Five years after fancy launch, city hotel goes under hammer

Nairobi UpperHill Hotel. [File]

Serenity is one of the qualities of a hotel that a weary traveller might insist on when selecting where to stay.

But for Nairobi UpperHill Hotel, which is surrounded by whistling pines, serenity is just another word for dwindling business.

The hotel that was valued at Sh500 million in 2015 is set to be auctioned in a week’s time in an attempt to recover a debt owed to the National Bank of Kenya (NBK).

Upper Hill has over the years risen to be the capital’s top business hub, hosting Kenya’s tallest buildings, including the 200m Britam Tower. The area is also set to host Africa’s tallest building – The Pinnacle – which will cast a long shadow over its competition at 1,000 feet.

The promise of a booming business district as offices moved away from the CBD is what prompted hotel owner Wahome Muotia to start construction in 2014 in the area that was once predominantly residential.

Media reports say that Mr Muotia had initially secured a Sh281 million loan against the property.

Six years later and the country is reeling from oversupply of commercial offices and a stagnant economy. Dozens of buildings are empty and key properties in the city are being auctioned.

A short distance from the hotel, which is hidden off Matumbato Road, is the Geomaps Centre that is also struggling to attract tenants.

A freshly done signpost in English and French states that while the hotel is being refurbished, it is open for business.

There is a solitary guard at the gate but no security check. One beat-up car sits alone in the parking lot.

Warm reception

On entering the hotel, two female receptionists warmly welcome this writer.

The staff say that the hotel is ‘fully booked’ at the moment with only a few rooms undergoing refurbishment.

The repairs, they add, are part of efforts to attract more visitors.

They are also quick to dismiss any talk of the looming auction. “That is just porojo (empty talk).”

Strangely, there are no brochures in sight. A request for food or drink is met by an embarrassed half-silence.

The restaurant is deathly quiet. The only sound coming from the kitchen is that of a knife furiously at work on a chopping board.

There is no menu and the only dishes on offer are beef with rice or chicken with ugali.

Nothing is ready. Food here is prepared on order. “That is how we do even for the guests,” says a waiter.

The Standard was not able to reach the hotel’s owner or management. After a phone call, the message was that they had ‘left’.

In an interview in 2015, the owner had said that bed occupancy stood at 60 per cent. Six of the guests were from African countries. Majority of the travellers were on a business trip to Nairobi.

Muotia had said that business was good with the hotel “already ahead of initial projections, thanks to aggressive pricing that offered clients a four-star experience at a fraction of the cost.”

According to Garam Investment Auctioneers, the property has a Sh5 million gross monthly income.

The hotel joins others that have fallen under the hammer, such as the six-storey Roof Garden Hotel in Machakos owned by former Cabinet minister Gideon Ndambuki.

Then there is Jacaranda Hotel that was established by the late Cabinet Minister Njenga Karume. Its planned auction was put on hold for 90 days by the courts to give the family time to pay off a loan owed to Guaranty Trust Bank.

Auctioneers’ bid

Recently, the number of properties being auctioned have increased with six pages in the local dailies on Monday filled with auctioneers’ bid announcements.

Also going under the hammer next week are two prime properties by Cresta Investments Ltd, according to advertisements put out by Garam.

They include a section of the The Mirage in Westands where the auctioneer is selling a penthouse on the top-most floor of Tower 2.

The other property is situated inside NextGen Mall along Mombasa Road.

It is on the first floor and is described as a “pent office packaged together with three parking bays”. It attracts a monthly rent of Sh530,000, according to the auctioneer.