My husband and I came back recently from our beautiful trip to Kenya. We were at the Barracuda Inn for 12 days. The location of the hotel is wonderful, crystal clean warm ocean water, calm and beautiful bay, the sand is clean and powder like, you can actually walk all the Watamu coastline from this location, enjoying all the beauty between land and sea, beautiful native palm trees, small green islands in the in front of the coast. Watamu is the best area to stay in, we had family stay in Malindi and although their hotel was great, the water there is brown because the river flows directly in that area, so the water is always murky and it is open ocean there, so if you are planning to stay in Kenya, I suggest Watamu, or, I also heard that Diani beach is also beautuful (in mombasa). The Barracuda Inn was a great disapointment, especially since we selected this hotel from the reviews in trip advisor, we travel 4 to 5 times per year and always use trip advsisor and most of the time, 96%, the reviews are right on, however, this time it was different. The hotel is VERY poorly run in all aspects, the food was terrible, in fact new year's eve several people including us got really sick, I was sick for 5 days from the food at the hotel, as a matter of fact we ended up eating out every night. They recycle all of the food, so whatever you do not eat at noon they will mix it and re-mix it with something else the next day and the day after that. The service is very bad, the poor africans who work there are basically training themselves, the manager of the hotel was always out with his family on the beach, or at the bar of the hotel, he was just another tourist with his entire family enjoing his vacation", the staff was running around not knowing what to do, or doing nothing at all. Every time we would come to him and ask something or complin is answer was that he is only 50% owner and that he could not make all the decisions. If you wanted to eat at the bar, there was nothing to eat except old pizza and fish with chips, everyday the same thing. The common areas of the hotel were quite dirty. The staff at the front desk, compleatly useless, we ended up having to go outside of the hotel to ask around, and we had to get our own cell African cell phone to call taxis and make reservations to restaurants since they would not do them at the hotel, when they would recomend a place to eat and make a phone call, they did it because they would have an agreement with the owner of that particular restaurant regardless of the quality. The rooms are big, which is nice, but very outdated, everything old. The bed mattress was warn to the point that it would sink in the middle. The room was always very clean though. The AC did not work, although they changed it ( a miracle) but it was so old that the noise made it hard for us to have it on. Everything you eat at the hotel is old, and is always the same, as a matter of fact, the last day we had our breakfast I had some milk with my coffee and the milk was so old it had rotten, I took a picture, we could not believe it! The manager obviously was nowhere to be found. A better quality hotel (not great, but at least better) is the Aquarious hotel next door to the Barracuda. The other hotel we saw was nicer and well recommended by the guests was the Hemingway Hotel. Kenya is wonderful, lots of poverty and people asking for money every minute of the day, as you walk on all beaches you will be asked for money 24-7. That is the way the country is and it was ok for us, but the hotel, being the place where you eat and sleep and enjoy since there is really nothing else because it is s very undeveloped country so your hotel is the main source for many of your daily activities unless you are on tour somewhere. By the way, DO NOT buy the safari trip or any other activity from the hotel agency, they charge between 50 and 100 euros more for bad service, you are better off using the "beach boys" or agencies outside the hotel. I highly recommend Paparemo Beach, you have to make reservations in advance if you are there in high season, they have a great restaurant on the beach, with sun bathing area, very well serviced, beautiful beach on Crystal Bay, next to Watamu, a 10 min. taxi ride from the hotel. Hope this info helps--

As 2 independant travelling UK ladies, we chose the Barracuda Inn as our last stop off point during a recent tour of Kenya.
What a haven this turned out to be!
The bungalow rooms were fabulous, the comfy beds were massive with lovely clean linen. Everything in the bathroom worked a treat. House keeping was very vigilant and a safe in the room was marvellous!
The location was just idylic, blue seas and sand so white!
The front of house staff were just brilliant and helpful in all respects.
The food is mainly Italian, as it seems to be a big destination for the Italians and a well kept secret.
After a hectic and whirlwind tour of Kenya, Our stay here was just not long enough!!

The rooms were nice, given that there was air conditioning. Also, you could walk into the village which is close by and not really have to worry, once you got used to the street boys following you around.

The hotel was nice but speaking only english was definitely a hinderence, as all of the hotel bulletins, tours, and outings were aimed at 100% Italians. We had a great time talking to the local bar staff that entertained our take on Kenyan Politics. All the local staff were very nice. It was the Italian staff that made you feel like a real outsider. The only honorable mention had to be the Italian tour director that tried his best at english and to make us feel somewhat welcome.

It would be a great place to go with a group of people, but if you only speak english, you are much better off to stay at Hemingways or another British resort.

My husband and I were in Malindi in 2004 and we had a full day in Watamu: it was love at first sight. We decided to come back and we did so. We stayed at Barracuda Inn from 11 till 25 december 2005 and we enjoyed every moment.The hotel is on the beach, the best one in Watamu, it has large rooms,the food is excellent (fish always in the menu twice a day)the staff and the management are very kind. Ennio, the owner is a terrific guy. We definitely recommend Barracuda and we will go back again