So which are Kampala’s top hotels? Read on to find out all about it.

KAMPALA’S HOTEL INDUSTRY – FROM TOP TO BOTTOM

(Posted 30th June 2015)

The formal rankings of Kampala’s hotel industry, when they were announced last weekend, brought few surprises in the top, 5 star tier, even though some previously self-styled 5 star properties lost out rather badly, leaving the owners with bruised egos and the general public satisfied that some form of justice was finally done.

The fact that the Kampala Serena Hotel was named as a 5 star hotel was universally accepted as recognizing the fact that indeed it was the country’s leading hotel and conference centre. The Kampala Sheraton was classified to be at the coveted 5 star level too, as was the Commonwealth Resort in Munyonyo, located in the neighbourhood of this correspondent’s own residence. No other hotel made it to the top and those who expected the Lake Victoria Serena Resort to be named will just have to wait a little longer, as this classy lakeside resort is located outside the city limits and will probably be on the list of upcoming ranking targets by the Ugandan authorities when the teams of inspectors move on towards Entebbe, Mukono and Jinja before going further upcountry.

Among those Kampala based hotels attaining 4 star rankings were perhaps some surprises but no one would argue that the Protea Hotel Kampala is among them. Named alongside the Protea was the Speke Resort Munyonyo, which is part of the greater Munyonyo resort and conference complex.

There were reportedly some rumblings over other 4 star hotels where the owners perhaps expected more and the tourism trade and public at large expected less as the Imperial Royale Hotel, Hotel Africana and the Royal Suites Bugolobi completed the 4 star roundup.

A total of eight hotels made it into the 3 star category and it is to be seen if the 5 stars one of them had attached to their name over the front entrance gate will be removed anytime soon or else remain until either this correspondent or someone else with the guts climbs up and tears the now officially surplus stars, which have misled the public for so long, down.

Among those named was the Kabira Country Club, the Fang Fang Hotel, the Fairway Hotel and the Mackinnon Suites with the balance made up by the Silver Springs Hotel, Ivy’s Hotel, Sports View Hotel and the Grand Imperial Hotel.

Ten more hotels attained a 2 star ranking and fuller details will in due course be available on the Uganda Tourism Board website, as UTB – the implementing government agency – intends to showcase such quality attributes when marketing the country at large and Kampala in particular.

The criteria used were developed under the auspices of the East African Community and the standards are used across the five member states, giving visitors to the region at last a level of assurance that they can have some confidence in the star ranking system used and align the various levels across the five countries. Said one official on condition of anonymity to this correspondent on the phone in response to a question: ‘I have to agree, if we were to compare our rankings with those in Dubai, which you asked about, we cannot compare their 5 and 4 star results with ours. But we worked within the framework of the EAC which defined the standards and developed the catalogue of criteria. The inspectors worked in accordance with that catalogue. True, there is room for future improvement but we had to start somewhere to silence critics like yourself that the grading took too long. It is also true of course that the exercise was delayed and should have been done years ago for the Commonwealth Summit in 2007. However, the regulations were only passed in 2014 and without regulations and implementation guidelines our hands were tied. Once those regulations were published we embarked immediately on the exercise. It is now also up to the media to help publish those results and make Ugandans and our visitors aware’.

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