As Covid-19 continues to bite, and as businesses and individuals continue to feel the heat, Radisson Blu has become the latest casualty, shutting down its Upper Hill outlet.
At the same time, the hotel has sent most of its staff home saying the bookings at the hotelhave remained low due to the Covid-19 pandemic for many months now.
The coming of Covid-19 has affected many businesses in Kenya. Thousands have shut down leaving at least 2,000,000 Kenyans jobless. The hotel industry remains the worst hit with Central Bank of Kenya saying the bed occupancy is at 23 percent.
The hotel says the decision to send employees home was aimed as mitigating the impact of Covid-19 on its operations saying the business is currently running at a loss with higher operational costs.
“To mitigate some of the economic impact of the pandemic, coupled with the uncertainty of Radisson Blu Hotel Nairobi Upper Hill’s reopening date, we have had to make the difficult decision to reduce the size of our workforce at the hotel,” said the spokesperson.
The hotel says it will continue offering support to the employees sent home as it hopes to resume operations as soon as the business environment starts to normalize.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had ordered the National Tresury to set aside funds that will help the hotel sector sail through the Covid-19 pandemic, by keeping them from shutting down and firing of employees. Hotelowners say they never received the funds.