A four star property on Masai Lane in Karen, built around a garden, a pool and a conference room rather than a street. The distance from the centre decides it: this suits you if you have a car or a driver, and does not if you want to walk out of the gate into the city.
01What it is
House Of Waine lists the full apparatus of a four star hotel on a Karen plot: air conditioning, a garden, an outdoor pool, a terrace, a lounge with a fireplace, a restaurant, a bar, a breakfast room and 24 hour security, with parking and car rental attached. Rooms carry bathrobes, slippers, toiletries, a hairdryer, iron and board, mini fridge, minibar, safe, TV and telephone. Business and conference rooms, a business centre, projector, printer and copy service are listed, along with babysitting, cots, laundry, housekeeping, massage, medical service, concierge, multilingual staff, wheelchair access, shuttle service and wifi. Where the list thins is around the edges of the day: beyond the restaurant and bar there is little, tennis court and golf course are listed without a word on access or condition, and nothing tells you how any of it is run.
What that amounts to at House Of Waine is a place that works from the inside: you arrive by car, you eat and meet on the property, and you sleep on the property. Karen is new concrete on a ridge, built for the car and the conference room, and it is a daytime quarter, the halls shut in the late afternoon. Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue sits 13.7 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 172 minutes on foot in a direct line, so nobody is strolling in for dinner. Book it if you want space, quiet and a pool between meetings, or if you are travelling with children and want cots and babysitting on hand. Do not book it if your trip is the centre: the markets, the offices, the bars that stay open. Those are a ride away, and the ride home at night is the whole point.
02The supplier's photographs
0336 facilities the supplier lists
and 24 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 are not in Upper Hill and Community, 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 Upper Hill and Community is only the nearest of the ten quarters to them, which is not the same as being in it. Treat the quarter as a reference point, not an address. Anything you want in the CBD means travelling in and out.
The quarter itself is the western ridge above the centre: new concrete on a ridge, built for the car and the conference room. It is not the CBD proper but the ridge immediately above it, and the place most of the CBD's office space has been moving to since the 2000s: 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 lies 1.9 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 24 minutes on foot in a direct line.
Read the nearest quarter, Upper Hill and Community05Booking it
House Of Waine is a property where the booking decision is really a transport decision, so settle how you will move around Karen before you confirm. 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 House Of Waine?+
It is on Masai Lane off Bogani Road in Karen, Nairobi 00603, in Greater Nairobi. That puts it 11.82 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers, and well outside the Central Business District, on a ridge where the streets were laid out for cars.
Do I need a car to stay here?+
You will want one. The property lists car parking, car rental service and a shuttle service, and it sits on a ridge built for the car. Karen is safe and dull after dark: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. Plan each evening around a vehicle, or stay on the property.
What facilities does the property list?+
A garden, outdoor pool, terrace, lounge with fireplace, restaurant, bar, breakfast room and 24 hour security, plus conference and meeting rooms, business centre, projector, printer and copy service. Rooms list air conditioning, minibar, safe, TV and wifi. Babysitting, cots, laundry, massage, concierge and wheelchair access also appear.
How do I check whether House Of Waine has rooms for my dates?+
Check availability against your own dates rather than assuming, because a 4 star property of this size fills around conferences and family travel. Look at the dates you need, compare the room types on offer, and confirm before you build the rest of the trip around Karen.
