Waynebeesmith
August 31, 2025
We stayed at Diamonds Malindi for two weeks and sadly, it fell far short of expectations for a hotel marketed as 5-star. Having travelled extensively, including across Africa, I can say this resort does not meet that standard. Positives first: the location is excellent, the outdoor areas are beautiful, and the Terrace Restaurant was outstanding – both the food and the staff were superb. These were the highlights of our trip. Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives: After our first night, the air conditioning in our room leaked badly, flooding the floor. Despite maintenance being called, it got worse. We were refused access to the manager and offered a child’s room instead. Across the holiday, we were forced to move between three different rooms, and our son had to move between two, which ruined the start of our holiday. Even in the new rooms, maintenance problems continued: air conditioning broke twice, the shower handle came off, the door handle came off, and even the in-room telephone didn’t work. Basic service was poor: towels were often missing, beach towels were never available (staff even told us we “didn’t need them”), and we had to reuse the same towels for five days. Severe shortage of sunbeds: only 4 at the Terrace pool, 10 at the Garden pool, and 12 at the Beach pool. Even by 8am, no beds were available at the beach. Bars were badly run: service ranged from 5–45 minutes, and staff often disappeared. The pool bar rarely had ingredients for the menu, forcing staff to fetch drinks from Jahazi. At Jahazi, staff constantly disappeared into the back. On one evening there were no glasses, so we were served pints of gin & tonic and rum & coke. Coca-Cola was also unavailable at times. Onda Restaurant had a very limited menu (three of the items were pizzas), yet for the first week pizzas and calamari were not available at all. For such a small menu, this was unacceptable. Many areas are in poor condition. The pool by the Terrace Restaurant is missing many tiles, and the rooms are very tired and in need of refurbishment. This said there are some superstar staff working at the hotel and include Terrace Restaurant staff (Raphael. Nancy, Magdalene and Shukubu) and other staff of mention are James, Laura, Julius, Charles and Laurine. Overall, this was a very disappointing holiday. The location and some staff (particularly at the Terrace Restaurant) were excellent, but the constant problems, lack of facilities, poor service, and refusal by management to deal with issues meant our stay was not what we paid for. Diamonds Malindi is sold as a luxury 5-star hotel – in reality, it is nowhere close.
