Bulawayo to have another hotel

Bulawayo will soon have another hotel following the conversion of a block of flats into a budget hotel.

Standard Products is turning a block of flats along Main Street, between 1st and Connaught Avenue into a 45-bed hotel. The hotel will be called Standard.

In an interview yesterday, the company's spokesperson, Mr Albert Kadonzvo, said work on the project, which will cost "thousands of dollars" started one-and-a-half years ago and was expected to be complete by year end.

"We have been constructing this hotel for the past 18 months and we expect it to be complete by year end. It will have 45 rooms which will cater for families, couples and individuals," he said.

He said renovation of some rooms at the former block of residential flats into hotel suites had been completed.

"This is a long-term project. We did not completely build everything from scratch, as these were a block of residential flats so in other rooms we were just renovating to suit our needs," he said.

Another official who spoke on condition  of anonymity said the project would create jobs once complete as professionals would be engaged to help them run the hotel.

"We are going to get professionals to run the restaurant and bar as we intend to give our clients the best service," said the official.

He said construction of the hotel was taking long to complete due to lack of funding.

"What is taking this project long to complete is that we are facing financial challenges and this is mainly because we have no sponsors," he said.

The hotel is expected to cater for low to medium income earners as well as business people. It will also offer conference facilities for 40 people.

Standard Hotel will ease accommodation woes faced by visitors to the city during the annual Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

Many visitors to the fair fail to secure hotel accommodation during theTrade Fair period and the ZITF Company has mooted plans to build a three-star hotel at the Bulawayo Golf Club to increase available hotel rooms in the city.

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