It was December 17, 1969, when Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, president of Kenya for six years, inaugurated the tallest and most imposing hotel in Kenya, located in the center of Nairobi.
The Hilton chain made its entrance into East Africa with a 200+ room palace that would remain one of the tallest buildings in the capital for many years.
After 53 years, the iconic Hilton in Nairobi's CBD will close its doors for good. This was declared by the management, which is 40% owned by the Kenyan government, giving December of this year as the date of cessation of operations. The facility didn't make it through the pandemic unscathed, which limited admissions to Kenya, and still hasn't seen operations resume as they did in back-to-back years until 2019. Plus in the meantime, the chain's other two locations, the Hilton Garden Inn at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the Hurlingham Hilton in Nairobi's "chinatown," are functioning better. In fact, management will try to divert as much staff as possible to the other two facilities.
"Covid-19 has created unprecedented challenges for our industry," explains hotel management. However, the decision to cease operations is not directly related to the pandemic. Unfortunately, the closure of the hotel is part of an inevitable downsizing process."
The fact is that during the pandemic, there are already four historic hotels that have decided to cease their services: before the Hilton, also the historic Intercontinental Hotel, the Regency and the Radisson Blu have confirmed that the CBD is no longer a place for hospitality, which prefers to find dedicated locations or quieter and less busy neighborhoods such as Westlands, Parklands and Upper Hill.
Only the Sarova Stanley, the capital's first hotel with 120 years of history, resists undaunted in the pulsating and business heart of the city.