Valentine’s Day – big business for hotels and restaurants in Uganda

LOVE WILL BE IN THE AIR ON VALENTINE’S WEEKEND

(Posted 22nd January 2015)

First out of the starting blocks to promote this year’s Valentine’s weekend – the 14th of February falls on a Saturday making it a perfect weekend event – was as usual the Sheraton Kampala Hotel, where the regular programme of food and entertainment will however have a twist in the proverbial tail.

On offer this year at the top end of the market is not just a traditional Valentine’s dinner with red roses, chocolates and champagne but a stay at the hotel’s Presidential Suite. This top of the pops package comes with a bag full of added goodies for the lucky couple who manage to put down their deposit first and then enjoy a night out feeling like Queen and King. At 800 US Dollars does this sound almost like a bargain, considering there is dinner included, as is breakfast the next day, butler service and live string music when dinner is served in the privacy of the suite, and the view over Kampala at night from the 12th floor thrown in for good measure.

Apart from this has the Sheraton partnered with Radio One to run a series of promotional spots on one of Kampala’s leading FM stations which range from just dinner, at the Seven Seas or the Paradise Restaurant to dinner with a room or dinner with a suite. This will allow the love bird couples with the option of going ‘home’ riding the elevator rather than having to drive, when no doubts the boys in blue will be laying in wait to spoil the afterfun with their breathalyzer tests.

Novel this year is a ‘Valentine Country Party which will be hosted at the Sheraton’s Lion Centre set in the extensive gardens of the hotel. Free entrance will no doubt guarantee a full house of lovers, entertained by Uganda’s number one country station Bob FM, sitting under the star studded sky and listen to all the country greats and their hottest interpretations of eternal love.

Those who stay for the night will also have access to the Kidepo Spa of the hotel and work there is in high gear to finish the new treatment rooms, which will include facilities for couples’ massages. No doubt will the ladies be impressed when surprised with such an added gift by their beaus.

Kampala’s leading hotels but also hospitality businesses across the country will be painted in red come the 14th of February and safari lodges and camps have also started to market the Valentine Weekend with special offers. Closest to Kampala, just 60 kilometres away from the capital inside the Mabira Forest, does one find the award winning RainForest Lodge by GeoLodges where the 12 private cabins will no doubt be sold out that weekend, this being one of Uganda’s most romantic spots.

On Bulago Island is a whole private villa available at One Minute South which can be booked by love struck couples who may want to get away as a group. For many of the other island resorts on Lake Victoria or the more conventional safari lodges in the national parks, the ‘No Vacancy’ signs are due to go up soon as a Valentine’s weekend is the perfect reason for a getaway with a loved one and bookings, according to the reservations manager of one lodge group, are coming in thick and fast.