Bahari Dhow Beach Villas

Day 1: I order 2 beers. She brings 1 beer. I tell her I just ordered 2 beers. She then brings back 2 more beers. Sigh... My AC was not working the first night Day 2 of my 7 day trip and I regret not reading the reviews on Google first. The rooms are set up in dorm type of situation. The remote control is missing the cover. The batteries don’t work. The mattress is thin like I would imagine prison. The service at the restaurant is atrocious. The wifi is horrible. The TV choices are horrible. I had to call the front desk from my table to get any service at the restaurant. I'll probably book somewhere else just to not completely ruin my trip. The maintenance person has been to my room four times and my remote still doesn’t work properly. Day 3 at the beach and I am bonding with the guests at how bad the restaurant service is. Good thing I booked another place soon. Day 4: Cleaning people knock on my door 3 times until I finally opened when trying to relax. They don’t have Do Not Disturb signs like every other hotel. There 6 people at the bar nobody has even given me a menu. A White lady sits down after me and gets a menu within a couple minutes, 2 tables down. I had to call the front desk again, twice. It took 10 min to get a menu. Mind you I made contact with a waiter and pointed to my seat before sitting down upon arrival. I have been in Kenya for 3 weeks from Nairobi to Nyali and today instead of a chicken breast a Chicken burger is minced chicken. Then I do a reorder of fish and he ask me if I want it well done?? It’s not steak. So glad I booked another place. Don’t come here.

The first night, my laptop bag with a laptop and other electronics was stolen from my room. The management didn’t seem bothered. A roommate had heard someone trying to unlock their door and when we called the receptionist to check if everything was ok, they didn’t do anything

It is hard to find anything good to say about Bahari Dhow beach villas but I’ll give it a go: The rooms are spacious. The pools are very large. It is on the beach. It is cheap. In contrast it is easy to find fault: Staff are nonchalant , indifferent or inexperienced. The place is dirty, there was no housekeeping service, food was terrible, ‘restaurant’ was full of wasps, crows and cats. Furniture was falling apart. Frankly the place has seen better days and is in dire need of an overhaul.

Our family spent five nights here in a return visit because the beach front location is perfect.The staff are polite. However, unlike our previous visit, there were very few organized activities like Zumba, etc. Bahari Dhow has a lot of potential, but the management needs to spruce up the villas, improve the bathrooms, ensure kitchen is well stocked, linens upgraded, broken furniture replaced, etc. The management also needs to prioritize their residents over holidays and weekends. We were unable to use the pool because the hotel allows non-residents to pay and use the pool and it gets too crowded. If the hotel wishes to have public access swimming facilities, they should consider building a separate swimming pool in the grounds by the entrance to ensure that residents can enjoy the facilities throughout their stay.

We were privileged to stay at Bahari Dhow Villas between August 1 and Augus 6, 2023. We were attracted to the serenity of the facility, and the accessibility of the pools next to the villas (villa has three great and well-kept pools), which our children really loved, as well as its location on the beach (allowed us rest and dining at the beach). The highlight of our stay was the tasty food from the restaurant and great customer service from the reception team (Lillian + Jerome) to the workers (Steven), the waiters (Chai + Caxton), and the pool attendant (Daniel). These individuals made our stay enjoyable, and we would like to thank them! The villas are also spacious, with the kitchen having a good oven and fridge (even though the kitchen would do with addition crockery and cutlery). The flip side of our visit was the acceptance into the property of rowdy, party-going travelers that occupied the villa next two ours, two days to our departure. The last two days were characterized by rowdy behavior that included blaring music, from early morning, aimless consumption of alcohol including around the pool to some unwelcome making out in the pool! With a mixed crowd of families with infants and small children, to mature citizens as patrons, we would have hoped that the instructions were clear on the type of activity and behavior permissible in the premises. This was not the case and forced us to complain to the reception on two occasions about the music and general disruption. On the villar itself, we feel that a thorough cleaning is due, especially in the kitchen area (walls and electronics) and the lounge chairs (external and internal ones). Also, our mattress in the master bedroom may do with a change as we kind of sunk into the middle, ruining a good night of rest.

The hotel is run down. The TV didn’t work, no sandals or robes for guests. The first floor smelt of gas. No safe, windows don’t lock nicely, no insecticide to get rid of mosquitos, awful menu. The concept is good but the hotel seems to be grossly mismanaged. The staff is friendly. I would never stay at the hotel again. Over-priced! When you check-in, you are required to pay in full. They also require you to have a band on your wrist like a school nursery school child to show that one is a guest at the hotel. The staff is friendly, but not professional.

We decided to go for lunch together at the beach bar and also thought about looking into staying at the villas. Initial impression was that exterior of the some of the building need painting and fixing. we were shown A11 only to find that there is a lot of moisture in the walls which has been covered up with surface paint only. Door handle falling off the doors. On going back to the restaurant, we ordered a meal and drinks. It took over an hour for the meal to arrive and when being presented with the bill there was additional drinks on the bill that we had not ordered. disappointing indeed for a place with so much potential.