Addis Ababa’s booming service industry added another four star hotel
Emnet Assefa
The striving hotel industry in the capital Addis Ababa added an additional four star hotel, Saro-Maria Hotel, which was officially opened on July 30, 2013 even though it started providing services in May during the 50th founding anniversary of the Organization of the African Union and the African Union (OAU/AU).
Located in the midst of the busiest district for Hotels in Bole, roughly five minutes from Bole International Airport, Saro-Maria Hotel boasts 96 rooms (24 suite ‘deluxe & Junior’, 12 family rooms, 18 king extra and 42 king twin standard rooms) each furnished with state of the art equipments . Perhaps as a unique gift to the industry, the hotel has a clinic and a doctor on call service. It also has health club services and a swimming pool on its third floor.
Adding up to the city’s reputation in hosting conferences and meetings, the hotel came with a number of venues equipped with all accessories to hold meetings, conferences and events, and two restaurants serving Italian and continental cuisine , a bar and a pastry shop. The hotel has outsourced a number of other services such as beauty salons, spa services, business centers and small shops.
According to Alemayehu Negussei, owner, the cost of the construction of the seven floor hotel was estimated at 135 million Ethiopian birr and lies on 1350 sqm of land. It has created job opportunities to 135 people. “Our employees have been trained for the past two months and we hope to hold continuous training sessions to insure the quality of service we are promising,” said Alemayeu.
“We focus on quality of service and we believe we will deliver,” says Samuel Omalla, General Manager of the hotel who describes the dynamics of the hotel business in Addis Ababa as “one that have become more and more challenging in today’s global economy”. According to him, the hotel has come to the market with a fresh solution to the needs of the global business travelers and leisure guests.
Alemayehu Negussei is a businessman who is also involved in manufacturing of plastic materials and recently has launched a water bottling company that produces ‘Yes water’. “It was a long road to get here,” he says, talking of his long journey as a business person to get where he is now starting from a street vender.
Saro-Maria is a name after two of Almeyehu’s children, Sara and Mariam.
Caption: Alemayehu Negussei (right) and Samuel Omalla
Photo: Addisstandard