NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 4- Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited is considering the permanent closure of its unit in Nairobi, through winding up its operations in Kenya.
The hotel in a notice through its appointed attorney Oliver Geyer announced that the move is as a result of operation reasons which will also see it send home its entire workforce in the next 45 days.
“We write to inform you that Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited (Kenya Branch) is for operational reasons considering a permanent closure of the Intercontinental Nairobi and winding up all its operations in the republic of Kenya,” reads part of the notice.
“As a consequence of such intended winding up, all employment positions within the hotel including your position of waitress, would become redundant,” reads the notice signed by the hotel appointed attorney Oliver Geyer.
The hotel management did not however disclose whether decision was influenced by the coronavirus disease that has seen other parties such as Norfolk Hotel which was hard hit by the pandemic out comes.
The hotels announcement comes at a time when 60 percent of the hotels surveyed by the Central Bank of Kenya said they were ready to reopen once international flights in the country resume.
The sector remained affected across, May and June while registering near zero forward booking after Kenya grounded its flights and shut its borders in order to curb the spread of the deadly disease.
CBK’s earlier survey in April indicated over 90 percent of staff had been sent packing as the sector’s revenues run dry.
International flights resumed July 30, with the Ministry of Transport establishing a ‘safe flights’ list of 19 countries whose citizens will not be subject to quarantine upon docking into Kenya among them Uganda, China, South Korea, Italy and the United Kingdom.
