Cultural and Geological Heritage Contextualism in the Interior Built Environment of Hotel Brands in Kenyan Counties

Abstract

With the onset of devolution, there has been a surge in development of three star plus hotels in Kenya as part of the development of the tourism economic pillar in Vision 2030. Despite Kenya having rich cultural and geological heritage, there has been lack of cultural and geological heritage contextualism in the interior built environment of these new hotels. Instead, they reflect modern themes heavily influenced by western international trends which are partly representative of the global hotel operator built environment brand standards. The main objective of this study was to explore how incorporation of cultural and geological heritage can be done in a hotel interior built environment and as a result create iconic hotel brands which will become major tourist attractions in counties. Uasin Gishu County was selected as a case study for this research because it is part of the North Rift region that has been earmarked for development as part of the Ministry of Tourism strategic plan 2008-2012. Moreover, the county integrated development plan (CIDP) highlights the need to upscale the hotels in the county so as to attract more tourists. Using a logical framework as a guide, the researcher used an in-depth qualitative case study approach to investigate the research problem. Qualitative interviews using structured questionnaires to key informants were also carried out. The main method used to collect data in the hotel facilities was direct observation and site surveys using a hotel interior built environment audit template. Where possible, the researcher interviewed interior designers who designed the facilities with the intent of investigating the themes depicted and the interior design process followed. For data analysis, the researcher did a visual and thematic analysis of the interior built environment of the sample hotels using the interior built environment audit template developed. For the qualitative interviews, the researcher used thematic content analysis and a deductive approach to analyze the content. The output of the research was a proposed interior design framework of reference for creation of iconic hotel brands in counties through incorporation of cultural and geological heritage themes in the hotel interior built environment.