Villarosa Kempinski Set to Lay Off Employees

Kempinksi becomes the latest hotel group in the country to announce plans to lay off employees as the hospitality sector continues to struggle due to the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The hotel group is planning to let go of a number of its employees at it’s five-star Villarosa Kempinski hotel in Westlands joining the likes of Serena and Fairmont which have already announced layoffs due to inability to maintain staff.

Robert Simone, the Kempinski Managing Director for Kenya in an interview with the Business Daily said the hotel will pay redundancy fees in line with the Employment Act, 2007.

According to Simone, the move will affect a lot of staff members in various departments but stated that the retrenchment will enable the hotel to build resilience and operate from a much stronger footing in the future.

Without indicating how many employees will be laid off, Mr Simone in a memo, asked those affected to contact the Human Resource department.

Troubled Tourism& Hospitality Sectors

During Madaraka Day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the government will be channeling an initial Ksh2 billion stimulus package for the Tourism & Hospitality Sector to cushion it from the pandemic.

“I have noted with concern the fact that our hospitality sector has been greatly hit as a result of the lockdowns. We have many of our workers who are seemingly being laid off as a result of there being no business in the tourism and hospitality sector,” said President Kenyatta during Madaraka Day Celebrations at State House, Nairobi.

“In order to cushion these workers and to work in line with this sector, my administration will focus on intervention by offering an initial Ksh2 billion from the exchequer to support hotels and all related hospitality establishments and to ensure that they are able to maintain their staff. Our cabinet sub-committee will be meeting to ensure it engages with stakeholders to develop protocols for this,” added the President.

The Parliamentary Budget Office (BPO) estimates that the Tourism Sector contributes Ksh70 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but such numbers will not be forthcoming this year as the sector reels from the impact of COVID-19.

“The sector is a big employer with robust supply linkages with agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, and other sectors. Leisure and conference tourism, both external and domestic face possible collapse owing to travel restrictions which have completely stopped international tourist arrivals, while social distancing measures have affected domestic tourism and conferencing too. Closure of restaurant and bars further depresses the performance of the sector with a risk of major job losses if the pandemic persists,” the BPO said in a special COVID-19 bulletin.

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