A 3 star hotel on Karen Road in Greater Nairobi, built around the car and the meeting room rather than the street. The nearest quarter this site covers is 10.81 km away, so it decides your stay only if you have a reason to be out here and transport to match.
01What it is
Karen Inn and Suites is a 3 star property on Karen Road, opposite the Department of Defence, and its list is built for the working day: a business centre, a meeting room, a 24 hour front desk, concierge, luggage storage, laundry and dry cleaning. There is free wifi, free car parking and free internet in the lounge, plus a restaurant, a cafe, a bar, breakfast, newspapers and a safe. The list runs long on grounds: garden, terrace, picnic area, playground, library and a spa, with wheelchair access and a smoking area. It is thin on the city itself, which is the point of the address.
For a visitor, Karen Inn and Suites works as a base for a conference, a family stay or a run of meetings where you drive in and out and want the car parked and the room quiet. It does not work as a base for seeing central Nairobi: the quarter most visitors use is 10.81 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers, and the surroundings are new concrete on a ridge. After dark it is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. Suits drivers, families and business guests. Not walkers or anyone wanting the centre on foot.
02The supplier's photographs
0326 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 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
Book Karen Inn and Suites if your plans are anchored on Karen Road and you have the car covered. 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 Karen Inn and Suites?+
It stands on Karen Road, opposite the Department of Defence in Karen, in Greater Nairobi. The site puts it 12.52 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 157 minutes on foot in a direct line, and 10.81 km from Upper Hill and Community. Plan around a vehicle rather than a walk.
What does the hotel list for guests?+
A 24 hour front desk, concierge, business centre, meeting room, restaurant, cafe, bar and breakfast are the working core. Add free wifi, free car parking, laundry and dry cleaning, luggage storage, safe, newspapers, garden, terrace, picnic area, playground, library, spa, and wheelchair access. Rooms are the one thing the list says nothing about.
Can I get into central Nairobi from here without a car?+
Karen Inn and Suites sits out on the ridge and the surroundings are not a walking quarter. Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue is the far point, and after dark the honest position is a hotel bar or a ride anywhere else. Treat a car or a booked driver as part of the stay, not an optional extra.
What does the 4.3 out of 5 guest score tell me?+
It is a score from 261 reviews, which is a fair sample and lands above the middle of the range for a 3 star property. Read it as settled rather than faultless: people who pick Karen Road usually want parking, quiet and a meeting room, and that is broadly what the record suggests.
