Essence Hotel is a 3 star property on Limuru Road in Greater Nairobi, outside the central quarter, with free parking, a 24 hour front desk and a shuttle. That location decides it: it suits you if you are driving or flying and want a car park and quiet, and it does not suit you if you want to walk out into the centre.
01What it is
Essence Hotel lists the practical basics: a 24 hour front desk, free wifi, free car parking, luggage storage, a restaurant, a bar, a cafe and dry cleaning. The shuttle service, marked as carrying a surcharge, is the one item that changes how the address works for you, and the accessible entry helps if stairs are a problem. Beyond that the list is thin and plain: three star, no leisure facilities, no gym, no pool, nothing to do on site.
What that adds up to is a working bed on Limuru Road rather than a destination. Essence Hotel is 13.85 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 174 minutes on foot in a direct line, and 13.3 km from Biashara Street and City Market, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. You stay here because you have a car or a driver, or because the shuttle covers the run, not because you want to step out into Nairobi's centre. Book it if you need parking, a front desk that never closes and an easy departure. Skip it if the point of your trip is the CBD on foot: this is a daytime quarter, the halls shut in the late afternoon, and it is not the place to be without a vehicle.
02The supplier's photographs
0311 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 Biashara Street and City Market, and they are not in any of the ten quarters of the centre this site covers. They sit a long way out, in the wider city, and Biashara Street and City Market is only the nearest of the ten quarters, the closest thing to a centre you can point to. You are outside the grid, in Greater Nairobi, and you will be travelling in and out for anything in the CBD.
The quarter you would be travelling to is the market quarter. 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. It is narrow, shaded, and the only part of the centre where the shops are still one-family wide. Best for 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. It lies 0.63 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 8 minutes on foot in a direct line.
Read the nearest quarter, Biashara Street and City Market05Booking it
Book Essence Hotel once you have decided the Limuru Road address works for your transport, since the parking and the shuttle are the reason to be here rather than in the centre. 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 Essence Hotel?+
It is on Limuru Road in Greater Nairobi, outside the central business district. The site measures it at 13.85 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 174 minutes on foot in a direct line, so treat it as a base for driving rather than for walking into town.
What does Essence Hotel actually have?+
A 24 hour front desk, free wifi, free car parking, luggage storage, a restaurant, a bar, a cafe, dry cleaning, a shuttle service with a surcharge and accessible entry. It is a 3 star property and the list is practical rather than generous: no pool, no gym, no grounds.
Can I get into the centre from Greater Nairobi without a car?+
The property lists a shuttle service, which carries a surcharge, so ask the front desk about it when you book. Otherwise you are relying on taxis or a driver, because the address is well outside the quarter: this is a daytime quarter, the halls shut in the late afternoon, and the streets empty with them.
How do I check availability at Essence Hotel?+
Use the booking link on this page, which goes through app.impt.io. Enter your dates there and you will see what is open. Most rooms can be cancelled free, so you can hold a room while you sort out your transport to and from Limuru Road.
