Stay Report: Crowne Plaza Nairobi, Upper Hill (Kenya - April 2018)

Stay Report: Crowne Plaza Nairobi, Upper Hill
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I was travelling to Nairobi, Kenya and whenever I asked someone which location to stay the response was always ‘Upper Hill’ so I looked for a hotel in that area and found the Crowne Plaza.  I have stayed in Crowne Plaza’s before and they are usually pretty good, and I was told this one was of the best hotels in the area; needless to say my expectations were high.  I had booked the hotel online through the IHG website, but then had to modify my booking so contacted the hotel through email.  While they did respond, it did take them a while.  The hotel does not provide a complimentary airport shuttle, rather you can book the hotel car for airport transfers at a cost; I decided to use my own transport.

The hotel itself is located in Upper Hill but off the main road, and there are two entrances to the hotel making it a bit confusing for pick-ups.  The main entrance is to the side of the road but most people see the side entrance, which is the entrance to the parking garage as this is where the large Crowne Plaza sign is; ensuring you were picked up at the right location was always a challenge.  From the outside, the hotel looks decent – not too new but not too old either.  As you enter inside the hotel, you enter into a large and open lobby.  Straight ahead against the wall are the check-in desks, while on left is the restaurant and on the right is the bar.  Every time I went to the check-in desks, there always seemed to be a line as there were always a number of guests who needed attention and a lack of staff behind the desks.  This was the same for my check-in experience, which took a long time (generally, the staff overall were neither fast nor efficient).  I finally checked in and received my key and proceeded to my room.  The elevators are located to the right of the check-in desks and are located in front of the open circular staircase.  This is where the hotel shows its age as the staircase and elevator section looks a lot older than the lobby section.  There were two elevators available, but they were slow and one broke on the second day and never seemed to get fixed.  Again, the staff never seemed to be in a hurry to fix or alleviate issues that would affect guests.

I proceeded to my room and the hallway décor continued the older look of the hotel.  When I

opened the door to the room I noticed two things: 1) the room had an older look/feel to it and 2) the room itself was quite spacious.  As you entered into the room, on the right was the closet and storage area while on the left was the bathroom.  The closet contained space for storage, a safe, robes, and an umbrella.  The bathroom was basic and contained a shower, a tub, a sink, and a toilet.  In between the bathroom and the sink was a nook/bar which contained glasses on top, a fridge on the bottom, and a tea kettle and tea/biscuits.  Complimentary bottles of water were also provided here.  

Further into the room, the bed was located on the left side of the room.  On either side of the bed was a nightstand, but in between the bathroom wall and the bed was a lot of space; just empty space.  The bed itself was decent, not very comfortable but not very uncomfortable.  It was lower to the ground than I expected and the décor of the bedroom and carpet did not look new.  On the other side of the bed was a lamp, two chairs and a small desk in front of the window.  The window was very big and let in natural light which was good since the room was very dark without it.  Across from the beds was a very table attached to the wall which contained the desk on side and additional place to store items on the other side.  Next to this was a chest with the TV on top and drawers on the bottom.  As I said, overall there was a lot of space in the room but the décor of the room and the carpet indicated the older age of the hotel. 

The hotel is full-service so there are a variety of facilities for guests to enjoy.  These include an outdoor pool, a spa, a fitness center, a restaurant, a bar, and complimentary wifi.  I spent most of my time outside so I was not able to enjoy all the facilities, but I did try the wifi.  The wif was complimentary and a good strength, but the thing I find odd was there was no password or login needed; anyone could connect to the wifi and login.  It did not seem very secure.

Overall, it was an alright stay at the Crowne Plaza.  I have stayed at other Crowne Plaza around the world and have had good experiences, and I was told a lot about this hotel so based on these two ideas I had high expectations; the hotel fell well below these expectations.  While the room was spacious, the décor and look of the room felt old.  The staff were neither efficient nor customer-friendly and were not attentive to guest’s requests.  The hotel bills itself as a high hotel and charges money equivalent to a high hotel, so in my opinion the hotel was not worth what was being charged.