PEARL OF AFRICA HOTEL IN KAMPALA ALLEGED TO HAVE BROKEN LABOUR LAWS
(Posted 05th September 2018)
In a precursor to yet another change of name and / or management have the notorious Hamid brothers yet again stepped into a legal minefield, after allegedly ordering all of the hotel’s staff to sign new temporary contracts, before yet another hotel group – do those international hospitality companies ever learn a lesson from the past behaviour of the owners – Wyndham Hotels, is reportedly due to take on the management.
Wyndham Hotels will – as others before them – be walking into the eye of another storm surrounding Uganda’s most controversial of hotel projects, presently trading as the Pearl of Africa Hotel.
(Bookings anyone? No can do according to the Wyndham Hotels website – advise given, book yourself
in another nearby hotel, emphasis on HOTEL)
In fact a quick check on the Wyndham website suggests that no booking can be done at least up to end January 2019, raising more questions just how serious this deal is or if it has already fallen apart before it started – in which case the hotel may face a serious case under Uganda’s, albeit weak, labour laws.
With only part of the overall room numbers operating, due to lack of enough money to finish the project – it should be recalled that it took a good 10 years from breaking ground to opening with only a few dozen rooms out of the 300 projected – has in the past Hilton, Carlson Rezidor, now known as Radisson Hotels and then Sovereign Hotels from South Africa tried their hand in managing the property and all either walked or ran on the double or be chased, sooner or later.
Sovereign in fact still maintains the hotel on their website – similar to when they introduced themselves in Uganda – purporting to manage several properties in Kenya which the respective owners, when alerted, promptly denounced and denied. This correspondent’s read at the time was it would be a marriage made for divorce and it did not take long to come true.
More information on ATCNews about this hotel can be found via:
https://atcnews.org/?s=Kampala+Hilton+Hotel
https://atcnews.org/?s=Aya+brothers
Also read more about the story in today’s Daily Monitor via http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Pearl-of-Africa-Hotel-staff–Kulanga–Wyndham-Hamid/688334-4742386-halue5/index.html
