Kwara Hotel: From 5-star to 5-star
By Abdulrazaq Hamzat
In 1975, Lt Col David Bamigboye, the military Governor of Kwara State, established Kwara Hotel to be a 5-star Hotel. He also facilitated the establishment of the University of Ilorin, before the Saraki dynasty happened to Kwara and the culture of draining began.
Just like other establishments of value that went bankrupt under excessive draining of the Saraki dynasty, Kwara Hotel also suffered consistent draining without reinvestment, thereby leading to a collapse of standards and infrastructure.
However, in the year 2002 under the leadership of late Governor Muhammad Alabi Lawal, the Hotel experienced a facelift, when Omoladerin invested about N2 billion to reposition the hotel back to standard.
The N2 billion used to renovate Kwara Hotel about 22 years ago was over $15 million at the time and If we consider the value of $ 15 million today, that’s over N20 billion.
This means that, if 2002 is 2024, we can simply say that Governor Alabi Lawal renovated the Kwara Hotel with a current value of over N20 billion, which is more than the N17.8 billion that the state government awarded the contract to upgrade it to 5 star, but we will get into that later.
After the renovation of Kwara Hotel in 2002, Saraki dynasty took over the mantle of leadership again for 16 years, where the culture of draining continued until 2019, when the Otoge political revolution came to the rescue and as of 2019, Kwara Hotel standard has been brought down to zero, with about 20% functionality.
Just like Governor Lawal, who values growth and development, the current government of Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has made the commitment to upgrade the historic hotel back to its original 5-star standard, and a huge debate has ensured in the state of harmony over this decision.
While those who disagreed with the decision have a right to disagree, it is important to say that upgrading Kwara Hotel to a 5-star Hotel is not a new achievement, or something extraordinary, it is just returning the hotel to its original standard, a standard that leaders of the state almost 50 years ago achieved without much ado.
To start with, what is the average cost of a 100 rooms and above 5-star Hotel in Africa today?
According to an hospitality website, hotel and discount, a hotel with 115 rooms can cost an average of $22 million in 2020, which is over N30 billion.
According to data in 2021, the average cost of building a room at a 4-star hotel is $318,200, so a 100-room hotel will cost $31.82 million on average, which is over N40billion.
The average cost to construct a 100-room 5-star hotel is $604,200, implying that a five-star hotel costs $60 million (N80billion) to build.
If Kwara is upgrading the Hotel at the rate of N17.8 billion, that’s like a price we can never get anywhere in the world, except if the proposal is not for a 5 star Hotel.
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Actually, upgrading Kwara Hotel with N17.8 billion would make the hotel one of the cheapest 5-star Hotels in Africa.
To now imagine that we have people in the state, who think that returning to a standard we already attained almost 50 years earlier at a meager cost of N17.8 billion is an unreasonable dream, is to say the least, unfortunate.
Kwara Hotel was established as a 5-star Hotel to provide an enabling environment for trade, tourism, and international businesses.
It has a very large Parking space (you can even feel the warmth just from the parking area).
It is strategically located in the Administrative center of the state. It has good security, and very lovely rooms most of which are quite spacious and not as expensive as they seem.
The staff are very welcoming and courteous, they receive your luggage, wait for you to clear with the very warm receptionists and cashiers, and then carry your luggage and lead you to your well-prepared room.
It has Five (5) standard, very neat floors powered by an elevator and a rooftop that gives you a breathtaking view of the entire city.
The hotel has a fantastic restaurant, a gym, a lawn tennis court, a swimming pool, and other recreational facilities. It also has conference rooms, laundry service, and a lovely bar.
Music is sometimes played at the recreational center but this is just barely heard in the hotel and thus the serenity is maintained.
Kwara Hotel is just 3 km away from the International Airport and a 1-minute drive from Ilorin Golf Club. Its location away from the hustle and bustle of urban cities like Lagos and Abuja makes it a perfect abode for relaxation, retreats, vacations, and much more.
All 172 bedrooms of Kwara Hotels categorized into: Standard Single, Executive, Kwara Club Superior, Kwara Club Executive, Kwara Club Suite, Suite, Triple Suite, and Presidential Suite are fully equipped with satellite television, tea/coffee making facilities, private bathrooms, air conditioning, mini-bar fridges, and digital safes. The rooms are also furnished with soft furnishings, computers with full internet connections, and king-sized beds.
This was the standard of Kwara Hotel 48 years ago, which demonstrated the seriousness of the state as a major destination for business and tourism.
The government of Kwara, which is working towards making the state capital a smart city, with standard business facilities to contain the new status of the city along with several other supporting establishments such as the virtual art center, technology hub, ict center, garment factory, industrial processing zone, etc believes that the standardization of Kwara Hotel to its original form will provide the needed hospitality support needed to accommodate the influx of opportunities that would be attracted to the state and all people of wisdom in the state should support such development.
What we should advocate for, is a system that will sustain the development and not return to the culture of resource draining.
Abdulrazaq Hamzat is the Convener of Kwara Must Change
