Efforts to improve the quality of services in the hospitality sub-sector moved a rung higher with the appointment of a task force to spearhead change at the Kenya Utalii College.

Tourism minister Najib Balala appointed the six-member task force amid rising concern over the quality of services in local hotels. Utalii is Kenya's only principal trainer of personnel for the hotel industry. The college, which runs a hotel, is fully owned by the Government.

Members of the task force were named during the unveiling of a tourism sector master plan early this week. They are Mohammed Hersi, chairman of Coast branch of Hotel Keepers and Caterers Association, Patrick Mulindi, a lecturer in tourism management at the United States International University Africa, Joan Mwangi, Vickie Mwendwa, Karla Hala and Charles Szlapak, the general manager of Nairobi's Fairview Hotel.

Among the tasks the team is expected to accomplish is a roadmap for the separation of the of the hotel from the college.

Mr Balala said the master plan aims to modernise the tourism sector and make it more competitive. "We have to improve the quality of services in our hotels, beaches parks..." he said. Utalii College's inefficiency has been blamed for the mushrooming of sub-standard training institutions in the country.

Industry insiders say decline in the quality of services in local hotels, coupled with a steep rise in charges, is to blame for the growing popularity of villas located in the exclusive suburbs of Nairobi and the North Coast among tourists. It is estimated that Malindi alone has more than 5,000 such villas, which hoteliers say have significantly eaten into their revenue base.

While hotels fix their prices according to their status - a subjective measure of their outlook that rarely factors in the quality of services on offer - villas are known to offer personalised services at half the hotel charges.

Moreover, facilities such as swimming pools, saunas and jacuzzis that form a key component of hotel classification, are now commonplace in well manicured compounds of private villas.

Three years ago, former Tourism minister Raphael Tuju introduced an annual licence fee of Sh25,000 on villas, but hoteliers say most villa operators are still out of the loop because they are not registered as service providers.

Mr Balala says reforming Utalli Hotel and College will help improve service delivery in local tourist facilities and give hotels a competitive edge.

The taskforce is also expected to come up with a proposal for expansion of the institution, situated on a 50 acres property in Nairobi, examine cost effectiveness of outside catering services, and recommend measures of minimising the college's current dependence on government support.

It will examine the possibility of upgrading the hotel to five-star status, review the skill inventory of teaching staff and quality of facilities.