A 3 star with parking, wifi and a car park on Ndekwa Ave, out in Greater Nairobi where the streets are wide, industrial and unlit in stretches. The deciding fact is that it sits in a quarter you reach by car, so it suits a driver and does not suit anyone planning to walk to the centre.
01What it is
Saab Royale Hotel lists the practical spine of a working hotel: a 24 hour front desk, express check in and express check out, lifts, luggage storage, a safe, laundry service and a bell boy. It lists free wifi and free car parking, which is the pair that matters most here, plus a business center, a meeting room and a reception area for people working rather than holidaying. For eating and sitting it lists restaurant or restaurants, a bar or snack cafe, coffee, a garden and a terrace, and a smoking area. The list thins out past that. There is a shuttle service and a surcharge line, and little else for anyone who wants leisure facilities, a pool or a gym, none of which appear.
What that adds up to for someone staying at Saab Royale Hotel is a place built around arriving by car and getting on with business: you park free, you check in and out quickly, you have wifi, a desk and a meeting room, and you eat and drink on site. The guest score is 4.3 out of 5 from 415 reviews, which is a solid record rather than a flawless one. It suits drivers, people with appointments in the industrial and business land around Ndekwa Ave, and anyone who wants the car parked and the admin handled. It does not suit a visitor who wants to step out of the door into the centre. The street feel is wide industrial land, sheds, and the reason any of this is here, and after dark it is industrial and unlit in stretches, so daylight only, and a car back.
02The supplier's photographs
0322 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 The Railway Quarter. They sit just outside the ten quarters this site covers, on the edge of the centre, and The Railway Quarter is only the nearest of the ten. What that means in practice is that you are in the wider city, not in the grid, and you will be travelling in and out for anything in the CBD.
The nearest quarter is the southern edge of the centre: wide industrial land, sheds, and the reason any of this is here. Nairobi exists because the Uganda Railway stopped here in 1899 to gather strength for the Rift, and the 1929 station, the old yards and the museum of locomotives sit on the CBD's southern boundary, ten minutes below Kenyatta Avenue; the quarter is 0.89 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 12 minutes on foot in a direct line. It is best for the museum, and for understanding the city's whole layout in one afternoon. After dark it is industrial and unlit in stretches. Daylight only, and a car back.
Read the nearest quarter, The Railway Quarter05Booking it
Book Saab Royale Hotel if you are arriving by car and want the parking, the wifi and the fast check in settled before you land. 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 Saab Royale Hotel?+
It is on Ndekwa Ave in Greater Nairobi. The listing puts it 2.65 km from The Railway Quarter, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers, and 3.38 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 43 minutes on foot in a direct line.
What does the hotel actually list?+
A 24 hour front desk, express check in and check out, lifts, luggage storage, a safe, laundry and a bell boy, plus free wifi and free car parking. It also lists a business center, a meeting room, restaurant or restaurants, a bar or snack cafe, coffee, a garden, a terrace and a smoking area.
Can I walk into the centre from the hotel?+
The site does not recommend it. The area around Ndekwa Ave is wide industrial land and sheds, and after dark it is industrial and unlit in stretches. Treat it as daylight only, and a car back. Anyone without a car should look at a hotel inside the centre instead.
What does the guest score mean?+
Saab Royale Hotel carries 4.3 out of 5 from 415 reviews. That is a good but not perfect record from a decent number of guests, and it tells you the basics of parking, wifi, rooms and service are being handled without complaint being the norm.
