Top hotels and tented camps in Kenya emerged victorious at this year’s World Travel Awards.
The recently-opened JW Marriott Hotel in Nairobi was awarded the leading luxury hotel, outshining established competitors like Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence, Safari Park Hotel, and Dusit Princess Hotel Residences. Opened earlier this year, the 35-storey hotel is the second Marriott International luxury property in Kenya, following the JW Marriott Maasai Mara Lodge in February 2023.
Hemingways Watamu was named Kenya’s leading beach resort for the fourth time, having won this award in 2007, 2018 and 2021.
Hemingways has hotels in Watamu, two in Nairobi after acquiring The Eden, which was owned by artists, Tonio and Anna Trzebinski, a self-taught interior designer. It also has another hotel in Maasai Mara.
Villa Rosa Kempinski’s presidential suite won Kenya’s leading hotel suite. The suite where the who’s who sleep in, including former US president Barack Obama and current First Lady Jill Biden, and spanning 9,149 square feet, beat Tribe Hotel’s suite. Tribe Hotel won Africa’s leading design hotel.
The race for the presidential suite client paying upwards of Sh2.19 million a night has seen hotels renovate their top floors to accommodate a private lounge, private bar, and swimming pool among others, amenities that the very wealthy desire.
Sirai Beach clinched the top position of Africa’s leading luxury private villa. The lodge located in Borana Conservancy is owned by philanthropist Michael Spencer and sits in the African wilderness.
Social House in Nairobi, founded by Juliet Njogu, has become a popular meeting point for artistes, tech gurus and fashion designers. It won Kenya’s boutique hotel leader.
Taking off from years of turbulence, Kenya Airways which recently posted a profit for the first time in years won Africa’s leading airline, beating South African Airways, Ethiopia’s Ethiopian Airlines and Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc.
This year, Kenya’s national carrier put an end to its loss-making streak after it posted a net profit of Sh513 million in the half year to June. The last time that the airline recorded a profit was the half year to June 2013.
Allan Kilavuka, Kenya Airways’ CEO said that the booked profit is a testimony of the company’s pursuit of a turnaround from years of loss-making and operational support from taxpayers. Additionally, JKIA which has been the subject of a lease dispute with Adani has been ranked as Africa’s leading airport.
