Global hospitality company, Pan Pacific Hotels Group, has opened its first ever branch in Africa, at Nairobi’s affluent Westlands neighbourhood. The Singapore based company runs more than 50 hotels, serviced suites and resorts spread in more than 30 cities across Europe, Asia and North America. Africa, therefore, becomes its fourth venture region, through its entry in Kenya. The new facility, dubbed Pan Pacific Serviced Suites, is located at the Global Trade Centre (GTC) complex, and consists of 175 suites offering business, leisure, and long term and short term stay experiences.

GTC is a prime mixed use development developed by Avic International Real Estate, and was officially completed and inaugurated in January 2022. The unique development was  designed on the HOPSCA model (Hotel, Office, Parking, Shopping mall, Convenience, and Apartments): 

• The residential aspect of the development consists of 514 luxury apartments, ranging in size from 82 sqm for a 1 bedroom apartment to 332 sqm for a 4 bedroom penthouse. 
• The 184 meter high commercial building dubbed GTC Tower, features 42 floors of office space with a gross floor plate of 1,600 sqm. This makes it one of the tallest buildings in Kenya alongside developments such as Britam Towers which is currently the tallest building in Kenya, at 200m.
• The shopping centre dubbed GTC Mall is approximately 124,000 sqft 
• The hotel aspect consists of 317 guestrooms and 51 serviced apartments, and features an 800 sqm Grand Ballroom and 7 conference rooms. 

The project team consisted of:

• Triad Architects. 
• Zhejiang Chengjian Construction Limited as main contractor. 
• Integrated YMR Partnership as quantity surveyor.
• Gibbs Engineering as the structural engineer.

Established in the affluent neighbourhood of Westlands, GTC presents a good investment position for Pan Pacific, with its location along the Nairobi Expressway which provides direct access to JKIA. Additionally, the development is just a mere 3.4Km and 17Km from the city centre and Nairobi National park. The project also forms part of GTC’s hospitality portfolio alongside the Marriot Hotel which is  expected to open a branch at the iconic development later this year.

Notably, Kenya’s hospitality sector has been recording remarkable growth in terms of expansion activities, having come from a period of turmoil. This has mainly been driven by factors such as: 

• A rapid urbanization growth rate driving demand for services, 
• Aggressive marketing of Kenya’s tourism sector to the local and  international market, through the Magical Kenya platform.
• A growing middle income population which forms part of the larger target market. 
• Nairobi’s position as East Africa’s business hub which in turn attracts investments. 

Just Last week, Radisson Blu  announced plans to open seven more branches in Africa, with Nairobi being one of the destinations. This signifies the growing investor appetite for the country’s hospitality market, particularly in the vibrant Nairobi City. In turn, these activities contribute to the sector’s growth.

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