BEST WESTERN SET TO OPEN IN ENTEBBE IN Q2 OF 2016
(Posted 10th January 2016)
After Sheraton, which entered the Ugandan hospitality market in the second part of the 1980’s and Protea – now a Marriott brand – which came to the country ahead of the Commonwealth Summit in 2007 and now operates two hotels in Uganda with two more under construction, will Best Western join as a third global brand when their new franchised hotel in Entebbe opens in the early part of Quarter Two of this year.
Located at the Victoria Mall, about five kilometres from the airport along the main road through the town, has the sign been up for some time while interior outfitting continues, not something ordinarily done at such an early stage unless the owners felt the need to catch the eye of the market. This was further affirmed by a series of enquiries by mail and message to this correspondent from Ugandans and notably Kenyan travelers who saw the sign.
It is understood that the number of rooms is likely to be in the 90 to 100 range and may open as a Best Western Premier, the top of the three currently used brands by the hotel group.
More global hotel groups have in the past shown interest in Uganda, but the site of the former Kingdom Hotels, which was to be turned into an InterContinental Hotel, has not progressed for the past three years. The so called Kampala Hilton, while looking complete at the outside has also not opened for operations, after construction started ten years ago. The hotel was due for completion for the 2007 November Commonwealth Summit, something which never happened however and has since been in a state of intermittent hibernation. Only a few weeks ago did one of the owners again cause a stir in the local hospitality industry when he spoke of a December opening date, which, as all other announcements before however came and went without the expected results.
New momentum for regional hotel developments and in particular in Uganda are expected from the October Africa Hotel Investment Forum which will this year be held in Kigali at the new national convention centre at the Radisson Blu Hotel after earlier editions took place in Addis Ababa and Nairobi. Information about this event can be accessed via www.africa-conference.com
