A four star apartment block on Maua Close in Greater Nairobi, opposite the Movenpick. It is for people who want a kitchen, a washing machine and a car park, and who accept that the centre is not on the doorstep. It is not for anyone who wants to step out of a lobby into the middle of things.
01What it is
Azania Jay homes is a four star apartment property on Maua Close, and the list reads like a flat rather than a hotel room. You get a kitchen with an oven, a microwave, a refrigerator and a toaster, or a kitchenette in the smaller units, plus a washing machine, an iron and board, and a safe. There is air conditioning, free wifi, a desk, a TV, and a balcony or terrace, some units with a jacuzzi, a bath and a shower. The block has lifts, a garden, free car parking, non smoking rooms, family rooms and wheelchair access. Where it is thin is service: no restaurant, no bar and no room service appear anywhere on the list.
In practice that makes Azania Jay homes a self catering base rather than a served hotel. You shop and cook, you park your own car, you come and go through a lift, and you are not reliant on anyone bringing you anything. With family rooms, sofa beds and a garden, it works for a family or a group on a longer stay, and for anyone who needs to work quietly at a desk with reliable power and air conditioning. It suits people with a car or a driver. It does not suit anyone who wants to walk out into bars and restaurants, and it does not suit a short first visit to Nairobi where the whole point is to be in the middle of the centre.
02The supplier's photographs
0336 facilities the supplier lists
and 3 more on the supplier's own record. Facilities are the supplier's list, not a check made on the ground.
04Standing outside the ten quarters
These hotels sit outside the ten quarters of the centre this site covers. Biashara Street and City Market is only the nearest of the ten, and it is where you would be heading, not where you are sleeping. Take that as the shape of your stay: you are in the wider city, just outside the ten quarters, on the edge of the centre, and anything in the CBD means travelling in and out rather than stepping out of a lobby.
The quarter itself is the market one, 0.63 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 8 minutes on foot in a direct line. The oldest retail streets in the city: Biashara for cloth and haberdashery, Muindi Mbingu for flowers, and the 1930s City Market hall behind them for produce, curios and a fish counter. Jamia Mosque's three silver domes close the block. The streets are narrow, shaded, and the only part of the centre where the shops are still one-family wide. It suits kikoi and kitenge cloth, curios without the tour-bus markup, and an hour of architecture. It is a daytime quarter: the halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them, so plan the return before that.
Read the nearest quarter, Biashara Street and City Market05Booking it
Book this one only once you have decided you want an apartment and not a hotel, because the two are not interchangeable here. Most rooms here can be cancelled free, and you book them through app.impt.io. Every confirmed booking removes one tonne of CO2, at no extra cost to you. Five percent of what you pay comes back as IMPT credit, out of the hotel commission rather than added to your bill.
Facts on this page come from the booking supplier's record: star class, address, photographs and facility list. Guest scores come from verified stays. Nobody from this site has stayed here; the quarter copy around it is this site's own.
06Questions
Where exactly is Azania Jay homes?+
It is on Maua Close in Greater Nairobi, opposite the Movenpick hotel. It sits 3.18 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 40 minutes on foot in a direct line. That puts it outside the central business district rather than inside it.
Do the apartments have kitchens?+
Yes. The listed facilities include a kitchen with an oven, a microwave, a refrigerator and a toaster, and some units have a kitchenette instead. There is also a washing machine and an iron and board, so a longer stay is practical without eating every meal out.
Is the area busy in the evening?+
No. This is a daytime quarter. The halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them. Expect a quiet, residential feel after dark and plan to eat and drink somewhere else, since the property lists no restaurant or bar of its own.
How do I check availability?+
Use app.impt.io, which handles the booking and shows what is open for your dates. Most rooms here can be cancelled free, so you can hold a reservation while you sort out a car or a driver, which is worth having at this address.
