Cultural and Geological Heritage Contextualism in the Interior Built Environment of Hotel Brands in Kenyan Counties
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Date
2018Author
Muragu, Beatrice W
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
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.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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