NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 15 – The Best Western Plus Meridian Hotel, one of Nairobi’s established hospitality properties, has been put up for sale at Sh1.29 billion, according to a listing by Knight Frank.
The six-storey property, located on the edge of the Central Business District, is among the city’s most recognisable mid-tier hotels.
Originally known as the Meridian Hotel, the establishment features 119 rooms, a rooftop swimming pool, a spa and wellness centre, fitness facilities, conference space, restaurants, a bar, a lounge, and a coffee shop.
Its sale comes against the backdrop of a sector which has seen some international brands scale down or exit in recent years.
Hilton Nairobi, a fixture for over five decades, closed in December 2022, while the InterContinental Hotel shut its doors in August 2020.
Kenya Hotel Keepers Association Chairman Mike Macharia, however, downplayed the notion of industry decline, insisting that the exits do not reflect broader sectoral weakness.
“The industry is doing okay, and we have seen more hotels opening up in Kenya in the last year alone, which speaks to a robust sectoral growth,” Macharia said.
“For the hotels that are shifting and shutting, maybe the ownership has felt a need to remodel or simply exit the Kenyan market for their personal reasons. This, however, does not reflect on the broader sector outlook. It could be that maybe business wasn’t good for them.”
Official statistics show that Kenya’s hospitality industry expanded by just 4.1 percent in the first quarter of 2025, a sharp slowdown compared to 38.1 percent growth in the same period a year earlier.
Hotel bed-night occupancy rose to 10.2 million in 2024, up from 8.6 million in 2023, but the overall occupancy rate remains below 30 percent.
At the same time, Nairobi has witnessed a surge in new supply, with more than 2,000 hotel rooms added in the past 18 months.
The influx has heightened competition, pressuring revenues even as operational costs from utilities to staffing continue to climb.
Despite the slowdown, analysts point out that the sector remains central to Kenya’s economy, driven by steadily recovering international arrivals and resilient domestic tourism.
Growth opportunities also persist in lifestyle hotels, eco-lodges and luxury resorts, though industry players caution that oversupply and rising costs will require sharper strategies from investors.
