It's a 5* hotel. If it was an Ibis, I'd give it a 5* rating. But it's not, and expectations of a 5* hotel really weren't met.
It's old-fashioned, and that's part of its appeal. The room furniture was stained but everything was perfectly clean and well-maintained. Just with no touches to make you think you were in a 5* hotel. The toiletries were of dubious quality - the hotel's already saving money with environmentally-friendly dispensers, so at least put something decent inside them.
Wi-fi was appalling - the worst I've had in a hotel in years. It cut out frequently without warning, and I ended up leaving my phone on mobile data - though I had to endure the poor service on my laptop. There were no plugs anywhere near the bed either, you had to charge your devices at the desk. The room has plainly not been modernised for the connected generation.
Staff were friendly and efficient throughout, though the breakfast staff were a bit robotic and inattentive. Talking of breakfast, there were a lot of choices but everything I tried just didn't taste very good. It looked at first glance like the breakfast spread I've had at Fairmont Norfolk or Sankara, but with wilted lettuce, stale cheese and disappointing French bread, by the third day I was just eating cereal with their really pretty bad coffee.
Was it terrible? Far from it, it was overall pretty good. And buying it via Destinia for about 30% less than other online travel agents and indeed the hotel's own website, the rate was very good for a 5* hotel.
But it didn't feel like a 5* hotel. Nairobi has moved on, and now has several great 5* hotels. The Sarova Stanley needs to find a way to build on its heritage to stay in the game.