The Lawford Kenya

The accommodation boasts beautiful swimming pools, a hair salon, stylish gift shop, and spacious, clean rooms with attentive staff. Its convenient location near amenities and attractions makes it ideal for exploring Malindi.

What an awful experience. The manager, Francesca, has absolutely no idea how to work (or speak) to customers. After confirming the breakfast rate with three various staff members, an hour after we had breakfast, they informed us of the new rate and Francesca insisted we pay that rate. She threatened to switch our power off if we didn’t pay the new rate. After not budging, and me telling her she should inform her staff to give the correct rates, she said ‘pay what you want, but don’t come back again’ and waved me off with the show of her hand while turning her back on me and walking away. She couldn’t even come to our table and ask to speak privately, she sent a staff member to say ‘the manager is calling you, you must come to the front desk’. I told her she’s not even giving me a chance to speak, summoning me to the front desk, and I am the customer. Her answer: ‘I can’t speak to you with other people around if there’s a discrepancy and I don’t have time to come to you, I am busy’. What pathetic management. The owner should really consider hiring a manager that’s suited for the hospitality industry and not have someone working for him that’s actually chasing customers away. We stayed for 7 nights in one of the apartments and were willing to pay the ‘new rate’ for the next 6 days, but yes, we were told not to come back by Francesca. With regards to the breakfast, everything is made beforehand (omelettes, scrambled eggs, etc), and absolutely everything was cold - the eggs, sausages, beans, chapati, etc. Cups were dirty. I had to ask for yoghurt. I had to ask for saucers for the cups. No plates were removed from the table. I cleared the table by carrying my own plates to the kitchen to make space. I also had to take my plate to the kitchen (and fetch it myself) to ask them to warm my food in the microwave. There is also a rubbish dump across the street from the entrance of this resort, and the smell is unbearable. I can’t believe Lawford’s does not do something about the dump across the street from them. Avoid this place at all costs. Rather eat at one of the local coffee shops or restaurants e.g. Bar Bar, or one or the other upmarket resorts such as Billionaire’s Resort or Diamonds Resort. This place has so much potential but with management staff like Francesca, it will just keep slipping backwards. For me to give a review like this is totally out of the norm. We’re on holiday and forgive and forget but being treated so disrespectful (and paying for it) is just unacceptable.

We stayed here over New Year, after a horrible check in and an even worse experience during the first night diner(Which they have solved by providing 50% discount on the bill) we discovered that money was stolen from our room during the last day of our booking. Since our lock of the suite was broken we are 100% sure the door was closed when we all left for a snorkeling tour. They must have known we left for the day, since not only in our room, but also in the room of our friends money went missing. They did not take all the money but just half of what was in our wallet, in order for us not to notice until it was too late. Management response was absolutely absurd and I have not even heard a single apology. By the way, no safe deposit box in the room, so we kept it hidden in our bags. In other words, they spend time to look through it all. Overall stay was horrible as well, but the theft out of the room made it a very bad stay and bad memory of the city. (From another friend of us her bag got stolen in a restaurant nearby.) I would hope there are better hotels in Malindi, so avoid this one