Kima Hotel is a three star block on Ambala Road off Kirinyaga Road, in River Road, the quarter this site says plainly not to walk after dark. It is for people who want the working city at full volume and will take a ride out of it at night.
01What it is
Kima Hotel lists the things a working stay needs: 24 hour front desk, free wifi, free car parking, breakfast, a cafe and bars, laundry and dry cleaning, luggage storage, a safe, a concierge, a meeting room and a shuttle service. Some of that is practical weight rather than comfort, and the list goes thin where it matters most: beyond a meeting room there is no business centre, and the property carries a surcharge, so not every listed item is included in what you pay. The bars, the smoking area and the cafe are the only food and drink named. River Road supplies the rest.
What that adds up to for someone staying at Kima Hotel is a bed in the middle of the wholesale and transport trade, with your car parked free and your bag left at the desk while you work the streets. You are 0.2 km from the centre of River Road, and the working city runs at full volume outside: stages, hardware, lodgings, and food cooked in front of you. Kima Hotel suits the traveller who is here for that trade and treats the room as a base. It does not suit anyone who wants quiet, a lobby to sit in through the afternoon, or a walk to dinner without thinking about the route back.
02The supplier's photographs
0317 facilities the supplier lists
Facilities are the supplier's list, not a check made on the ground.
04Standing in River Road
These hotels sit in River Road, the eastern grid of the Nairobi CBD, a quarter that runs on matatu stages, hardware, lodgings and cheap kitchens, and the working city at full volume. Food is cooked in front of you and the country arrives in the city here, so the streets ask the most of a visitor. You are 0.68 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 9 minutes on foot in a direct line.
This is the CBD's eastern half, and the half the brochures skip. It is where the matatus stage and where the cheapest good food in the centre is cooked. The site is plain about after dark: not after dark, and not with a phone in your hand. River Road suits anyone wanting nothing tidy and a clear sense of how the city actually runs. It suits no one who wants a quiet evening or an easy walk back.
Read the whole of River Road05Booking it
Book Kima Hotel if you want River Road on your doorstep and you are happy to take a ride out of the quarter at night. 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 Kima Hotel?+
It is on Ambala Road off Kirinyaga Road in River Road, 0.84 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 11 minutes on foot in a direct line. The centre of River Road is 0.2 km away, so the wholesale and transport trade is around you rather than a trip from it.
What does Kima Hotel list for guests?+
A 24 hour front desk, free wifi, free car parking, breakfast, a cafe and bars, concierge, laundry and dry cleaning, luggage storage, a safe, a meeting room, a smoking area and a shuttle service. There is a surcharge on some items, and the list is practical rather than comfortable.
Is River Road safe at night?+
This site is plain about River Road after dark: not after dark, and not with a phone in your hand. Kima Hotel has a 24 hour front desk and a shuttle service, but the honest answer is to take a ride anywhere else at night rather than walk the quarter.
What does the guest score mean?+
Kima Hotel scores 4 out of 5 from 556 reviews. That is a solid, consistent result rather than an exceptional one: enough guests to make the number mean something, and enough of a step down from the top of the scale to tell you this is a working three star.
