Somali hotels and restaurants: Jazeera Palace, Peace Hotels, Sahafi, Karmel and others

The short version

In May 2023 SOMINVEST, the investment promotion office of Somalia's Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development, published a report on hotels and tourism. It said the tourism institutions shut down after the civil war began in the early 1990s, and that from the 2000s local businesspeople and returning diaspora Somalis opened new hotels and guest houses "at a remarkable pace" (SOMINVEST, Investment opportunities in the Somalia tourism and hospitality sector, May 2023, p. 9).

How many hotels

The report's figures, gathered from regional ministries and chambers of commerce, counted about 497 hotels with 14,910 rooms and 12,214 hotel staff (SOMINVEST 2023, p. 49):

It also counted 856 stand-alone restaurants (same source, p. 50). In its interviews, about 70% of hotels were owned by a small group of local investors as a partnership, 20% by a family and 10% by one person. Almost all owners said they had started without bank loans, using their own or their family's money (same source, p. 51).

Mogadishu

• Jazeera Palace Hotel opened in August 2012 after three years of building, 300 metres from Aden Adde International Airport. The report calls it the first purpose-built hotel in Mogadishu at a time when other hotels were converted houses. It has 95 rooms for 170 guests, seven conference rooms and more than 150 staff (SOMINVEST 2023, p. 61). On 26 July 2015 a truck bomb claimed by al-Shabaab exploded outside the hotel; the Chinese embassy, which had offices in the hotel, was damaged (Wikipedia, Jazeera Palace Hotel bombing).
• Peace Business Group was incorporated in 2005 and runs three hotels in Mogadishu: Peace One near the airport (opened 2009, 50 rooms and 10 suites), Peace Two in Waberi next to Hormuud Tower (2011, 35 rooms) and Peace Three near Villa Somalia (2013, 16 rooms). It also provides security services to about ten international aid agencies. The report names its managing director as Bashir Osman and says foreign journalists, including from the BBC and the New York Times, have stayed there (SOMINVEST 2023, pp. 74 to 75).
• Airport Hotel and Conference, in the airport zone, opened in 2017 with 62 rooms (SOMINVEST 2023, p. 70).
• Sahafi Hotel was attacked by al-Shabaab on 1 November 2015 and again on 9 November 2018, when 52 people were killed; the hotel's owner was among those killed in both attacks (Wikipedia, Sahafi Hotel attacks). It reopened in August 2020 after rebuilding (Garowe Online, 10 August 2020).
• Karmel restaurants began in Minneapolis in 1999, later opened in Dubai and Nairobi, and opened in Mogadishu in 2013. By 2023 its two Mogadishu branches had about 200 staff and 500 seats, and in February 2020 the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism named it the best restaurant in Mogadishu (SOMINVEST 2023, pp. 82 to 83).

Other cities

• Martisoor Hotel, Garowe, built in 2019 with 75 rooms and halls for up to 300 people, was financed by diaspora Somalis together with local business partners (SOMINVEST 2023, pp. 58 to 59).
• Beder Hotel began as one branch in Dhusamareb in 1999 and had become a chain of three hotels, including one in Guri'el with 46 rooms and 72 staff, and one in Mogadishu (SOMINVEST 2023, p. 60).
• Horyaal Hotel, Baidoa, has 46 rooms and six conference halls and is used for meetings of aid agencies (SOMINVEST 2023, pp. 66 to 67).
• Maamuus Garden Hotel, Kismayo, opened in 2009 in a former youth centre; it has 30 rooms and 64 staff (SOMINVEST 2023, pp. 64 to 65).
• Gacayte Hotel in Bosaso opened in 1966 as The Grand Hotel, closed after 1991 and reopened in March 2015 (Wikipedia, Gacayte Hotel).

Related

• Somali hotels, private hospitals and service companies: directory
• Somali businesses abroad: directory