A Personal Touch, Cultural Depth, And Luxury Living, Mourine Oloo Tells It All
With its seamless blend of modern elegance and Kenyan heritage, Kwetu Nairobi, Curio Collection by Hilton, has quickly emerged as a defining luxury lifestyle property in Nairobi’s high-end hospitality scene. Go Places sat down with Mourine Oloo, Head of Brand at Kwetu Nairobi, Curio Collection by Hilton, for a candid conversation on what makes Kwetu unique, their focus at Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE) 2025, and their vision for authentic Kenyan hospitality.
Q1. Could you kindly introduce yourself and share your role within Kwetu Nairobi, Curio Collection by Hilton?
My name is Mourine Oloo, I am the Head of Brand at Curio Collection by Hilton. My focus is to share a product that is authentically Kenyan but also internationally appealing.
Q2. Kwetu by Hilton is a luxury lifestyle property that beautifully blends modern elegance with Kenyan heritage. Could you share the unique brand story behind Kwetu and the signature experiences that make a stay here truly memorable?
Kwetu in Swahili means ‘our home’ which is exactly what Kwetu Nairobi is. We welcome our guest to experience Nairobi in general, experience the Karura Forest area, and experience the hospitality that we offer at Kwetu.
Guests can enjoy the different culinary options that we have and can also enjoy the walks in Karura forest, and the serene environment; beautiful views, treetops, and all that. We want all our guests who come to Kwetu Nairobi to feel at home. It is in the name, it is in the experience, and it is in what we offer.
Q3. In a market filled with world-class hospitality brands, Kwetu Nairobi has quickly established itself as a standout destination. What do you believe sets Kwetu apart and keeps guests returning?
Kwetu is founded in storytelling, there’s a lot of rich heritage behind Kwetu story. We pick our story from the 1800s when the European settlers first started considering Nairobi for a settlement. As they were building the railway line on their way to Uganda. We pick that rich culture and make it modern to tell the story of Kwetu. What we’ve noticed is that guests enjoy that story and it’s a reason, it’s almost sewn into the fabric that is Kwetu. If you enter to the lobby you get 1893 brew bar which tells you a little bit about when coffee was first planted into Nairobi. The block itself is called Rafiki. That tells you Kenyans were friendly and that friendliness is what made it possible for the settlers to stay here and the story goes on in every block.
There’s quite a lot of discovery, and being part of a curio collection by Hilton which satisfies curiosity. We keep finding stories and stories to tell around the Kwetu Nairobi brand.
Q4. Hilton has a strong reputation for innovation and loyalty programs. Could you tell us how initiatives like Hilton Honors and digital transformation are shaping the Kwetu guest experience and enhancing guest satisfaction?
Hilton honors is a global seamless loyalty program. Being part of that has seen us grow in a big way because most of our members are loyalty members. We actually are working so hard to make sure we sign on more of our guests to Hilton honours.
They get to enjoy our facilities, enjoy extra perks here and there as being part of Hilton Honors. And these benefits keep them coming back because we ensure they’re happy. We ensure they feel at home when they are in Nairobi and we communicate to them in a language that they understand which is the same language spoken to them within the Hilton Network.
It’s become easier to interact with the palace without too much clutter around the place. Our rooms are also smart which means the guests can communicate through the different buttons near their beds. If you don’t want to be disturbed you don’t have to wake up to go to the door to say ‘do not disturb’. Everything is close to you to make sure you’re communicating well.
Q5. Kwetu’s guest experience feels tailored for the modern luxury traveller seeking both comfort and culture. What new curated experiences or immersive moments will you be offering in the coming months that blend these elements?
Just to mention we cater to the curious traveller who most of the time is interested in a bit of the culture and getting to know a bit of the culture in the destination and also the perks of travel. Wha we’ve done is that we’ve mixed wellness travel which means our guests can enjoy Karura forest.
They can go for walks, nature walks within the Karura forest and that is with compliments from the hotel and for the hotel it’s support to Karura forest. When it comes to the architecture of the hotel is, uh one of our pillars actually is historically progressive, which means that we’ve picked a lot of history while doing our property but we made it progress in that the property itself is not old in nature when you look at it but with a lot of storytelling from the olden days, we have modified it for the current traveller.
I’ll also like to talk about our culinary concepts, so we’ve come up with restaurants that are unique and evolving for our market to enjoy. And what we’ve done is that we’ve targeted the locals with most of our curated dishes because most international travellers want to go where the locals go. So our food is evolving. We introduce new dishes every other time. We listen to our guests so that we can know how do they want us, do they like what we are doing, what do they want us to do.
As much as we are evolving in other areas; wellness, making sure the culture is out there, the culinary scene is also a very big deal for us.
Q6. As a relatively new entrant in Nairobi’s high-end hospitality space, how has Kwetu leveraged platforms like MKTE to build meaningful travel trade connections and establish brand presence within the African luxury circuit?
The Magical Kenya Travel Expo is a big platform for any Kenyan hotel property to be part of. If you go to the system, you are allowed to book your own appointments and decide who you want to meet during the event. And we are very intentional to be sure that we start from the word go to profile the buyers and to make sure that we meet the right buyers.
Also, while building our own hotel stand, we make sure that we bring a bit of Kwetu Nairobi into the expo because we last year we built a room identical to the room that we offer at the hotel and the experience when you come to our stand which is the same thing we’ll do this year as well is to give you a bit of Kwetu, when you come to our stand. So, it’s good thing what Magical Kenya Travel Expo is doing. We’re well prepared well in advance and we’re able to make sure that we connect with the right industry partners that will see our property moving to the next level.
Q7. Looking to 2026 and beyond, how is Kwetu aligning with Hilton’s global vision for sustainability, innovation, and experiential travel? Are there any key pillars or upcoming projects you’re excited about?
As part of our sustainability efforts, the coffee residues that we use, coz we sell quite a bit of coffee in the hotel. We use it to make coffee scrub. Facial coffee scrub for our gusts to use during turndown. So we give it to guests during turndown. The feedback we’ve gotten from guests is that it’s very nice, they love it. Some of them ask us to package it for them to carry it home with them, which is a good thing. Part of our future projects is to open our spa. Everyone is looking forward to and is excited see what we’ll come up with. So, we want to curate something that will make people enjoy the surrounding of the hotel.
Q8. What would you say to international buyers and travel curators who may be discovering Kwetu for the first time at this year’s expo? What should they not miss during their visit?
Kwetu is not just a place to stay, it’s a place to belong. There’s so much rich culture in the hotel that guests can enjoy. For example, at 1893, you can enjoy the Kenyan coffee and tea, and you can also enjoy cocktail curations that infuse teas and coffees in the evening. You can enjoy treetop views while you’re at upepo, and enjoy the serene environment by the poolside which is Meko.
But other than that Nairobi is a destination that is worth exploring. There’s a huge art scene, there’s a huge opportunity for travellers who are coming to Nairobi to enjoy the Kwetu experience, to enjoy Nairobi as a whole. Kwetu tells a Nairobi story, so there’s no Kwetu without Nairobi, and the wellness walks at Karura forest are mazing. So we would encourage our guests to come and experience what we have to offer at Kwetu Nairobi.
Q9. Go Places has had the pleasure of spotlighting Kwetu through various initiatives. Could you reflect on how our collaboration has complemented your marketing goals and enhanced your reach within East Africa and beyond?
Our partnership with Go Places is very important to us because Go Places is now actually Africa wide, and with a global reach and we have some values in common. i.e they’re very big on storytelling, Kwetu Nairobi is also very big on storytelling. And we want to be part of the stories they tell about Nairobi and about Kenya and Africa as a whole. So it’s a very important partnership to us. They were actually one of the first companies that we signed on as our partners, reason being because we believe in what they do and how they do it and we also appreciate the fact that they keep coming back to make sure that we are telling our stories to the right people and the right way.
About the Interviewee:
Mourine Oloo is the Head of Brand at Kwetu Nairobi, Curio Collection by Hilton. She is passionate about crafting authentic Kenyan stories within a global luxury framework, and under her leadership, Kwetu has established itself as a destination that blends culture, wellness, and modern elegance in the heart of Nairobi.
Interview by Nev Jiwani, Group Managing Director, Go Places
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