- Introduction: A Quick African Adventure
- Review: British Airways First Lounge New York JFK
- Review: British Airways Pre-Flight Dining New York JFK
- Review: British Airways Business Class A318 New York To London City
- Review: The London EDITION
- Review: British Airways First Lounge London Heathrow Terminal 3
- Review: British Airways First Class 747 London To Nairobi
- Review: Four Points By Sheraton Nairobi Airport
- Review: Turkish Airlines Lounge Nairobi Airport
- Review: Kenya Airways Pride Lounge Nairobi Airport
- Review: Kenya Airways Simba Lounge Nairobi Airport
- Review: RwandAir Business Class CRJ-900 Nairobi To Kigali
- Review: Marriott Kigali
- Review: Pearl Lounge Kigali Airport
- Review: RwandAir Business Class A330 Kigali To Brussels
- Review: RwandAir A330 Business Class Brussels To London
- Review: Hilton London Gatwick
- Review: No1 Lounge London Gatwick South Terminal
- Review: Norwegian Premium 787-9 London To New York
The closest hotel to JKIA is the Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport, so I ended up staying there twice about a week apart. One time I just stayed for the day (I landed in the late morning and was departing just after midnight), while the other time I spent a night (I arrived late at night on British Airways, and was continuing the following afternoon to Kigali).
I redeemed points for both of my stays — specifically, 17,500 points, which I thought was a marginally better value than the paid rate of ~176USD.
The Four Points offers a complimentary on demand shuttle service. I emailed them beforehand to tell them which flight I was arriving on, and they had someone waiting for me in the arrivals area, and then I was driven to the hotel, which is just three minutes away.
The hotel has a security check both as you enter the property, and then as you enter the lobby.
The Four Points is still fairly new, and is beautiful. Inside the entrance I turned left, and then reception was straight ahead.
Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport entrance
The gentleman checking me in was friendly, thanked me for being a Platinum member, and informed me I had been upgraded to a suite.
Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport reception
The lobby has a good amount of seating.
Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport lobby
Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport lobby
From reception I turned right and headed towards the elevators.
Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport elevators
I was assigned room 414, a suite on the fourth floor.
Four Points Nairobi Airport hallway
Four Points Nairobi Airport room exterior
To me Four Points is generally a brand that lacks an identity, so I come into Four Points properties with low expectations. But my gosh, this property actually had nice design. The suite living room had a loveseat and a chair facing a TV, as well as some artwork.
Four Points Nairobi Airport suite living room
Four Points Nairobi Airport suite living room
Four Points Nairobi Airport suite living room
Right by the entrance and to the left was a desk. This had a window that faced the narrow atrium as well as the hallway right by the elevator, so if you’re sitting here you’ll probably want to lower the blinds, or else everyone walking down the corridor can see you.
Four Points Nairobi Airport suite desk
Also at the desk was the minibar and kettle, as well as one bottle of complimentary water. Given that tap water isn’t drinkable in Nairobi, I sure wish they’d provide more than one bottle of water.
Four Points Nairobi Airport suite minibar
Four Points Nairobi Airport suite minibar
Also waiting on the table was a welcome amenity consisting of some fruit and sweets.
Four Points Nairobi Airport welcome amenity
The room had a quiet view of a parking lot, and of one of the main roads leading to the airport in the distance.
Four Points Nairobi Airport suite view
There was a hallway leading from the living room to the bedroom and bathroom.
Four Points Nairobi Airport suite hallway
The bedroom featured a comfortable king size bed, a chair in one corner by the windows, and a TV in the corner closest to the entrance to the room.
Four Points Nairobi suite bedroom
Four Points Nairobi suite bedroom
The bathroom was large and featured double sinks, a toilet, a walk-in shower, and even a tub.
Four Points Nairobi suite bathroom
Four Points Nairobi suite bathtub
Four Points Nairobi suite shower
Since this is a Four Points, toiletries were in wall-mounted dispensers.
The one other thing I’d note about the bathroom is that it had an unpleasant odor. I’m not sure if this is due to the plumbing in the hotel, if it relates to water quality in Nairobi in general, or what.
All guests received complimentary Wi-Fi, and the speeds were fairly good.
For a (theoretically) limited service airport hotel, this hotel sure had a lot of services. The hotel had a beautiful bar and cafe just off the lobby, which had airplane themed art.
Four Points Nairobi Airport lobby bar
Four Points Nairobi Airport lobby bar
Four Points Nairobi Airport lobby bar
The lobby bar menu read as follows:
I worked from here for a bit, and had a delicious cappuccino, which even had airplane art on it.
Four Points Nairobi Airport cappuccino
I also had a mango smoothie.
Four Points Nairobi Airport smoothie
The hotel’s main restaurant, The Marketplace, is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and has both indoor and outdoor seating.
Four Points Nairobi Airport restaurant
Four Points Nairobi Airport restaurant
As a Platinum member I was entitled to complimentary breakfast here, which was available from 5AM until 10AM (I love the early start). This consisted of an extensive buffet, which was the best buffet I’ve ever seen at a Four Points. I’ll let the pictures speak mostly for themselves.
Four Points Nairobi Airport breakfast buffet
Four Points Nairobi Airport breakfast buffet
Four Points Nairobi Airport breakfast buffet
Four Points Nairobi Airport breakfast buffet
Four Points Nairobi Airport breakfast buffet
For an alternative dining venue, there’s Tazama Rooftop Restaurant, which is open for lunch and dinner and on the sixth floor.
Four Points Nairobi Airport rooftop restaurant
Right next to it is the beautiful rooftop pool.
Four Points Nairobi Airport rooftop pool
Also on the sixth floor is the hotel’s gym and spa.
Four Points Nairobi Airport gym
The spa menu read as follows:
Since I had been flying so much I decided to get a massage to hopefully help my back a bit. The 60 minute massage I had was very good, and cost under 45USD.
Four Points Nairobi spa treatment room
One level above the lobby the hotel also has a business center of sorts. It’s quite big, so I’m not sure what exactly it’s meant to be (was the hotel planning on having a club lounge at some point?), as it has tons of seating and only a couple of computers.
Four Points Nairobi business center
Four Points Nairobi business center
Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport bottom line
This is by far the nicest Four Points by Sheraton I’ve ever stayed at, and also one of the nicer airport hotels I’ve stayed at.
This is a beautiful property that’s conveniently located at Nairobi Airport, with complimentary on-demand shuttle service. The rooms are great, the food and beverage options are good, and the hotel even has a rooftop pool and spa.
I’d recommend this hotel in a heartbeat if you just have a quick overnight in Nairobi, especially given how bad traffic in the city is.
To Lara : yes from rooftop restaurant you can see planes landing .. sort of, it overlooks on one side the countryside and Nairobi in the distance and on other some sheds and the airport. It is nice but not luxurious, the shower gel/ shampoo is in cheap looking dispensers and the containers for soaps in bathroom are plastic, functional and very cheap looking. They leave the housekeeping door open all the time and the...
To Lara : yes from rooftop restaurant you can see planes landing .. sort of, it overlooks on one side the countryside and Nairobi in the distance and on other some sheds and the airport. It is nice but not luxurious, the shower gel/ shampoo is in cheap looking dispensers and the containers for soaps in bathroom are plastic, functional and very cheap looking. They leave the housekeeping door open all the time and the carts in the corridors ( This is my 4th stay). It is very comfortable and convenient to airport, nothing more.
I’m a Nairobi resident and tap water is perfectly drinkable.
The foul smell must’ve been a result of the hotel plumbing or the room occupant certainly not Nairobi’s water supply.
@Mark
Just curious, why is the ice and water used for cooking/ washing dishes (presumably) safe to consume but not the tap water you'd order at a restaurant or bar? When traveling through Central and South America, I've always tried to stick with bottled water but I never really made a point to ask about ice.
@steve Kenya looks like hell???? Kenya is absolutely beautiful!
@Steve there are many countries where you can't drink the water! Ice is generally made in purified plants or the hotel has it's own onsite purification system. If a western hotel serves you ice it's going to be fine (doesn't hurt to ask, as I just did in Mexico).
Why can’t you drink the water? Surely there was ice in the smoothie... Place (Kenya) looks like hell...
Lucky, in a case like this where you get little or no water, what do you do for the rest of your stay? Buy it from the minibar? Lug some back from a store?
Thanks for this post. We are traveling through NBO next summer and I've just emailed to ask them about staying for a day (arriving at 6am) and staying through the next day. Looks lovely.
Ugh. This is what frustrates me about Marriott and legacy Starwood. No wonder there is such brand inconsistency. Why is this a Four Points property? This hotel looks nicer than pretty much every Sheraton, Westin and Marriott that I've stayed at for the last two years. Maybe as nice as some J.W. Marriott properties. Of course, it's difficult to tell the quality of the furniture, bedding, fixtures, etc. but the design and the range of...
Ugh. This is what frustrates me about Marriott and legacy Starwood. No wonder there is such brand inconsistency. Why is this a Four Points property? This hotel looks nicer than pretty much every Sheraton, Westin and Marriott that I've stayed at for the last two years. Maybe as nice as some J.W. Marriott properties. Of course, it's difficult to tell the quality of the furniture, bedding, fixtures, etc. but the design and the range of amenities and food outlets is damn impressive.
BTW. Why do you always say this: "... thanked me for being a Platinum member"? You aren't platinum. You are AMBASSADOR.
Most importantly- does the rooftop area offer a view of the planes taking off and landing? :)
Technically, the Crowne Plaza (former Lazizi Premiere) is also "closest" to JKIA as it is also within the airport "security zone". The two buildings are just around 150 meters apart.
I've stayed at both properties multiple times and while the Four Points is excellent, the Crowne Plaza is slightly more upmarket and often offers better value on the room rate.
Curious how this compares to the Hilton Garden in Nairobi which I booked for 25k HHonors points. Thanks for the review as always.