A three star hotel on Ole Shapara Avenue, on the new ridge above the centre. Twenty four hour check in and security, parking, breakfast and wifi, and a lift. It suits you if you come by car or for a conference, and not if you want to walk out into the city.
01What it is
Barre Hotel lists the practical things first. There is 24 hour check in, 24 hour security, car parking, a lift and free wifi, internet access, housekeeping and cleaning, a laundry service and room service, plus a shuttle service. Rooms are non smoking, with a bathroom, shower, towels, toiletries, slippers, a TV and a telephone, and smoke detectors. There is a restaurant on site and breakfast is served, and a supermarket is listed. Where the list is thin: nothing is said about a bar, a pool, a gym or a garden, and no room types or views are described.
What that adds up to is a hotel built around arrival and rest rather than around a neighbourhood you would roam. Barre Hotel is on new concrete on a ridge, built for the car and the conference room, with a shuttle and parking doing the work that a doorstep would do elsewhere. So it fits the business visitor with a meeting or a conference, and the driver who wants the car left in a secure place. It does not fit anyone who wants to step out into the centre and walk to dinner, because the centre is a ride away.
02The supplier's photographs
0324 facilities the supplier lists
Facilities are the supplier's list, not a check made on the ground.
04Standing outside the ten quarters
These hotels are not in Upper Hill and Community, and they are not in any of the ten quarters this site covers. They sit just outside the ten quarters, on the edge of the centre, and Upper Hill and Community is only the nearest of the ten. That puts you in the wider city rather than in the grid itself, so anything in the CBD means travelling in and out rather than stepping out of a lobby into it.
The ridge above the centre is new concrete, built for the car and the conference room: the tallest towers in the country, the big hospitals, the aid agencies, and an expressway ramp to the airport. It is best for meetings, a quiet night close in, and a fast run to the airport, and after dark it is safe and dull, hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. The quarter sits 1.9 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 24 minutes on foot in a direct line, though that is the quarter's own distance and not a walk from these hotels.
Read the nearest quarter, Upper Hill and Community05Booking it
Book Barre Hotel if you want the security, parking and shuttle handled rather than a street life at the door, and treat the ridge location as the trade you are making. 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 is Barre Hotel?+
It is on Ole Shapara Avenue, in Greater Nairobi, 3.53 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 45 minutes on foot in a direct line. It is also 2.65 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers.
What does Barre Hotel actually list among its facilities?+
A restaurant, breakfast, free wifi and internet access, car parking, a lift, 24 hour check in and security, laundry, room service, housekeeping, a shuttle service and a supermarket. Rooms are non smoking with a bathroom, shower, TV, telephone, towels, toiletries, slippers and a smoke detector.
What is the area around Barre Hotel like after dark?+
The site's own line for this ridge is safe and dull, hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. That means the hotel bar is the easy option, and anything past it takes a car. Plan your evenings around the car rather than around a walk.
What does the guest score of 4 out of 5 from 22 reviews tell me?+
It is a solid score from a small sample, so read it as a general sign that recent guests were satisfied rather than as a detailed verdict. It tells you nothing about which rooms are best, so ask when you book.
