The Norfolk hotel in Nairobi. [Courtesy] Financial Standard
Closure of The Norfolk is the clearest pointer to the struggles the hospitality industry is facing as other major brands are also hurting.
Fairmont The Norfolk’s new owners from Nepal, South Asia, could never have made the acquisition at a worse time. Within months of acquiring the iconic hotel in central Nairobi and the world-famous Mara Safari Club, CG Hospitality part of the Chaudhary Group, made the call. It was a call to indefinitely shut the operations of the two facilities, after being suffocated by Covid-19 and the attendant travel restrictions which have meant zero tourists. Government guidelines on social distancing have ensured that events such as meetings have moved into the digital sphere, sucking the life out of The Norfolk and hundreds of other hotels. Other hotel facilities under the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts stable, including Mt Kenya Safari Club, which is associated with billionaire Humphrey Kariuki, are yet to announce such drastic measures. The Nepalese’s decision, which involved sending all workers home, could suggest there is little prospect, at least from the owners’ perspective of matters going back to the better days, before the coronavirus outbreak. It is, however, unlikely that the history of the hotel would be wiped out by completely closing down the business, but rather the new owners could use the break to start all over again. But for Norfolk, which opened its doors to visitors in 1904, and only suspended operations in 1981 following a bomb attack which claimed 20 lives, its story is every inch that of Nairobi. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States stayed at the hotel after his retirement in 1909. Closure of The Norfolk is the clearest pointer to the struggles the hospitality industry is facing as other major brands are also suffering from lack of business. Nairobi and other major urban areas are turning into ghost towns as night clubs that defined the way of life for many having closed. The cheer that characterised Nairobi’s nightlife has been silenced by a dusk-to-dawn curfew, driving the final nail in the coffins of entertainment spots after directives on social distancing were issued. Border restrictions Businesses that connect Kenya to the world were the first to be hit by the cessation of movement and curfew as border restrictions and quarantines became the norm following the country’s first confirmed Covid-19 on March […]
