The Grand Gables

The staff are lovely, pleasant, and extremely efficient, and it feels safe to take a morning walk nearby. The city winds down early, so it’s better to be back in after 9pm. The accommodation has an old colonial feel and is quiet and beautiful. We found a great place at a rate that suited our wishes and budget, and it’s fully equipped for a short stay. Wi-Fi can be a problem. For more than two days, bring your own eggs, bread, coffee, tea, salt, sugar, and whatever else you need. Eating out all the time gets cumbersome, though there are bakeries, small marts, a reasonable shopping mall, and restaurants around.

The compound was quiet, seemed secure, and parking was easy. The askari helped with our bags and a few unusual requests. Rhapta Road is a good location, with Artcafé, several spas, and Chandarana within walking distance. This felt much more like a self-service Airbnb than a hotel. Reception was nearly always closed, and we could only reach management through Booking.com messages or a local cell phone. The room phones weren’t connected to anything. Wi-Fi was incredibly slow, which is hard to excuse with multiple fast fiber providers in the area. When we arrived, friends had to bring us towels, toilet paper, and some kitchen supplies. Management later said consumables generally aren’t provided beyond what might be there on the first day, but we hadn’t been given any at all. Over our three-week stay, housekeeping collected our towels without replacing them, so we had to ask for fresh ones at least three times. Someone also used an entire 500 ml bottle of dish soap while we were out of the apartment, and we had a persistent problem with ants on the toilet. Cleanliness was barely acceptable. We had to repeatedly ask for the floors to be cleaned properly, linens changed, and surfaces wiped down to meet our standards. Don’t expect a fully serviced hotel-style stay.

We love coming back to these properties in Nairobi. This was our fourth or fifth stay, for both short and long visits, and for work as well as pleasure. The welcoming staff and homey feel make it our home away from home, and the value is great. You get an apartment for what other hotels charge for a room with breakfast: a big bedroom, living room, and kitchen, plus a garden with a pool and outdoor tables. Cooking is handy since eating out in Nairobi is so pricey, and there’s room to invite guests for lunch or dinner. We also stayed with our film crew at their more high-end property, The Kings Post, which is just as great. It has a coffee shop, fitness facilities, and a roof terrace for gatherings. Both places are made and maintained by Indian people, with colonial India architecture and some Zanzibar architectural elements, especially at The Kings Post. I’d choose these over regular hotels. Go see for yourself, we love it! 💗

The kitchen was fully equipped, and the floors were amazing, I loved them and would like to come back. The staff were amazing too. It’s near a grocery store, a mama kibanda, and Ethiopian food just around the corner. The pool was under renovation, and the Wi-Fi wasn’t great because it didn’t reach the rooms.