When a team leader in Nairobi is asked to organise a workshop or a year-end get-together, the search starts on a phone. They look on Google, scroll Facebook and ask colleagues for names. Then they send a message to the two or three venues that look real, current and easy to contact.
If your guest house or venue is not in that shortlist, the enquiry goes somewhere else, however good your rooms, food and garden are.
Palm Breeze Gardens, a guest house, restaurant and conference venue in Riruta, Nairobi, works with Jebilton Ventures on its website, Facebook page and Google Business Profile. This story explains what that work involves, so that if you run a similar venue you know what to expect before you ask for a quotation.
The starting point
Palm Breeze Gardens had no website, no Facebook page and no Google Business Profile. Guests, corporate clients and event planners had no easy way to find the venue online or get in touch, even though it was open and serving guests.
That is common for established venues in Nairobi. Regular guests and people who know the owner keep coming back but a planner searching for a meeting venue in their part of town never sees the place.
What We Did
1. A website built from scratch
We built palmbreezegardens.com to give guests and planners one reliable place to see the accommodation, the restaurant and the conference facilities, and to find the location and contact details.
2. A Facebook page, created and managed
We created the Palm Breeze Gardens Facebook page and manage it every month. The posts use real photos and video of the venue and follow the planning questions that organisers actually have.
3. A Google Business Profile
We created the venue's Google profile with its categories, photos and services, so people searching on Google Search and Maps can see what Palm Breeze offers, call, or get directions.
The ongoing work
A Facebook page or Google profile that was set up once and then left alone soon looks closed. Palm Breeze retains us for monthly work, which includes:
🔳A monthly Facebook calendar of posts, Reels and graphics, planned around the venue's main audience: people organising team meetings, workshops, year-end gatherings and private celebrations
🔳Real venue photos and video only, so what a planner sees online is what they find on arrival
🔳A clear next step in every post and graphic: WhatsApp the venue with your preferred date, group size and type of event
🔳Monitoring of the Google profile and basic search checks on the website
🔳A month-end look at what the posts reached, which shapes the following month's plan
In October, for example, the calendar walks an organiser through planning a team event: choosing a meeting setup, planning the working lunch and breaks, half-day or full-day timing, travelling colleagues and a year-end event checklist, ending with an invitation to send a brief.
You can see how this works for other businesses on our Social Media Management and Google Business Profile pages.
What The Client Says
"Jebilton Ventures built our website, Facebook page and Google listing from scratch. We went from invisible to fully found online." Mr. Mbugua, Palm Breeze Gardens, Nairobi
What we do not promise
No one can promise a venue a set number of bookings from social media. Posts help planners discover a venue, trust that it is real and current, and know how to ask about a date. Whether that turns into a booking depends on the venue: how quickly it replies, its prices, its availability and the experience on the day.
What we can do is make sure that when a planner looks for you, they find a venue that looks open, cared for and easy to contact and that every post gives them a simple way to ask. We also do not publish a client's private performance figures without their permission, which is why this story has none.
Is Your Venue In A Similar Position?
Ask yourself these five questions:
1. If a planner searches for a meeting or event venue in your area, does your venue appear on Google Maps?
2. When was your Facebook page last updated with a real photo of your venue?
3. Can someone see your meeting spaces, food and rooms online before they call?
4. Does every post tell people exactly how to ask about a date, for example a WhatsApp number?
5. Do you have a website that answers the basic questions, so you are not repeating them on every call?
If you answered "no" or "not sure" to two or more, planners are probably choosing other venues before they ever speak to you. For practical ideas you can use yourself, read our guide to social media marketing for restaurants and hotels in Nairobi.
Talk To Us About Your Venue
Jebilton Ventures has worked with Nairobi businesses since 2017. We look at your current website, pages and Google profile first, then agree the scope with you in writing.
See more of our work on our Case Studies page, including our Pharmaclan Pharmacy story.