Image: Wilfred Nyangaresi
Cabinet Secretary for Tourism Alfred Mutua recently introduced new criteria for hotel ratings aimed at enhancing standards and transparency in the hospitality sector.
The criteria are designed to ensure that hotels meet specific quality benchmarks in areas such as service, facilities, cleanliness, and sustainability practices.
Also, it focuses on enhancing transparency and fairness in the hotel rating system. This includes standardized assessments conducted by trained inspectors who evaluate each hotel based on established guidelines.
The goal is to provide an objective assessment that reflects the true quality of accommodations, thereby promoting trust among tourists and encouraging higher standards across the hospitality industry in Kenya.
These efforts are crucial for attracting more visitors and strengthening Kenya's reputation as a top tourist destination in Africa.
“There must be proper accommodation and conference facilities that they are going to use. And so I want to encourage the investors that please continue investing,”, stated the Principal secretary within the ministry during a stakeholder engagement.
The criteria were created by the EAC in 2009, with the community citing the need to have all the hotels in the bloc rated under one system.
According to the EAC, the hotels will be under review to ensure that they take into account the emerging trends in the tourism and hospitality sector.
The rating will also cover town and vacation hotels, lodges, tented camps, motels, trailers, cottages, and serviced apartments.
This rating system was created following a directive by the Sectoral Council on Tourism and Wildlife Management and a Panel of Experts.
In April, Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua stated that the government would review the hotels accurately, warning the closure of some of the hotels.
“Our hotels are not really to the standards that they are rated, President Ruto and I have agreed we must rate them to the required standards,” stated Alfred Mutua.
Mutua alleged that the ratings had been erroneously rated prompting the closure of those that do not meet the standards.
