My initial experience of staying at the Holiday Inn in Nairobi came on the wings of a panic. I was travelling with my boss, and I had made the BIG MISTAKE of booking us into a convenient, small, and very cheap mission guest house where I frequently stay. It didn't take me too long to figure ... Read review
A review by grape_nehi on Holiday Inn, Nairobi December 29th, 2004
Author's product rating:
Value for Money
Quality of Rooms
Standard of Service
Cleanliness
Quality of Facilities
Advantages:
Good location, great staff, nice rooms
Disadvantages:
Some rooms are small
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
My initial experience of staying at the Holiday Inn in Nairobi came on the wings of a panic. I was travelling with my boss, and I had made the BIG MISTAKE of booking us into a convenient, small, and very cheap mission guest house where I frequently stay. It didn't take me too long to figure out that the boss was tired--after two weeks of travel in Africa--and, something really nice better be at the end of this day. So, I quickly slipped out of the meeting and took up the less than helpful Nairobi phone book to look for something better. My eyes fell on "Holiday Inn" and I knew I had found the answer.
Location:
The Holiday Inn (known locally as The Mayfair) is conveniently located in the Westlands area of Nairobi. It is not very far from the Westlands Shopping Mall and the Sarit Center ... both of which are very nice shopping centers...even by western standards. The buildings are a bit older--but, immaculately maintained--and ramble over a beautiful garden area.
Amenities:
The Holiday Inn has TWO swimming pools. Each one is located in a very nice garden setting. One of the pools has a lovely eating area directly adjacent where the deluxe breakfast (included with your room) is served in the morning. There is also a spa and exercise facility as well.
In the lobby is a well stocked magazine shop with all the latest news periodicals, maps, and travel books for Kenya ... along with an assortment of African curios.
There are two other very nice clothing shops for outfitting the visiting muzungu to look good in the bush while tracking his lion; a beauty salon; and, a business center.
There is international telephone service available in the hotel ... for a price. A huge price...so, carefully read the telephone cost information in the room before calling. Internet is available at the business center...again, for a price. It is slow, expensive, and not as well equipped as the internet cafes available in the city.
Rooms:
The standard rooms are a bit on the smallish side and a bit "old" as well. They include a 19 inch TV, an in-the-closet safe, and either twin beds or a single queen size bed. The bathrooms are very nice, tiled, with tub and shower combination. A nice selection of shampoo, soap, and conditioner is located in a basket by the basin.
Executive rooms are nicely decorated with very nice touches. They include a mini-bar, a larger television in a nice cabinent, and the typical trouser hanger/presser as well. The executive rooms also have a nice location overlooking the garden area.
Food:
When I stay at the Holiday Inn I never fail to indulge myself in a favorite small "vice". I order--from room service-- the large rack of "baby back ribs" done up American style .... strip down to my shorts and tee shirt and "dig in" and enjoy myself. There is a very good selection of food on the room service menu, and the prices are quite reasonable ... in the range of US$8 to US$15 for a meal.
The Holiday Inn breakfast is nothing short of stupendous. There is more food available on the breakfast buffet than I normally see in a week. Everything is there from real NATURAL yogurt (the way God intended yogurt to be eaten) to cold-cut slices of meat, crepes, eggs any style you can describe, bacon, sausage....fried tomatos...pastry...the works.
Taxi service:
Taxis are available at the front door. The doorman will call a taxi for you and help you to negotiate the proper fare for where you are going. The drivers are known to the hotel staff...and, using them is fairly safe. I once had to move around Nairobi at mid-Night (NOT a recommended procedure) using one of their taxis and the driver was actually quite nice and knowledgeable about where and how to move around safely.
Since that first experience with the Holiday Inn, I have stayed there many times. I find the staff very helpful and they will go out of their way to assist you in anyway possible.
Advantages: good facilities, lovely grounds, excellent staff, very secure Disadvantages: some rooms a little dated
...As a member of the Holiday Inn club, I have been completely sucked in by points collecting, and always stay in a HI if there's one in town. So I feel I know the chain pretty well, and I also know how much they can vary in standard, not just between countries, but even within towns. The Nairobi Holiday Inn was very different to most. It was converted from an old colonial hotel called the Mayfair Court, and has retained much of that old time character. ... ...need for security, and the Holiday Inn always has a guard in the car park, by the entrances, and patrolling the corridors at night. I booked the HI shuttle service (£10) to meet me in arrivals at the airport and this was very satisfactory. It may seem expensive for Kenya, but after sitting for over a hour in the huge traffic jams, I'm very glad I hadn't used a public bus. The only problem I had during my whole stay was that my return shuttle failed ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: A taste of old colonial Disadvantages: Can't think of any
Stayed here on two separate nights on the Kuoni Leopard safari this July but it's used as the start point for a lot of Kuoni tours. Hotel used to be the Mayfair Court (stayed here in 94) and retains a lot of local flavour with pretty gardens, water features and an outdoor canopied breakfast restaurant where much food is cooked fresh to order. This overlooks a decent sized swimming pool but you aren't assaulted by chlorine.
The room the first time ... ...we were in a spacious ground floor room overlooking the garden (where a wedding was taking place) with the most comfortable beds and pillows ever - so comfy that we tucked ourselves under duvets and watched TV from bed (we had been on the road for 14 days)! Big bars of soap in the bathroom.
There is an excellent steak restaurant opening off the lobby - a wide choice of very good meat, a salad buffet, hot chips (Kenya travellers will know that hot ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: getting around is easy with help of matatus and theres lots to shop for Disadvantages: fear of crime and not alot of nightlife compared to the united kingdom
...nairobi is located cenrtre of kenya so getting in and out of there is a lot easy. the airport there has many good facilities comapred to the others in east africa. its easy to book a hotel as many reputated hotels allow you to book at the very moment you land. the transport to and from the hotel is provided by the hotel services. the other most important thing about the airport is that almost all aircraft companies fly to an from to many different locations. some of the hotels inclde the hilton, holidayinn. both these hotels have good access to shopping areas as they are situated in the centre of the city. the worst fear about nairobi is that the people there try to con you so beware and always bargain before buying any thing....
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Fantastic holiday, see all types of animals at close range Disadvantages: I got food poisoning
...It was summer 1999 when we set off for the experience of a lifetime which turned out to be above and beyond our expectations!
Destination 1: Nairobi
We stayed in the holidayInn for our first night in Kenya. The hotel was lovely - clean, friendly, comfortable, good facilities, excellent food and most important of all, drinking water!
We asked about venturing into town as we had a day to waste before setting off on safari. Our query was met with surprise and we realised hat this was obviously not the done thing! We soon found out why! We were probably the
only British people out on the streets and as a result we attracted much attention (not all enjoyable). We were guided (for commission) around the markets and enjoyed some amazingly beautiful wood carvings etc.
Destination 2:Masai Mara
We spent a week on safari...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
15.02.2007
01.09.2001
