High staff turnover continues to raise costs and weaken service quality in Kenya’s hotel industry, yet little is known about which reward practices keep employees in star-rated hotels outside Nairobi. This study examined the relationship between four reward management practices – career development, job promotion, remuneration and employee recognition – and employee retention in star-rated hotels in Nakuru County, Kenya, and tested whether hotel rating moderates these relationships. Guided by the Job Demands-Resources Theory, Self-Determination Theory and the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity Theory, the study adopted a correlational design and a census of 152 departmental heads in the nineteen hotels classified by the Tourism Regulatory Authority. Usable questionnaires were returned by 142 respondents (93.42%). Multiple and hierarchical regression showed that employee recognition (? = 0.462, p < .001) and remuneration (? = 0.341, p < .001) significantly predicted retention, whereas career development (? = 0.128, p = .142) and job promotion (? = 0.089, p = .377) did not. The four practices explained 50.7% of the variance in retention, rising to 56.0% when hotel rating and interaction terms were added (?R² = 0.053, p = .044). Only the recognition × hotel rating interaction was significant (? = 0.104, p = .045), indicating that recognition has a stronger effect on retention in higher-rated hotels. Hotels should benchmark pay and formalise recognition, with lower-rated hotels investing deliberately in recognition programmes.