SAROVA MARA MAKES IT ON TO THE CONDE NAST GOLD LIST
(Posted 26th January 2014)
It is this time of year when hospitality businesses are keenly checking their mail inboxes to find out, some as expected and others perhaps a little more surprised, if they got news from TripAdvisor or Conde Nast about their rating and ranking for the current year.
The Sarova Mara Game Camp in fact got two such notifications last week and is for 2014 now among the elite club of the Conde Nast Gold List, which recognizes only the best of the best and which requires extraordinary levels of hospitality and facilities to be considered for that honour.
TripAdvisor reportedly came hot on the heels of that accolade when they then named the camp as a 2014 Travelers’ Choice property, following consistently glowing reviews by guests who stayed there while on safari in Kenya. Congratulations are hence in order to all the staff at the camp who made this possible and who deserve the recognition.
In fact it is Kenya which is expected to take the bulk of such recognitions in the East African region, as a result of a thoroughly professional hospitality sector which, unlike in some other countries in the EAC, as a rule rather than the exception, manages hotels, lodges and resorts put up by developers whereas elsewhere the trend has been for the developers to declare themselves hoteliers, with predictable results of an often glaring lack of competence leave alone excellence. Hotels in Nairobi and resorts along the coast regularly display their trophies and certificates from such organizations as Conde Nast or TripAdvisor while many elsewhere in the region are either not bothered, in some cases don’t know about the power of such recognition in the market place or else simply do not qualify. Watch out in coming days for more announcements as the full lists from Conde Nast and TripAdvisor are becoming available.
