A three star place on Swaminarayan Street in Greater Nairobi, built for people arriving by car or heading to a conference room. The parking, the front desk that never closes and the quiet after dark decide it: good if you have a vehicle and a reason to be out here, poor if you want the centre on foot.
01What it is
Red Buffalo House Hotel lists the practical things first. Free wifi, free car parking and a 24 hour front desk cover the basics, and there is a restaurant, a bar and a business centre for work or a meal without leaving. Housekeeping and a laundry service run alongside. Wheelchair access and a smoking area are noted. The list is thin on leisure: a garden and a TV, and that is about it. Several items are vague or carry a surcharge, so ask before you rely on them.
What that adds up to is a car based, work oriented hotel. Red Buffalo House Hotel sits in Greater Nairobi, 5.75 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 72 minutes on foot in a direct line, and the street 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. It suits drivers, delegates and anyone with business on this side. It does not suit anyone wanting the centre on foot.
02The supplier's photographs
0316 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 if you are arriving with a car and want the parking and the all night desk settled before you travel. 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 Red Buffalo House Hotel?+
It is on Swaminarayan Street in Greater Nairobi, in the wider city rather than the central business district. It stands 4.06 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers, so it sits closer to that quarter than to the centre.
What does the hotel actually have on site?+
The useful list is free wifi, free car parking, a 24 hour front desk, a restaurant, a bar, a business centre, housekeeping and laundry. There is a garden and a TV, wheelchair access and a smoking area. Leisure facilities are minimal, and some listed items carry a surcharge.
Can I walk into the centre from the hotel?+
It is 5.75 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 72 minutes on foot in a direct line. That is a long walk in anyone's book, and after dark the area offers hotel bars and little else, so most people staying here arrange a ride rather than set out on foot.
What does the 4.1 out of 5 guest score tell me?+
It comes from 437 reviews, so it reflects a fair number of stays rather than a handful. A score in that range suggests solid, unremarkable satisfaction: people get what the hotel lists, without much beyond it. Read the reviews for what mattered to them before you decide.
