Very nice boutique hotel. The lobby has a lovely high ceiling, and there are many african art pieces decorating almost all areas of the hotel. Being located within the same commercial property as the Village Market Mall (same owners) was a big plus, including amenities such as free entry to the VMX gym within the mall, the largest in city. As hotel guests, you can sign up for free to the many daily exercise sessions at VMX. I ended up trying a spinning class. The hotel is also located within a secure diplomatic area, with the UN office, US embassy, and other embassies nearby. I found it safe walking around the Gigiri area where several restaurants, spas and even a padel court can be found. I found the hotel staff responsive to our several requests such as rush ironing of clothes and extra bottled water. What I really appreciated was when I brought to front desk's attention the construction noise from one of the hotel rooms across the hall. Construction work seemed to have immediately stopped after that and until the day we checked out. The only minor irritation is the seemingly duplicate bag checks when you walk back to the hotel from the mall. There is a pedestrian gate you must pass through where a guard will manually check your bags and then about 15 meters down a flight of stairs is the guarded hotel lobby entrance where your bags will pass through an xray machine to be checked again. Though I appreciate the circumstances why there are strict security measures in most commercial establishments in Nairobi, I found this to be excessive. An added bonus are the bicycles available for guests to use when going to sights around the area. Many thanks to Carmeline of the Guest Relations team for arranging my guided bike tour of the nearby Karura Forest Park. Special mention to Brett for accompanying me to and from the park during our almost 4-hour adventure.
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