Spent a very relaxing sunday as hotel guest, enjoying the sun, the pool and an exellent Sunday Brunch buffet that really had something for everyone.

I tend to expect more from a hotel bearing the Intercontinental brand. A lot more. This being said, after my fiasco at the New Orleans Intercont, I'm not surprised (if you care to read, look through my reviews for that one).

The hotel is in a desperate need of a face lift, a refreshment of some sort, or what not. Rumour goes, there are renovated rooms in one of the wings. Haven't seen them, so can't say anything. The rooms are rather mediocre, with bathrooms being clean on average, and that's about where it ends. I've asked for a room with 1 bed. Instead I'm being give a room with 2 (smaller) beds, and it is being announced very pompously - see how nice we are? We are giving you a room with 2 beds, for the price of a room with 1 bed. Seriously?

The internet is HORRIBLY overpriced. It's free at many other hotels, so I'm hard pressed to understand why do I have to pay for it. And so much at that.

Unfortunately there isn't much of a choice in Nairobi these days, so I'll have to repeat.

I stayed at the Intercontinental Nairobi once about 8 years ago, before the rooms were renovated, and stayed here again in Jan 2012, but only because I didn't have to pay for the stay myself. Basically, if I have to pay for a hotel room in Nairobi, it wouldn't be here. This is not to say that things are bad or unacceptable, it is rather that there is not much to like about this place.

First of all, location. For travelers wanting to be close to downtown Nairobi, there are other hotels in a similar price range that are not located right next to the traffic and fumes of Uhuru Highway. I find it quite important to try to avoid the air pollution in Nairobi as much as possible.

Rooms. We stayed in a "suite", which is actually two connecting rooms that have been converted so that one has use of both rooms. One is for sleeping, with the beds in it, while the other room has living room furniture. Both rooms have TVs, bathrooms, and desks. The one good thing is the air-con, which worked well. Otherwise, not much to like about the rooms. Bed was comfortable and clean. But even though the rooms are supposed to have been renovated, everything still seems old and worn and chipped around the edges. Carpet in the rooms, especially, was very dirty -- saw housekeeping vacuuming in other rooms, but what they need to do is to do a good shampoo of the carpeting regularly. The tiled area near the desk and window also looked dirty and grimy. The room we stayed in was also not "ready" when we arrived -- it had towels and other stuff (clean) piled on the living room sofa, and it was only on the second day of our stay that bathrobes, flowers in vases, fruit etc. made their appearance.

Wifi is fine, reasonably fast for Kenya, but not cheap.

Food. Breakfast was ok -- a very lavish buffet spread by Kenyan standards. The Sunday "brunch" is worth mentioning -- it starts at noon and runs until 4pm, and has a very very big spread of lots of food, including nyama choma (roast meats) and fish and salads and desserts etc etc. Not cheap, but copious food. The Indian restaurant was shut for renovation during our visit -- what was funny was, I asked about opening times at reception when I checked in, and then called from my room to make a dinner reservation, which was accepted. It was only later that same day that I happened to pass and see that the restaurant was closed until the following week, and it still mystifies me that both reception and the person answering the phone seemed to think that it was open for business. Lastly, and perhaps the only thing which turned out to be nice, was when I enquired at breakfast about the Italian restaurant's menu, they could not find it immediately, but did send the menu up to my room shortly after breakfast.

Taxis at the hotel are safe but overpriced.

Security seemed good, all incoming vehicles received very thorough scrutiny before being allowed off the street into the hotel.

Expecting a much nicer place considering this is supposed to be 5 star and has a 5 star price. But this hotel is more along the lines of 2-3 stars at the very best. Dont expect much and you wont be disappointed. Restaurants over-priced. Gym not very good. Other than the security being very good and the location excellent in downtown, there is nothing left to say.