• Only five hotels in the entire coastal stretch have the five-star rating.
• They are Diani Reef Resort, Leopards Beach Hotel, Swahili Beach, Medina Palms and Pride Inn Paradise.
All five-star hotels at the Coast must maintain world-class standards, a hotelier said on Thursday.
Bobby Kamani, the MD of the Diani Reef Hotel in the South Coast, said such facilities must offer services that keep up with current global trends if they are to remain competitive.
Only five hotels in the entire coastal stretch are classified as five-star. They are Diani Reef Resort, Leopards Beach Hotel, Swahili Beach, Medina Palms and Pride Inn Paradise.
Kamani urged the Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA), which is mandated in law to carry out hotel classification, to be extremely strict on all establishments that have been awarded the rank.
“It is a great achievement to attain a five-star classification, but it is more challenging to maintain those standards. Therefore, the TRA should do regular checks within a year to ensure all classified hotels maintain high standards and deliver quality products and excellent services,” he said.
He suggested that the TRA co-opt veteran hoteliers to the panel that does classification so they serve as advisory members.
“Veteran hoteliers are best suited to ensure all standards are being improved and maintained within hospitality establishments,” he said.
The Diani Reef Hotel in the South Coast, which was voted Africa's leading beach resort during the World Travel Awards in 2018, was accorded the five-star status by the Kenya Tourism Regulatory Authority in April.
In 2016 during the first classification by the Tourism Regulatory Authority, Diani Reef Hotel was ranked as a four-star hotel. The management said they improved their standards and reapplied for classification this year, and scored 4,587 marks out of 5,685. That translated into about 80 per cent.
Kamani urged that when awarding five-star rating, international hospitality classifications should be followed.
"The TRA should be strict not to accept substandard products and services. Five-star classifications should be very rare in this country so all aspiring establishments go an extra mile to ensure their hotels have world-class standards to get the five-star badge," he said.
Kamani also appealed to the TRA to consider classifying and regulating serviced apartments.
"At the moment, this sector is highly not regulated and is unstructured, with such establishments not even paying the duties and taxes that traditional hotel establishments have been paying for years," he said.
(Edited by F'Orieny)