Kigali’s “Grand ol’ Dame” of the hospitality industry, the Hotel des Mille Collines, will from mid-2014 come under Kempinski management, it was confirmed over the weekend.
The hotel’s new General Manager, Mr. Christoph Strahm, is already on site and several other Kempinski team members will join him over the coming weeks, as the hotel, named earlier this year by Rwanda’s “The ServiceMag” as Kigali’s hotel with the best service, moves towards a full rebranding with a renewed marketing drive.
The 112 room and suites hotel, it was reliably learned, will then embark on a major refurbishment lasting some 18 months, during which also major changes to the F&B services will be implemented to reflect Kempinski’s global reputation as one of the oldest and finest global hospitality concerns.
In Kenya Kempinski manages the Villa Rosa Kempinski in Nairobi and the Kempinski Olare Mara luxury tented camp in the world famous Masai Mara Game Reserve, which was recently voted as one of the top ten best properties of its kind in the world.
The company’s push into Rwanda, one of the region’s fast growing economies, confirms Kempinski’s intent to widen their footprint across the African continent with CEO Reto Wittwer recently saying: “Africa is THE future market for us, both from a strategic and a financial point of view.
Important key destinations which play a vital role for the economic development of the continent are our target there. As we were industry pioneers in Russia and China, we also want to be pioneers in enhancing the luxury hotel market in Africa and set new standards in quality, service and luxury. We are focusing particularly on sub-Saharan Africa, which has seen exceptional economic growth for several years now.”
Kempinski already operates seven hotels in Africa, five of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. The company is opening new hotels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Rwanda, in Equatorial Guinea, in Ghana and a third hotel in Egypt, all within the next 12 months.
Source: TN
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