HOSPITALITY
their travel, be it for leisure or business,” Denis adds. The company is a privately owned family business with strong roots in Rwanda that works well of the company. Booming industry, with challenges With new entrants into the Rwanda hospitality industry, Denis is convinced that the initiatives they have planned for will make the brand to retain its place in the hospitality scene. “The biggest challenge we are facing in the next months are the competitors, there are many competitors coming. The industry is multiplying by a factor of three the number of rooms in the four and five star sector, which is a lot in a short period of time. Of course we could suffer because they are newer but we have our brand that everyone who comes to Rwanda wants to see, whether they are staying at the hotel or at to another hotel,” he says. “The other challenge we have ahead is the recently opened Kigali Convention Centre that shall compete with our conferences, incentives and meetings, but we do have our place in this business area, and we can only improve our facilities to make it a wonderful place to consider for these activities.” WWW.AFRICAINCMAG.COM
“Of course as a country, we have a gap here in training of staff on hospitality and food and beverage courses. The country needs a high caliber hotel management school that meets international requirements, which I know the Hotel Association of Rwanda is discussing at the moment. For our part, we are willing to have some practical’s and internships here to build more capacity. We have good trainings here and this can be proved by the fact that other hotels are taking our employees regularly.” Building for the future According to Denis, with 40 years behind its back, the hotel is set for a major upgrade to cater for changing customer needs. “Over the past 4 months we have started to refurbish the centralized areas of the hotel to build on our recent initiatives to improve the service and quality of the hotel, but we are not yet done with the changes we require. We are having a major refurbishment of the hotel in the next 18 months, in three phases, commencing early next year, if all go to plan. The project aims to improve the rooms and other facilities, plus the security, fire detection and communication systems in the hotel. We shall also
A GROUP PHOTO OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE HOTEL
“WE HAVE STARTED TO REFURBISH THE CENTRALIZED AREAS OF THE HOTEL TO BUILD ON OUR RECENT INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE THE SERVICE AND QUALITY OF THE HOTEL”
AUG - SEPT 2016 | AFRICA INC
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