Kobe Suite Resort — Hotel in Dabaso ward

This hotel used to be magic. It was the best kept secret on the Kenyan coastline, and we enjoyed many years of wonderful holidays here. |Unfortunately, our trip for Christmas and New Year 24/25 fell sadly below expectations. ||There has been a management change at this hotel, and its not a good one. Beatrice and her staff that we have known for many years are still wonderful, but there is a marked change in the ideologies of the place that are a great shame. ||Until 2024, residents of the hotel were the clear priority. A few outside guests were able to book lunch at the restaurant each day, but the main focus was the hotel residents. Today, residents have to wait for tables for hours due to overbooking from outside guests. Meals regularly take upwards of an hour to appear. On one particular occasion, whilst waiting at the table, it took over 60 minutes for us to be told that there was in fact no power to the kitchen, and thus no food. Bizarrely, the F&B manager was sat at the bar having a cigarette, letting his staff apologise profusely to a full restaurant of upset people. ||The same guests that come in for lunch, somehow manage to book poolside beds. I suppose this is a new "beach club" style, which resulted in pool staff reserving beds from 6am for outside guests, so that residents could either only get beds around the family pool at the back, or had to wake up in the dark in order to reserve beds before the pool staff were awake. A bit like being in Benidorm.... 😩|On my last day, i left my towel on the only sun bed i had managed to find at the family pool, and returned from lunch an hour later to find my bed gone, having been moved by the pool staff to the top pool at the request of some late coming outside day guests. ||The issues all seem to come from the direction of the restaurant and the kitchen. The previously excellent restaurant runs out of literally half of their ingredients, all the time (another victim of the overbooking i assume). New Year's Eve dinner consisted of a seafood meal with no menu - the main course being a plate of lobster, prawns and fish with not a salad leaf, grain of rice, or a potato in sight. There was no vegetarian main course option, if you didnt eat fish, you didnt eat. ||This hotel was previously so lovely, and this review is not to take away from the great work of the waiters, housekeepers, front facing staff. But Kobe seems to be having an identity crisis. Is this a hotel with a charming little restaurant? Or is it an overbooked beach...

I was initially thrilled to stay at Kobe, based on the reviews; and Watamu is my favorite coastal town. This is my fifth time at coast, and third in Watamu. The rooms at Kobe are lovely; we stayed in a king room, with an “ocean view.” The view is partial, at best, and can only be seen when you’re outside or standing right next to the window. My sister and I were eaten up pretty badly by mosquitos inside the bed net., so bring extra spray. The bathroom is spacious, and separate from the bedroom, and there’s good light.

Only breakfast is included. For dinner we ended up ordering two meals, because the first one was inedible. The second one was very salty, and definitely not worth 2000ksh (pasta with half a lobster). We only ate here the first night during our stay. Too much good food in the Watamu area to order at Kobe more than once!

The ocean entrance is a two minute walk from the hotel. Some algae, but that could be the season. HOWEVER, in the morning until 12:00PM there’s a sandbar and the water is CRYSTAL clear.

The staff are friendly, and did a nice birthday song for me. There were a few who kept asking if my sister and I were staying at the property when we asked for towels… but the crowd runs older, so it could be that. J’en sais pas.

The rooms have instant coffee, and black tea, but no milk or other tea options… the brewed coffee at breakfast is instant, so make sure you ask for their French press if you want coffee! If you have dietary restrictions, their breakfast may not be ideal. Lots of bread and meat.

Can’t say I’d ever return. There are so many full/board and all inclusive hotels along the ocean that cost less per night, AND have good food; there’s no ‘vibe’ or vacation atmosphere at Kobe. The music is too low to hear, during the day time and evening time.

The beach has PUBLIC access, so if you stay somewhere else, you can always come by (I’d suggest 9:00 - 11:30 during low tide). There’s a wonderful sand bar! You can see small fish.

Checkout is very early at 10:00am, which is when breakfast finishes (7:30 - 10:00), and there’s another two hours of low tide, which is the reason to come to coast!

Hope...

Urgent: changes needed||A wonderful hotel that needs make important changes to keep its reputation and 4* rating. We have stayed at this hotel for many years and enjoyed its fabulous position, great ambience, excellent restaurant and delightful staff. However, there have been recent changes under new management that need addressing |Over the busy holiday period non-residents were allowed to pour in from the beach having reserved pool side beds for the day. 20 or more beds crammed together around the main pool available for a few dollars in preference to hotel residents who can only find beds around the family pool where small numbers of beds are available. If this is allowed to continue Kobe will become an overstretched beach club rather than a 4* hotel .|The second change results from new restaurant management. The food this year did not live up to its reputation as one of the best restaurants on the beach. Missing items from the menu, frequent overcooked food, a much inferior wine list- only a single white available by the glass- and if you don’t like South African chardonnay you have a problem. Where were all the splendid Italian wines previously available. Lastly, no interaction of the restaurant manager with the guests, which was previously a major feature, and little supervision of the restaurant staff.|This was until recently a superb hotel as confirmed by the many positive views reported on Trip Advisor. However, times have changed and the these new issues need to be resolved if the hotel is to retain...