“If my father would have had his way, I would never become an hotelier”. Patrick Marekia grew up in a very rural setting with no hotels. As a student he remembers how career guidance advisers had visited his high school and talked about the hotel and tourism industry. “It all sounded very appealing. I immediately indicated my interest in the forms we were asked to fill out”.
He however, then joined Standard Bank and whilst familiarizing himself with becoming a banker, received an offer to present himself for an interview at a hotel management school. “Instantly I knew that was a call of destiny. I knew being in the hotel and tourism business was a ticket to the world that I only saw in magazines. Everything in me was set to head to the school if I could only overcome one hurdle; my father.” Patrick Marekia’s father was not in favour of his turn of events. “To him meant service and cooking. He couldn’t understand why I was leaving banking to do what according to him was not a white collar job. I pestered him and showed him the man opportunities the trade would give me. Finally he let me be.”
Patrick was among the first batch of students at the hotel management school based at the Kenya Polytechnic. “It was a very small school. We were hardly thirty students with three lecturers including the principal. It was very hands on approach that followed Lausanne hotel school curriculum.”
Patrick Marekia was posted to the Hilton International Zurich in 1973. He reminisces about life in
Switzerland, “To date in my personal opinion, it is the most amazing country in the world. I was treated very well by the Swiss. It was rare then to find Africans in Switzerland especially in Zurich. I made very good contacts and lifelong friendships with many Swiss people. I am a godfather to a son of one such good friend. “In those days students were first employed by a hotel which then sponsored their schooling. I was sponsored by Hilton International Nairobi.” After three years of sandwich training during which time the student attended school for seven months and practiced for four months with his sponsoring hotel, the qualified students proceeded to Switzerland for the final in-house training. Patrick Marekia was posted to the Hilton International Zurich in 1973. He reminisces about life in Switzerland, “To date in my personal opinion, it is the most amazing country in the world. I was treated very well by the Swiss. It was rare then to find Africans in Switzerland especially in Zurich. I made very good contacts and lifelong friendships with many Swiss people. I am a godfather to a son of one such good friend.
I has already been more than 40 years since Patrick Marekia graduated but he remembers well the leadership course modelled on the Swiss army officer’s school provided as part of the training. “It was very tough: from answering over a thousand questions overnight, being thrown in the deep end of a swimming pool, rock climbing and finally climbing Mt. Kenya. Reaching the peak was very symbolic for me. I knew the way to the top was not easy and that in life with determination, endurance and persistence, success is inevitably achievable. This has been my guiding principle in my career life.”
He is grateful to KUC for its instrumental role in harmonizing standards between Kenya and the developed world. “In my opinion, if the government with the help of Switzerland didn’t establish Utalii College, we as a nation wouldn’t take the pride we do in the hospitality industry which currently ranks tops compared to the other sectors of our economy.”
Kenya Utalii College In many ways impacted my life permanently.” He was Chairman of the Skal International Nairobi, a club for senior members of the tourism industries, Patrick was part of the Kenyan delegations to many annual congresses in several parts of the world. As the chairman of Kenya Utalii college & industry liaison committee he was instrumental in establishing an annual hotel competition to celebrate Kenya’s 25th year of independence which then became an annual event.
Following his graduation in 1974. Patrick’s career took him to a number of the Hilton group of hotels from Taita Hills to Nairobi, Vienna, Montreal, London and New York before he joined Nairobi Serena and later the Sarova group to become their first African Genera Manager at the New Stanley. After some years as partner in a restaurant business and consultancy work in Zimbabwe, Patrick moved to Sopa Lodges as the group general manager and later to Panari Hotel Nairobi, where he is currently Managing Director.