LEOPARD BEACH GETS RECORD SIX NOMINATIONS FOR WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS 2014
(Posted 02nd May 2014)
Hard work sure pays off, as do superior public relations and guest relations and a social media presence second to none at the Kenya coast, and it goes to show in the case of the Leopard Beach Resort & Spa at Kenya’s famous Diani Beach, when news broke yesterday that the hotel has just been nominated for a record 6 categories in the 2015 World Travel Awards. (http://www.leopardbeachresort.com/Vote4LBR_2014.pdf)
Last year’s WTA event, often dubbed as the Oscar’s of the Tourism and Travel Industry’, was held in Nairobi and saw the team around Chris Modigell carry away two key awards, as ‘Kenya’s Leading Resort’ and as ‘Africa’s Leading Spa Resort’. Surrounded by their beaming owners, one of whom at the time briefly spoke to his correspondent and attributed the success of the hotel over the past decade and a bit to Chris’ vision of how to turn a previously mediocre resort, before they bought it and rebuilt it, into a serial award winner both locally and internationally, the team celebrated another success story, and one after having to rebuild the resort in record time after a fire had caused some extensive damage, thankfully while closed at the time for their annual spring cleaning, maintenance and upgrades.
The ‘Chui’ as the Leopard Beach is also known amongst its countless aficionados, this year again received nominations in the same two categories but got four more nominations for ‘Kenya’s Leading Beach Resort’, ‘Kenya’s Leading Spa Resort’, ‘Africa’s Leading Family Resort’ and most notably as ‘Africa’s Leading Hotel Residences’ for their just recently opened ‘The Residences at Leopard Beach Resort’.
The new residences, villas of two and three bedrooms with own pools, offer guests the privacy they often seek but hitherto rarely found in a mainstream resort along the Kenya coast and the new addition has become an instant winner and raised the resort into another sphere. A fuller report will follow soon about the new ‘Resort within a Resort’ as the focus today will be on, how in part at least, the success of the ‘Chui’ is to a large extend attributed to their staff and their food.
Cooperating over many years with the Rembrandt Hotel and Towers in Bangkok, have multiple exchanges taken place under which key personnel from the Leopard Beach went to the Thai capital, in part to showcase Kenya through food festivals but equally important to learn a few tricks from the Rembrandt’s chefs.
Only recently were four of the ‘Chui’s’ staff in Thailand, chefs Emmanuel Kambi and Mukami Muthungu, F&B Manager Geoffrey Oyomba and Joan Ndung’u, who has since her return moved from her role in the Front Office and Guest Relations to the new ‘The Residences’. Joan holds a BSc (Hons) in Hospitality and Tourism Management and her talent and people skills earned her last year the title ‘Manager of the Year 2013’ at the Leopard Beach before then being promoted to Manager of the new complex.
In the centre of the new villa development is found the ‘Lemongrass’ and the ‘Grasshopper’, the latter a watering hole of some quality serving premium spirits, ice cold Heineken and other famous brews and vintage wines (vintage tea too I should add) and the former an Asian Fusion Restaurant, which over the past days set my tastebuds alight and caused my palate to notice various additional degrees of sweet and hot as only the Thai cuisine can bring out.
Such dishes as a green papaya salad or a tangy mango salad, with hot and sweet dressings, sweet and sour soups, locally caught tuna turned into a spicy Thai curry or a steamed lobster with ginger and hot chili were not only well presented on the plates but opened a whole new chapter in culinary delight, as the Thai cuisine fused with Kenya’s finest ingredients and her own coastal cuisine.
(Lemongrass as seen from the outside and the inside)
The new restaurant, which serves an a la carte breakfast, a la carte lunch and a la carte dinner for guests staying in The Residences, clearly has catapulted itself into an internal contest among two equals, as the main resort’s signature restaurant ‘The Chui Grill’, a ‘Chaines de Rotisseurs’ member, now has to vie with the ‘Lemongrass’ for the attention of foodies and aficionados of good cuisine.
The Lemongrass also provides for in room dining as all the new villas feature a dining room as part of a very large living space area, accessible from the bedrooms as a ‘common ground’ while also having an al fresco dining option next to the pools where guests for instance can have a leisurely lunch or an outdoor breakfast, if not a candlelit dinner under the sparkling skies, and all in the total privacy of one’s own four walls, ‘owned’ at least for the duration of their stay.
Outside guest are welcome to the Lemongrass but reservations are strictly recommended to avoid disappointment as resident guests from the villas and the rest of the resort are given priority seating.
Congratulations to being nominated for a staggering six awards this year and of course thanks to the chefs for producing that taste bud buzzing food which in itself is worth a visit to the Chui, though staying at these new, opulent villas is of course highly recommended. Here, as during a previous safari to the Masai Mara, it once again became clear that Kenya not just still has what it takes to return to her former glory days but that the destination continues to reinvent itself, add new facilities and stays in close touch with the key competitors for guests seeking sun, fun and sand, superb cuisine and added attractions when in the destination, a combination which makes Kenya unique as only an hour’s drive from the resort can the Simba Hills National Park be found where elephants still roam the wilderness as they did since days immemorial.
The Leopard Beach can be reached by flying Kenya Airways or Jambojet from Nairobi to Mombasa, though the daily nonstop service by Safarilink from Wilson Airport to the Ukunda airfield is the much preferred and highly recommended option as it saves time otherwise spent in transiting through Mombasa city and having to cross the Likoni channel by ferry.
Click on www.leopardbeachresort.com for more information, an overview of facilities, tariffs and bookings.
