The room we stayed in was damp, hotel was unclean, swimming pool dirty and the food repetitive . The club was eager to keep you in the hotel however we ventured out several times and met lots of really nice people so don't be swayed into staying in the hotel the whole time. Also the beach has lots of interesting sealife so I would recommend a walk down to see it. Overall the hotel wasnt up to much but for what we paid we didnt expect much!

I didn't stay at the Coral Palm Beach Hotel, but was down the road at the Dolphin. We went walking around Shanzu and came across the Coral Palm Beach Hotel. It was completely deserted, like the Marie Celeste. We were able to walk around it as if it were a ghost town. It's such a shame, as it looked like it could have been a nice hotel in it's prime, but has now been left to ruin. I gather the closure must have only been recent, as we were able to walk into areas and see paperwork left lying around, dated April 2009.

The recession has hit tourism badly, especially for long-haul. Also, I believe the war in Kenya at the beginning of the year, leading up to the elections have put tourists off. Thankfully those troubles are over. Sadly it has hit the resort hard, as the locals rely on tourism for their business. Hopefully things will pick up soon and someone will take this hotel into hand soon and renovate it. it's in a prime location on a fantastic beach. I assume it still belongs to African Safari Club. Maybe the fact that they have not been paying their staff at the other hotels is because all monies are being retained for the renovation. Who knows..

Before going I have read the terrible reviews about the African Safari Club and their hotels, but the 500gbp deal for 2 weeks with flights was very tempting. ..& that was a big mistake.
We booked the Palm hotel, however, as noted by other travelers coral and palm (as well as palm superior as they call it once you are there) are the same one hotel.
the room itself is very basic but ok. the bathroom is really awfull. the worst thing for me was the stink. the towels, the bed linnen, the batchroom stinked so much. the other thing was safe int he room. They advice to keep all valuables in there and pay 2.5 EUR per day for this service. The safe is a thin metal box with a post box lock...Furthermore, in our room it was possible to lock & unlock the safe with a FINGER! So we did not even bother paying for this service (just told the manager, but this was not fixed during the 13 days of our stay).
Air conditioning: it makes noice, but there is no cool wind out of it. nothing out of it, really. so we used the fan, which was good, but very noice: I was waking up some 10 times each night as it felt like sleeping under a helicopter.
breakfast: during first 4 days we did not manage to get coffee...during the entire stay noone ever offered an omlet, we just saw other people eating it. dinners: on the first nights the hotel was more busy, so it was extremely complicated to get food. the waiters kept saying: "you are so many, we are so few" and the staff to guesst ratio in the restaurant was nearly 1 to one.
good it was possible to eat FOC in the restaurants of other African Safari Club Hotels, so Dolphin was where we went ussually (much better service & food, even though far from 4* level).
then we went to safari with southern cross safaries which was briliant. we stayed in Satao Camp and it was amazing. Service & food: noithing to compare to African Safari Club.
Finally, the last day we were settling the bill at Coral Palm hotel and there was an Austrian lad which just arrived for 6 weeks (I hope she survived this concentration camp for so long, we felt sorry for her). She wanted to rent safe key for 6 weeks and was asking for better rate than ussual 2.5 eur per day (in 6 weeks thats 105 EUR, more than a lot for a post box rental). Cashier said no better rates was possible. We just told her about our safe and advised to check it before paying. After she went to manager for a better rate and told her about our safe. The manager said (we were next to that conversation): "who could tell you such things about our hotel?" so lady obviously pointed to us. The manager raised the voice and started shouting on us how dare we talking that soemthng does not work in his lovely hotel and that speach did not end before I started talking on him with all the nice experience we had in there! this was all happenning in the middle of the hotel (which they claim to ahve 4.5 shields) reception. After this naci camp for nearly 2 weeks, we got this as a bonus just before departure. It is a cheap hostel level institution, no more. DON'T GO THERE!!!

We returned yesterday having spent xmas & new year at the palm beach superior,and have never been so glad to get away from this dreadful group of hotels! It is supposed to be 4+ shield hotel,and was told it would compare with any 4+ star anywhere in the world.
On arrival and going to the room, the wooden staircase had a badly fitting joint protruding on the handrail,i injured my hand.The door to the room had at sometime been broken into and never repaired properly. I reported these minor but important things to the manager,but nothing was done during the next two weeks.
ROOMS :- devoid of - any info about the hotel and area,maps of grounds and site etc - tv radio hair dryer kettle etc - the beds were like rocks- the linen was very old stained with holes and rarely changed - the bathroom was smelly - the shower some times had hot water,and did not drain correctly,probably the cause of the smell - towels were old torn and shabby
RESTAURANTS :- ours was generally waiter service, the food was not good and within 48hrs we both ahd the so called Mombassa express which stayed with us for most of the holiday,as it was for 90% of the other guests. We were allowed beer wine and water with our meals,though we were not allowed a bottle of water on the table. This caused problems for the waiters,while they were trying to serve meals they were expected to go to the bar some 30yards outside and queue for drinks,then keep filling water in very small wine glasses,the service was desperate,due to the system. We were then made to sign a hand written itemised bill for our free drinks.These bills slowed the service down even greater,frustrating guests and waiters alike.
We were allowed to eat at any of the seven hotels, and though some were marginally better, we never had a memorable meal.The Flamingo was ok but never 5star it would push to be 3 star.
Our Xmas dinner was held on xmas eve,because of the German contingent, it was awful and we had by this time lost our appertites. New years eve was a very nice buffet,however there was not enough food to go around, so some of us did not sample the nicer bits of it.
STAFF :- We liked the staff who were fine people though suffered badly from antiquated bureacratic systems.They disliked the management!
MANAGEMENT :- I went to the hotel manager 3 times in week one,with various complaints,one of which was the system of getting a drink of water with a meal. I asked for a bottle to be put on each table, he would not sanction it, using the excuse that the water would get warm too quickly? Strangely the next night he ate there and had a bottle of water on his table?
HE/they are the meanest, ignorant, arrogant bunch i have ever come across.
INFORMATION :- unless you wanted to spend money with ASC there was not any. There was no tv/radio in the hotel or the other hotels as far as i am aware,so there was no way of getting any news etc. There was internet in 2 of the other hotels,of course you had to pay for that. After the election the world new more about what was happening a few miles from us than we did !
EXCHANGE RIP OFF:- the whole group uses the euro as their currency, so if you take sterling, they change it into kenya shillings then into euro. The same if you pay by credit card except you get hit by the commission as well?
SUNBED RIP OFF :- they charge 1.5 euro per day per sunbed, they were old wooden beds some broken. i have never been charged (except on a public beach.)they do not provide towels and you cannot use room towels.
Sadly i cannot find anything posative to say about these hotels.
Palm beach would struggle to make 2star rating anywhere in the world.
I have travelled extensively 2 to 5 star and never written a complaint such as this before,that is the depth of my feeling and i can assure you many others. DO NOT GO YOU WILL BE SO DISSAPPOINTED.