Hotel occupancy hits 2-year high in March

This is according to a new Hotels Survey by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) which covered 65 hotels across the country last month.

The level of bed occupancy in the month was the highest since February 2020 when the overall bed occupancy rate as a percentage of total capacity stood at 66 per cent.

“On average, bed occupancy improved in all regions in March after the decline reported in January due to seasonality factors. Bed occupancy in Mombasa was particularly high with some hotels reporting full occupancy,” the survey noted.

Hotels in Mombasa recorded the highest occupancy rates at 67.5 per cent having benefited largely from school holidays.

The utilisation of restaurant services meanwhile remained steady at 48 per cent in March after peaking at 51 per cent in October, the highest rate of utilisation for the services since February 2020.

The utilisation of conferencing services meanwhile improved to 49 per cent from 30 per cent in January.

“This growth is attributed to normal business cycles in conference services as corporate and government institutions resumed their conferences and workshops from the December holidays,” added the survey.

The increased hotel operations have helped sustain employment levels with the rate of employment in March standing at 82 per cent of pre-pandemic levels (February 2020).

About four out of every 10 hotels expect to return to normal level of operations this year while 14.2 per cent of the surveyed hotels are uncertain of the time curve to recovery.

Only two in 10 or 21.2 percent of hotels in the survey have attained normalcy as of March.

Forward bookings in the next three months have improved indicating reduced uncertainties allowing for plans by both their hotels and clients.