(Posted 27th December 2022)
The Nairobi Hilton Hotel, located in the very centre of the city, has postponed their initial closure date which was to be Christmas.
The newly announced date is now the 31st of December, and while taking advantage of the Christmas and Boxing Day business has it probably not dawned on those responsible to also take along the New Year’s Eve celebration, which no doubt would have been a sellout.
However, the hotel is now due to close its doors on the 31st of December for good and information is awaited what the owners of the building intend to do with it.
Hilton Hotels is planning to open a luxury property in either 2023 or 2024 but already had two other brand properties in Nairobi, the Hilton Garden Inn Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the Double Tree by Hilton in the Hurlingham suburb of Nairobi.
Like the InterContinental Hotel in Nairobi was the Hilton for decades a landmark but both hotels have exited the market over government’s failure to inject fund for refurbishments and modernization.
The Kenya government, through the Kenya Development Corporation, owned a 40.57 percent share in the Hilton while the share at the InterContinental Hotel is said to be 33.83 percent.
Years of negotiations between other shareholders and government failed to accomplish results, i.e. equitable injection of funds into a full overhaul of these properties and eventually, in part also caused by the C19 pandemic, have decisions been taken to close the hotels.
