Garoda Resort — Hotel in Dabaso ward

Normally this wouldn't be a place I would book, but I was meant to travel with an Italian friend of mine for a weekend at the coast. Due to unfortunate circumstances, I ended up having to travel alone.||Without a doubt, this place is entirely catered to Italians. Not that this is a terrible thing, nut at the same time, all conversations were in Italian, the menu of the resort restaurant was in Italian, there is an Italian travel agency on the premises which is very clear with all the blatant marketing (too much to be honest, I don't want to be bombarded with its advertising directly in my ocean view), and the staff for the most part, other than at reception and the cleaners, are Italian. They literally brought in their own staff to cater to Italian tourists. You'd think they'd help the Kenyan economy, and hire more Kenyans.||This was Club Med for Italians...organized bocce ball, volleyball, Italian pool DJ, etc. If that's your vibe, great. The pool is nice, but man if you want to grab a seat with a beach view, you need to claim your spot at like 6am otherwise you will have a hard time finding a lounge chair. ||The resort is losing on good real estate by not including a beach front restaurant...instead it's totally tucked away by the 2nd pool. The food is underwhelming and expensive compared to other restaurants in the area. They upmarket drinks by 200ksh and food by 500 plus for less than subpar food.||The breakfast is okay, buffet style. All the normal foods you'd expect with the opportunity to order pancakes, crepes, or an omlette. It was also nice to have a self serve coffee machine and the option to select for a variety of coffees in the automatic machine.||The rooms were completely outdated and uite frankly not a good value of money for what we were asked to pay. Very basic. No shower gels (e.g. shampoo, conditioner, soap) was provided which is a basic necessity and standard in any hotel. That really upset traveling on an airplane, not being able to carry liquids in my carryon and then the hotel not providing bare minimum bathroom toiletries. Can at least provided everything in reusable bottles that get refilled to save money. I ended up having to buy something in the resort gift shop since the resort is not near any grocery stores that would sell these items. Talk about needing to pay 800ksh for something that sells for 300ksh normally. The mattress was absolutely terrible and only a top sheet was provided. The chairs in the room were stained and looked funky with the stains. The rooks could definitely use some love and care and a total makeover.||Finally, the customer service could definitely be improved. Most of the staff was rude and unenergetic and could care less about the substandard room amenities and didn't try to solve any of the room issues. The air conditioning also was unstable mind you. The other staff didn't bother to interact once they realized you were not Italian.||Overall, yes the resort is located on a nice part of the beach and in a key location, but not having a restaurant on the beach itself is a major failure. The substandard rooms not worth the money, the food also basic and not worth the price, and the customer service poor as well. Wouldn't recommend folks to go here until they make major investments and overhaul the whole place.||It's not good enough to just rest on your laurels and upmarket your hotel without adding...

We booked 5 days, extended twice and ended staying 14 days! We were treated so wonderful by all the staff and they truly cared that we had an excellent experience. It is an Italian Resort with lots of visiting Italians however, we were always greeted kindly by the Italian guests. |The beach is incredible with space to walk for many kilometres. |The kite surfing school is at the property to experience or enjoy watching. Low tide offers a spectacular aquarium. Our rooms (we changed 3 times when extending) were spacious and clean. The Gecko Resort is the apartment section of the Garoda Resort. There was an amazing pool with a bar there. Happy Hour drinks and snacks are served daily by the best bar men Shuku and David. All the cocktails are crafted with care and detail and made with fresh made juices and fruits. |The Garoda is a Resort offering breakfast, half board or full board. We took breakfast package and enjoyed the a la carte at the Gecko dining area. Chef Eric makes delicious meals nightly and is happy to craft the best seafood dinner you will ever have. There are also superb pizzas made in the wood fire oven. Erastus is the waiter who makes dinner always perfect! |Tumbo and the others at the reception were professional and friendly. The manager Elizabeth was so kind to make our extensions smooth and ensure we were satisfied. |The breakfast staff were also excellent at ensuring we were always had everything we needed. |We can’t wait to return. Thank to all the Garoda/Gecko staff for making our Watamu vacation so...

Compared to other resorts in the area, Garoda provides excellent value for money. The rooms might be a little dated, but they are clean and more than adequate. The resort effectively fosters a nice sense of community and interaction through its large and well equipped common spaces (including card game room and tv room and satellite bars), its buffet meals, and its free snacks with happy hour drinks every evening. Additionally, it has a kitesurfing school attached to it, which makes taking lessons very easy, especially if you're part of a group in which not everyone is kitesurfing, or not all at the same time. But maybe our favorite touch was the warm welcome at reception. The manager herself personally receives everyone and takes remarkable pains to address individual clients' needs, such as facilitating an adjustment to our booking on agoda.com. We felt extremely supported by the entire staff's efforts to facilitate the stay of us and our infant twins. Finally the stretch of beach is possibly the most beautiful in...