Stipp Hotels Rubavu closed over hygiene, seeks reopening

The manager of Stipp Hotels, Rubavu, has said the hotel is likely to reopen within 24 hours after rectifying everything which led to the hotel being closed on Monday. Speaking to The New Times yesterday, Denis Gahimbare, said the hotel was already putting in place all the necessary requirements to reopen. Stipp Hotels Rubavu, part of Stipp Hotels Rwanda chain, was temporarily closed due to poor hygiene. The closure followed a health inspection conducted by district officials. According to the district mayor, Jérémy Sinamenye, the hotel was closed after it failed to maintain minimum hygienic standards. “We have closed the hotel due to general hygiene issues. The issues range from poor hygiene in facilities like the laundry area, toilets and the septic tank that emitted odour which inconvenienced clients. When we inspected, we found that they had faulted on at least 12 regulations on hygiene,” he said. Sinamenye also said that they had previously advised the hotel to improve their hygiene but they failed to comply, which led to the closure of the premises. Stipp Hotels Rubavu is one of the designated hotels meant to accommodate teams that will take part in the forthcoming African Nations Championship (CHAN). However, the mayor said that teams which were supposed to stay at the hotel will not be affected because other options are already in place. “Zimbabwe and Mali, were supposed to stay at the hotel but are not here yet and we have secured other places. One team will reside at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel while the other will be at the Western Mountain Hotel. Otherwise, we have conducted all the required inspections and apart from Stipp Hotels, the other hotels have proper hygiene,” he added. Gahimbare acknowledged some areas such as garbage pit and gardens needed to be improved before reopening. “We have already started the process of putting in place everything we were required to do and we hope to be open again within 24 hours after another inspection is conducted before we are cleared,” he told The New Times. On why they waited for the hotel to be closed, Gahimbare said some areas to work on required more time. “When we were told, we started to work on certain things but some of them required more days or even more resources. I think we didn’t speed up the process of improving the place and with the pressure of hosting CHAN mounting every day, we didn’t deliver as expected,” he added. Denis Karera, the president of Rwanda Hoteliers Association, said he had no idea about the closure adding that the hotel is not part of the association. “I have no idea about the development and the hotel is not a member because they refused to join the association,” he said. The hotel hosted the national football team, Amavubi, for their pre-CHAN preparations last week during which they drew 0-0 with Cameroon before beating DR- Congo 1-0. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Stipp Hotels Rubavu closed over hygiene, seeks reopening