Why Eliper Hotel Is Perfect for Team Building Retreats
ELIPER HOTEL GATURA • BLOG
Conference Facilities, Comfortable Accommodation & Outdoor Adventures — All in One Place
There’s a reason the best team building retreats don’t happen in the office boardroom. When you take people out of their daily routines and place them somewhere new, somewhere with fresh air, open spaces, and a change of scenery; something shifts. Conversations become more relaxed. Barriers come down. Ideas flow more freely. The challenge, of course, is finding a venue that balances productivity with that sense of escape.
Eliper Hotel Gatura, located in the tranquil Gatanga region of Murang’a County, strikes exactly that balance. Just about ninety minutes from Nairobi, it offers fully equipped conference facilities, a range of comfortable rooms, on-site catering, and perhaps most importantly, access to some of Central Kenya’s most beautiful hiking trails. It’s the kind of place where your team can brainstorm in the morning and bond over a waterfall hike in the afternoon.
Close Enough to Nairobi, Far Enough to Feel Away
One of the biggest hurdles in planning a team retreat is logistics. Fly your team to the coast and you lose a day each way to travel. Choose a venue inside Nairobi and people drift back to their desks. Eliper Hotel sits in a sweet spot: easily reachable via the Nairobi–Mataara route, yet surrounded by rolling hills, tea plantations, and the quiet rhythms of rural Murang’a. Your team will feel like they’ve genuinely gotten away without the hassle or expense of a long-distance trip.
Conference Facilities Built for Productive Sessions
A retreat is only as good as its meeting spaces, and Eliper Hotel takes this seriously. The hotel’s conference rooms are spacious, filled with natural light, and equipped with everything a modern meeting demands: a projector, business-class Wi-Fi, flipcharts, and AV equipment. Flexible seating arrangements mean the room can be configured for anything from a boardroom-style strategy session to a workshop-style breakout.
The hotel offers both full-day and half-day conference packages. A full-day package includes the meeting room, writing materials for each participant, morning and afternoon tea with snacks, a lunch buffet with soft drinks, and seasonal fruit. A half-day package covers the morning session through lunch. The dedicated events team works with organisers ahead of time to ensure every logistical detail is handled, from dietary requirements to technical setup, so facilitators can focus entirely on content.
Comfortable Rooms for Every Budget
Team retreats work best when people are well rested, and Eliper Hotel offers a range of room categories to suit different group sizes and budgets. Standard and Deluxe rooms provide clean, modern comfort with essentials like free Wi-Fi and twenty-four-hour front desk service. Executive rooms step things up with more space and premium finishes. For senior leadership or VIP guests, the VIP rooms offer a generous footprint and upscale amenities. There’s also a Family or Triple room option for groups that want to keep costs down by sharing.
Every room is designed for rest. After a day of workshops and team activities, your colleagues will appreciate a quiet, comfortable space to recharge — not a cramped, noisy room that leaves them more tired than when they arrived.
Take Team Building Outdoors
Here’s where Eliper Hotel truly sets itself apart from the typical conference venue. The Gatanga region is home to some of Kenya’s most rewarding day hikes, and the hotel organises guided trips to three spectacular waterfall trails: Ragia Falls in the Aberdare Range, Kimakia Falls hidden in the Murang’a highlands, and the Twin Falls and Kanunga Falls circuit through Gatanga’s tea country.
There is something powerful about walking a trail together as a team. The shared challenge of a moderate hike; navigating muddy sections, encouraging a colleague up a steep climb, marvelling together at a waterfall creates bonds that no icebreaker exercise in a meeting room can replicate. The hikes range from eight to fourteen kilometres and are suitable for most fitness levels, with experienced local guides ensuring safety and fun throughout.
Hike packages include transport, forest entry fees, a guide, and lunch, starting from KES 3,500 per person for groups of twenty or more. For international team members, a non-resident rate of USD 40 is also available.
On-Site Catering That Goes Beyond the Basics
Good food matters at retreats. It keeps energy levels high and signals to your team that the company values their comfort. Eliper Hotel’s on-site restaurant serves both local Kenyan cuisine and international dishes, and the catering team can tailor menus to accommodate vegetarian, vegan, halal, and other dietary needs. Whether it’s a sit-down dinner after a day of workshops or a casual lunch buffet between sessions, the meals are freshly prepared and generously portioned.
A Sample Two-Day Retreat Itinerary
Day One: Strategy & Arrival
Arrive mid-morning and settle into your rooms. Kick off with a full-day conference session: strategic planning, departmental updates, or a facilitated workshop. Enjoy morning tea, a buffet lunch, and afternoon refreshments without ever leaving the venue. Close the formal session by late afternoon and unwind with a team dinner at the hotel restaurant.
Day Two: Adventure & Bonding
Start early with breakfast and head out for a guided hike to Ragia Falls or Twin Falls. Spend the morning on the trail, bonding over shared challenges and breathtaking scenery. Return to the hotel for a packed lunch or dine en route. Wrap up with a short reflection session; capturing key takeaways and action items before heading back to Nairobi in the afternoon, energised and reconnected.
Why It Works
The best retreats combine three elements: a productive workspace, genuine rest, and a shared experience that brings people closer together. Eliper Hotel Gatura delivers all three under one roof or rather, one roof and a canopy of bamboo forest. Your team gets the professional meeting environment they need to do serious work, the comfort to sleep well and recharge, and the adventure of exploring Murang’a’s stunning trails together.
It’s the kind of retreat people talk about for months afterward — not because of the PowerPoint slides, but because of the waterfall they discovered together.
Ready to plan your team retreat?
Get in touch at info@eliperhotel.co.ke or call +254 (0)731 366 557
Visit eliperhotel.co.ke to book your conference and accommodation
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