A three star hotel on the southern edge of Nairobi, close to Bomas of Kenya and built for people arriving by car. The listed facilities are broad but unremarkable, and the deciding factor is whether you want the centre or a quiet ridge.
01What it is
Karen Bomas Inn lists the equipment of a working three star hotel: a restaurant and bars, breakfast, free wifi, free car parking, a safe, a concierge, dry cleaning, luggage storage and a meeting room. There is a garden, a terrace, a picnic area and a playground, and an indoor list of jacuzzi, library and TV. A shuttle service is listed alongside a smoking area and a surcharge. The list is thinner than it looks: nothing here is distinctive, and several items, the jacuzzi and the library among them, are the kind of thing that may or may not be working when you arrive.
What that adds up to is a hotel for a specific kind of stay. Karen Bomas Inn sits in Greater Nairobi, 8.7 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 109 minutes on foot in a direct line, and 6.8 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. The street feel is new concrete on a ridge, built for the car and the conference room. After dark it is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. Suits drivers and groups with business south of the centre. Does not suit anyone who wants to walk out to dinner.
02The supplier's photographs
0321 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 of the centre this site covers. They sit well outside the centre, in the inner suburbs, and Upper Hill and Community is only the nearest of the ten quarters. That matters more than it sounds: you are staying in the wider city, and anything in the CBD means travelling in and out for it. The ridge itself is new concrete built for the car and the conference room, and most of the CBD's office space has been moving up there since the 2000s, which is why you find the tallest towers in the country, the big hospitals, the aid agencies and an expressway ramp to the airport on it. The quarter sits 1.9 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 24 minutes on foot in a direct line.
Upper Hill and Community is best for meetings, a quiet night close in, and a fast run to the airport. After dark it is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. If you want the centre on foot, this is not the right base.
Read the nearest quarter, Upper Hill and Community05Booking it
Book this one only if you have a car or a reason to be south of the centre, because the location decides the stay. 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 the Karen Bomas Inn?+
It is on Muiri Road, 100 m from Bomas of Kenya, in Greater Nairobi rather than the central business district. That puts it south of the centre, on a ridge of new concrete, and it is a location that works best if you are driving or being driven.
What does the hotel actually have on site?+
A restaurant and bars, breakfast, free wifi, free parking, a meeting room, a concierge, dry cleaning, luggage storage and a safe. Outside there are a garden, a terrace, a picnic area and a playground. A jacuzzi and a library also appear on the list.
What is it like getting into central Nairobi from here?+
It is 8.7 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 109 minutes on foot in a direct line. The nearest of the ten quarters this site covers is Upper Hill and Community at 6.8 km. Treat the hotel as a base for driving, not walking.
What does the guest score mean?+
It has a guest score of 3.9 out of 5 from 103 reviews. That is a middling-to-good figure for a three star property: guests are broadly content rather than enthusiastic. Read it as a hotel that does the basics without surprising anyone.
