entire east African market through its central location in the East Africa Community, tourism players have voted most of the attractions as better placed to bring the business to the region.

“Kisumu city is in itself an attraction with its widely established hotel circuit being in a position to host as many as 1500 guests in one single night; the annual turnover of visitors has also grown over time to more than 250,000 visitors,” Mr Ochieng observes.

He further highlighted the presence of the restocked Impala Park-also hosting the Impala ecolodge with its magnificent view of Lake Victoria, state of the art cottages set up in a serene high bird population location.

Visitors to the county will also have options of going to the Ndere Island national park, Abindu caves, Kit Mikayi and the fabled Lwanda Magere stone prehistoric site in Muhoroni.

An initiative of the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology is also geared towards reviving most Lake Victoria beach fronts to create eco-tourism opportunities for students visiting the country from time to time.

These will traverse both Kisumu and Siaya County to create a circuit that will also enable visitations to the Lake Kanyaboli – an ox bow lake within Yala Swamp which is well known for unique bird attractions – with some of the most unique species migrating from as far as Europe seasonally.

Siaya County also boasts of the Kogelo Community famed to be the ancestral home of US President Barack Obama with superb road networks connecting to the Achieng Oneko mausoleum and Mageta Island – the Kenyan ‘Robben Island’ having hosted Dedan Kimathi while in detention in the hands of the colonialists.

In Migori County, the tourism players voted Thimlich Ohinga, a unique architectural stone structure covering 52 acres.

History has it that the place used to be a unique home to some sub tribes of the Luo and Bantu community who migrated to Zimbabwe, Tanzania about 500 years ago;

Other attractions in the county were stated to include Gogo falls that currently serves a hydroelectric power plant joining the national grid; the plant is serving Sony Sugar Mills and the neighboring small towns of Awendo, Uriri and by extension Migori Town.

“The sugarcane and tobacco growing zones also present rich agro-tourism packages for visitors interested in seeing how tobacco is processed,” Mr Ochieng said.

In the neighboring Homa Bay County, tourists visiting the region stand a chance of having another touch of Lake Victoria’s lush scenery.

Mr Ochieng states that a visitor to the county would be treated to a tour of the Tom Mboya Mausoleum, Ruma National Park, Rusinga island Lodge-an attraction beyond the lodge facilities; Kisindi lodge which neighbors the famous Huma Hills well known for the numerous Bala Hotspurs.

“Another attraction unique to the county is the fabled Simbi Nyaima which has of late seen a growing number of flamingoes migrating from Lake Nakuru; this has supped up the uniqueness of nearby Nyamgondho site,” Mr Ochieng noted.

In Kisii, the recent upsurge of hotels like Dados, Bluu Nile, Ufanisi Resort among others providing accommodation to the region’s domestic visitors has brought additional advantages to the soapstone mining industry at Tabaka-well known for curving various artistic products of splendid aesthetic value.

Kenya Tourism Board is also in the processing of branding Nyamira water falls, an exclusive breathtaking site that will add to the hike activities that have grown strongly on Manga Hills giving an opportunity for good view of the Tea estates and banana plantations that form the bedrock of the county’s agro-economic potential.

The initiatives of the tourism players have also expanded to the neighboring counties of Bungoma, Kakamega –well known for the Kakamega Forest which hosts the unique species of De-braza monkey – and the Trans Nzoia County which has major wildlife conservancies in the country run by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Busia has also come up strongly with the Teso Culture which has been voted under the rich heritage displayed in their systems of governance, unique hunting practices among attractions like the Ekakapel stones and caves, and agro-tourism presented by the expansive Bunyala Rice Fields.

Acacia Premier Hotel, Kisumu

Acacia Premier Hotel, Kisumu

Source: Acacia Premier Hotel, Kisumu

The Mystical and Aquatic Experience of Acacia’s rooftop Bar & Grill

Kisumu’s Hospitality standards Elevated

Our Reporter

Over the past decade Kisumu has developed into one of East Africa’s most vibrant and popular leisure, tourism and business hubs. However the market gap for an ideal hospitality partner that offered world-class services to today’s worldly leisure or business traveler has had its impact on the growth and development of Kisumu and western Kenya at large. So it was only befitting that the Lakeside city looks towards an ultra-successful hospitality group to change the face and skyline of Kisumu, and who better to do this than the group that brought Kenya its iconic Villa Rosa Kempinski, Nairobi and the awe-inspiring Olare mara Kempinski. Here are the beautiful Pictures from Acacia Premier- The New 4 star in Kisumu city.

Desert Rose Resort: The Hillside Hotel with a view

Hotels in Western Kenya Star Rating Results.

Impala Eco Lodge which is rated 3 star lodge

BY OUR REPORTER

Hotel industry players in western Kenya are angling for expansion of their market base following the completion of a classification drive launched by the sector’s regulator.

The grades, released last week, have issued the latest star-rating for hotels, lodges and restaurants in Nyanza, Western and North Rift tourism circuit that participated in the study.

The study was initiated by the ministry of east African affairs, commerce and tourism in the month of April.

Mr Kipkorir Lagat, acting director general Tourism Regulatory Authority, reports that most hotels at western Kenya are in the range of one to four stars.

In the authority’s report, Eldoret based Boma Inn led the pack as a 4-star facility in the region in the category of town hotels.

It was followed closely by hotels namely, hotel Nyakoe based in Kisii and Kisumu’s Sovereign Hotel, Imperial, the Vic, the Noble Conference Centre earned a 3-star rating.

Kakamega’s Golf Hotel was rated as a two-star alongside Kisii based Dados, Kisumu’s St Johns Manor a franchise of the Le Savanna Country lodges and Sunset hotels.

Eight others from the north rift circuit were awarded a two-star in the category of hotels.

For lodges, Kerio View and Samich resort in Elgeyo Marakwet scooped the three star rating alongside Kisumu’s Impala ecolodge whereas Rondo retreat in Kakamega was found fit for a two-star.

Haandi restaurant, which boasts of being the only destination for evening dinners in Kisumu Central business district, was awarded a three star in the classification.

Western Kenya Hospitality leaders association chairman Robinson Anyal said the grading was welcome.

Mr Anyal told Kisumu Hotel Managers Group that the results were good for raising the marketing value of the circuit.

“We are also going to weed out entrepreneurs who used to defraud clients through non-existent grades. The information will be made public in the Kenya gazette notice. An emblem of the class will also be strategically put at the hotel’s reception,” said Mr Anyal.

The hotelier said many facilities in the region had improved their standards of service delivery.

Some of the big hotel names in the region that missed out the classification drive for lack of crucial licenses have one month to comply.

The hotels that missed the first round of classification, which was started in April this year, will pay Sh50,000 for fresh vetting before June 2016.

Those who are not vetted will lose the prestigious selling point posited by a star rating.

Acacia Premier Hotel brand officially unveiled in Kisumu

Hotels cash in on business spilling to western Kenya

Acacia Premier Hotel

By NATION CORRESPONDENT
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Tourism players in western Kenya are taking advantage of business that is spilling to the region due to US President Barack Obama’s visit.

Hotels in the region are already recording bookings by individuals who have decided to get away from the pressures of Nairobi, where the Global Entrepreneurship Summit is taking place.

Acacia Premier, which is set to host a Safaricom business meeting in Kisumu, which will be attended by 150 participants, and Imperial Hotel, among other resorts, are gearing up for the boom.

The telecom firm is believed to have chosen Kisumu owing to the inconveniences caused by the business summit, with most hotels in Nairobi said to be fully booked.

The surge in the number of guests has also been experienced at St John Manor, Le Savanna and Royal City hotels in the lakeside town.

Western Kenya Hospitality Leaders Association chairman Robinson Anyal told the Nation that many people were visiting the region.

“There are some people who are travelling to connect with the US president by just being in his village or region of origin in western Kenya,” said Mr Anyal.

He said visitors seeking to explore business opportunities in the region have also been booked at various hotels.

“Our profile is now higher than before. What we pray for is that President Obama makes a decision to travel here, even for 30 minutes,” said Mr Anyal.