KENYA: Intercontinental Hotel Group Former Africa Manager Appointed To Head Ole Sereni

Hotel group Ole Sereni has hired a former manager of the Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) as its new boss.

Karl Hala, who was the regional general manager, IHG Africa and general manager InterContinental Hotel Lagos will be responsible for all operations and revenue growth for Ole Sereni.

I am excited to start a new challenge within Ole Sereni and look forward to working with the team to further develop their already extensive product and service suite, said Mr Hala.

This position was previously held by Ghulam Samdani.

Karl’s wealth of experience and industry knowledge has already made him a key addition to the Ole Sereni family. We view his appointment as a sign of our commitment to being the leading airport hotel in our industry, said Ole Sereni Director of the Board Mr Nazir Noordin.

Mr Hala has spent the past 35 years at InterContinental Hotel Group with 10 years handling Africa.

Ole Sereni is currently constructing the second phase of the hotel, which will feature long-stay apartments to cater for accommodation demands by clients.

Meanwhile, Mumbai-based hospitality firm Sarovar has asked the High Court to allow it to recover Sh57 million from Ole Sereni as compensation for being unfairly booted from management of the four-star Kenyan hotel.

Sarovar claims in suit papers that Ole Sereni has failed to honour demands for settlement of the Sh57 million it was awarded by an arbitration panel in December last year.

Ole Sereni is yet to respond to the suit. Justice Rachael Ng’etich has ordered the Kenyan hotel to respond before July 19 when the case comes up before her again.

Ole Sereni on opening its doors in 2009 hired Sarovar to manage the Mombasa Road facility. The hotel however parted ways with Sarovar in 2013 following allegations of negligent management.

The two parties opted to settle their dispute through arbitration, and in December last year the panel of Njoroge Regeru, Njeri Kariuki and Wilfred Nderitu ruled that Ole Sereni had not followed due process and awarded the Indian firm Sh57 million.

Sarovar has sued Ole Sereni through its parent firm, Placid View Properties Limited.

Sarovar argued that Ole Sereni did not give a 30 day notice before terminating its management deal with the four star hotel.

The final award has not been modified, set aside, or varied by any competent court. I am not aware of any proceedings in this honourable court seeking to set aside or vary the final award. Placid View Properties Limited is yet to settle the final award despite my company making a request through our advocate.

I request this honourable court to adopt and enter judgment against Placid View as per the final award of the arbitration tribunal to enable my company enforce the resultant decree. I also pray that my company be awarded the costs of these proceedings, Sarovar executive director Ajay Bakaya says.

But Ole Sereni insisted that there was no need to issue a notice, as Sarovar had breached the management contract by failing to ensure that the hotel was up to standards expected of a four star facility.



Tourism Observer

KENYA: Sarovar Wants Sh57 Million Compensation From Ole Sereni Hotel For Terminating Management Contract

Hospitality company Sarovar from India has asked the High Court to allow it to recover Sh57 million from Ole Sereni as compensation for being unfairly booted from management of the four-star Kenyan hotel.

Sarovar claims in suit papers that Ole Sereni has failed to honour demands for settlement of the Sh57 million it was awarded by an arbitration panel in December last year.

Ole Sereni is yet to respond to the suit. Justice Rachael Ng’etich has ordered the Kenyan hotel to respond before July 19 when the case comes up before her again.

Ole Sereni on opening its doors in 2009 hired Sarovar to manage the Mombasa Road facility. The hotel however parted ways with Sarovar in 2013 following allegations of negligent management.

The two parties opted to settle their dispute through arbitration, and in December last year the panel of Njoroge Regeru, Njeri Kariuki and Wilfred Nderitu ruled that Ole Sereni had not followed due process and awarded the Indian firm Sh57 million.

Sarovar has sued Ole Sereni through its parent firm, Placid View Properties Limited.

Sarovar argued that Ole Sereni did not give a 30 day notice before terminating its management deal with the four star hotel.

The final award has not been modified, set aside, or varied by any competent court. I am not aware of any proceedings in this honourable court seeking to set aside or vary the final award. Placid View Properties Limited is yet to settle the final award despite my company making a request through our advocate.

I request this honourable court to adopt and enter judgment against Placid View as per the final award of the arbitration tribunal to enable my company enforce the resultant decree. I also pray that my company be awarded the costs of these proceedings, Sarovar executive director Ajay Bakaya says.

But Ole Sereni insisted that there was no need to issue a notice, as Sarovar had breached the management contract by failing to ensure that the hotel was up to standards expected of a four star facility.

KENYA: Spare Nairobi Park

News are emerging from Nairobi that the Kenya Railways Corporation has yielded to pressure and is reviewing the planned routing around Nairobi for the new Standard Gauge Railway system, which is due for completion of phase one by late 2017.

The planned incursion into the Nairobi National Park was harshly condemned by conservationists and civil society leaders who were alarmed by the piece meal destruction of key biodiversity and wildlife habitat areas in the park, after the so called Southern Bypass has already eaten its way into the park areas near the boundary between the Ole Sereni Hotel and the Carnivore Restaurant.

Pictures taken of the railway crossing the Tsavo East National Park support the concerns raised as there significant sections of the new route run on an elevated solid foundation, making animal crossings all but impossible, restricting game movement to those areas where the railways is laid on elevated pylons.

It is understood that the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources, under which the park falls, Prof. Judi Wakhungu, bolstered by the upcoming high profile ivory burn of 105 tons, has raised her voice in opposition too and apparently told the railways bosses that their planned routing through the park would not be tolerated and they better go back to the drawing board.

This is now apparently taking place but which routing, North or South of Nairobi, the new tracks will take remains a closely guarded secret and is perhaps not even known at this stage to the technocrats.

Once phase one, connecting the port of Mombasa to Nairobi, is completed will the second phase, technically much more challenging due to the terrain, take the railway to the border with Uganda. From there, under Ugandan supervision, the route is due to go further in to the hinterland countries of Rwanda, Eastern Congo and South Sudan.

Nairobi National Park of late was hit by a series of predator excursions, linked to the construction activities of the Southern Bypass and other related activities, leading the the most unfortunate shooting of an iconic male lion, Mohawk, for which the Kenya Wildlife Service came under sustained criticism which todate has not yet fully subsided.

Other lion and game excursions too were recorded but ended in a more peaceful manner without sharp shooters killing any more of the already dwindling lion population in the park.

KENYA: Kenya Wildlife Service Cedes Parkland For Highway Construction

The stalled road works for the completion of the Southern Bypass, a key component to de-congest the Nairobi city centre, are now expected to resume after the Kenya Wildlife Service has formally signed an easement agreement with the Kenyan Ministry of Transport and the Kenya National Highway Authority.

Some 53 acres of land along the park boundary line will be available now for the contractor to close the link between the two completed sections, and will run from near the Ole Sereni Hotel off the main road to and from the airport to near the Carnivore Restaurant close to the Wilson Airport.

The deal was finally signed on Friday after the Board of Trustees of the Kenya Wildlife Service had finally agreed to the easement agreement, a decision a source close to the organization termed as ‘very hard but in the national interest’.

The delay of almost half a year resulted in continued major traffic jams along the main highways through the city of Nairobi, where the Uhuru Highway from the Nyayo Stadium to Waiyaki Way is often described by stuck motorists as Nairobi’s longest parking lot.

Both the Northern and Southern Bypass and other key road projects routing traffic from the Mombasa Highway destined for upcountry around the city centre are crucial to provide faster road access for commuters in and out of the city, combined with ongoing work on a commuter rail project.

The next major construction projects running along the same park boundary will be the Standard Gauge Railway, when it reaches Nairobi with reports suggesting that some 70 percent of the route from Mombasa to the capital is already well advanced, as also recently seen during a tour along the new SGR route in Tsavo East.