The Accountant-May-June 2017

TRAVEL
By Clive Mutiso, clivemutiso@gmail.com
FISHING FOR PEARLS
ON KAMPALA’S
HIGHEST HILL
The first hotel ever to have been purpose-built in
Uganda to international five-star standards of luxury
Most people in the region
know that the British
statesman Winston
Churchill described
Uganda as “the Pearl of
Africa”, so it is no surprise that the Carlson
Rezidor hotel management chain have
chosen the name Pearl Of Africa Hotel
for the new five-star Kampala property
with which they are launching their luxury
Quorvus Collection brand in East Africa.
The landmark 296-bedroom hotel sits at
the top of Nakasero, the highest hill in
Uganda’s capital city, and is the largest and
tallest building in the country, visible from
all directions up to 10 kilometres away.
Even before its scheduled opening at
the end of April this year, the Pearl Of
Africa Hotel has attracted society wedding
parties of more than 1,000 guests at a time,
who have been hosted in the wedding
garden that is a feature of the 14 acres
of landscaped grounds. Carlson Rezidor,
and the hotel’s owners, the Aya Group,
are targeting not just the well-heeled
elite of Uganda, but business, conference,
and leisure visitors from around East
Africa and the world. It is the first hotel
property to be built to international fivestar
standards in Kampala, and is expected
to be a game-changer for the country’s
hospitality industry. In one bold move,
the developer has doubled the number of
luxury hotel rooms that the city can offer.
There are eleven different sizes and types
of room and suite, although the cost
of an overnight stay has not yet been
announced. But whichever room a guest
opts for, it is guaranteed to have a view of
66 MAY - JUNE 2017