A guest is served at one of Nairobi Serena's Restaurant.

A member of the Leading Hotels of the World, Nairobi Serena offers exceptional standards of accommodation, service, cuisine and amenities, only a walking distance from most city attractions, including art and cultural institutions, shopping and nightlife.

It is the natural choice of corporate executives conducting business in Nairobi or luxury adventure travellers en route to safari parks. The jewel in the Serena Crown, the Nairobi Serena is committed to treating guests with nothing less than the highest standards of care and attention. And this commitment becomes only too apparent to anyone sampling the hotel’s outstanding service and cuisine.

The hotel has a central location in beautiful garden surroundings. It nestles among the jacaranda, bougainvillea and acacia trees of the Central Park, overlooking the skyline of the bustling Kenyan capital.

The Serena’s elegant public areas that include two restaurants, Nairobi’s most modern swimming pool and a luxurious health and fitness centre, match the superlative accommodation on offer.

The Bambara Residents Lounge is an oasis of peace amid the bustle and features some outstanding examples of ethnic design. All bedrooms are air-conditioned and have both bath and shower. Their large windows have wonderful paranomic views over Central Park to the east and over acacia groves and gardens to the west.

Named after the Bambara community of Mali and designed around a West African theme with its hand-carved camphor wood panels, each depicting an African legend or superstition, the Bambara Lounge is reserved for hotel residents.

The Mandhari Restaurant is one of the country’s finest, where sophisticated international cuisine is offered amid elegant surroundings. Balcony tables offer vistas of downtown Nairobi.

Mandhari, which is Swahili for landscape, is Nairobi’s leading international a la carte restaurant, famed for its cuisine naturelle, discreet yet attentive service and intimate ambience. The restaurant is well patronised by Nairobi’s elite and offers a business lunch as well as an a la carte menu for dinner.

An impressive 60-foot Kisii soapstone mural of the Ngong Hills by local artist Joanie Waite provides the restaurant’s backdrop while the terrace provides views over Central Park and Nairobi’s skyline.

The all-day Cafe Maghreb is a popular meeting place with an extensive menu and al fresco dining area beside the pool. Cafe Maghreb was named after the Swahili/Arabic word meaning "west-of the setting of the sun". Its decor has echoes of Moroccan mud-style architecture and is reminiscent of the street side stalls of Marrakech and Tangiers, where the bitter sweet brew of spiced aromatic "kahawa" or coffee is poured from copper urns beside the crowded emporiums and bazaars.

Just like the Maghreb countries, Kenya is famous for its world class quality coffee, which is prominently featured in Cafe Maghreb. Besides the coffee, its culinary offerings reflect influences of both the West and the East in an informal and vibrant setting that is popular with Nairobi’s business community.

A different theme buffet lunch is served daily while breakfast is a choice of buffet with an impressive bakery display or a la carte and dinner is table d’hote or a la carte with a generous salad bar.

The hotel has two shops specifically designed to meet the needs of its discerning clientele.

The Hazina Gift Shop, Swahili for treasure, is aptly named as this boutique stocks a myriad of local treasures and crafts including jewellery, safari and leisure clothing and accessories, books engraved glassware in addition to many other fine gifts ideas.

The newsstand stocks a variety of essentials such as camera film, batteries postcards, stationery, toiletries, basic medicines in addition to a wide variety of international magazines and newspapers.

The hotel also boasts a hair salon, which is staffed by internationally experienced hair stylists.

In addition to hair cutting and styling, manicure and pedicure services are available.

For recreation, there is the Maisha Health Club, whose name is from the Swahili word for "life". Facilities include a swimming pool, sauna and steam bath, aerobics studio and massage and beauty treatment rooms. Guests may also take advantage of the nearby Royal Nairobi Golf Course where the hotel has corporate membership privileges. Additionally, horseback riding can be arranged through the concierge.

Special features include conference and meeting rooms that can accommodate from 10 to 200 people, with a business centre, fully equipped with fax, photocopy and e-mail.

The gift shop at Serena.

A wide variety of half-day and full-day excursions can be arranged, including Nairobi National Park, Karen Blixen Museum, National Museum and Snake Park, Bomas of Kenya dancing and cultural centre, city tour, Great Rift Valley viewpoints, Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru.

Amboseli National Park is a four-hour drive away. The hotel’s concierge team arranges everything from theatre and cinema bookings to museum tours or visits to Nairobi racecourse. In addition, they can arrange car hire, excursions, airline ticket reconfirmation, courier services, parcel and packing services as well as ensuring that all guests receive their telephone messages and faxes promptly.

The Aksum Bar (formerly the Kisima Bar) is spacious and boasts an Ethiopian theme. The name " Aksum" is derived from the ancient, almost mythical town Aksum situated on the Tegrev Plateau of Northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom of Aksum reigned as a political force at the heart of ancient Ethiopia up until the 13th century. The Nairobi Serena Hotel has tried to rekindle the ancient aksumite atmosphere, decor and spirit in its own Aksum.

The Pool Bar & Deck serves cocktails and drinks in addition to light snacks. The pool bar affords guests a pleasant al fresco dining experience around the hotel’s picturesque pool.

The most modern amenities can be found within the Nairobi Serena’s superbly appointed guest rooms, which were designed with both the Executive Business Traveller and the Safari Leisure Traveller in mind. The luxurious surroundings, with interiors inspired by pan-African design themes, are fully air-conditioned.

Each room is equipped with an electronic safe, mini-bar, hair-dryer, remote control TV (local channels, CNN, BBC, SKY, CFI, TV5, MNet, SuperSport, Movie Magic) IDD telephone and writing desk. All rooms also have en-suite marble bathrooms with spacious vanities.

The hotel boasts of seven suites: the State Suite; the Executive Bateleur Suite and five Businessman’s Suites. All suites are equipped with a plain paper fax machine, which doubles as a copier and printer, a mini CD/cassette stereo system, and VCR.

The State Suite (or Lamu Suite) is a one bedroom suite connecting to a second twin bedroom. Its living room includes a lounge area, a dining room, built-in bar and a private cloakroom for visitors. The bedroom boasts a king-size four-poster bed with a spacious dressing area and an equally spacious bathroom with jaccuzzi bath, twin hand wash basins, separate shower cabinet, bidet and WC. It is decorated in a traditional Swahili theme borrowed from the island of Lamu.

The Executive Bateleur Suite is also a one bedroom suite with a connecting twin bedroom and is decorated with paintings of the bateleur birds of prey, foremost of which is the African Fish Eagle.

The five Businessman’s Suites are designed especially for the travelling business executive who requires a separate working area or a lounge in which to conduct private meetings.

For interior design, the Serena Group philosophy of blending the highest international standards with traditional African design and materials is nowhere better illustrated than in the pan-African themes incorporated in the Nairobi Serena Hotel bedrooms.

The inspiration for the recurring motifs used in the intricate timberwork drawn from the designs of the Dogon people of Mali, particularly their fertility symbols. The themes are interpreted in the carvings of local mahogany and mvuli wood as well as brass fitting.

Local architects, who regard the artistry and architecture of the Dogon as among "the most astounding in Africa and their appreciation of form, massing and sculpture has an elegance beyond comprehension" identified the designs. A spokesman adds: "While their architecture and decoration is both functional and religious, it represents an area of creativity and elegance which we believe is synonymous with the elegance and originality that the Serena Group endeavours to achieve and portray through architecture and presentation of all aspects of their operations."

Susan Denyer, in her book, African Architecture, notes that "the layout of Dogon villages and houses is highly organised and expresses physically a complicated cosmology. Each house is said to represent a man lying on his right side in the position adopted in the womb and in the Dogon marriage bed, and the component part of the house represents individual organs of the body. Each village is twinned with another village, the two apparently representing heaven and earth."

The abstraction of one of the Dogon motifs has been used as a theme for the carpentry in the bedroom and this peaceful and yet exciting graphic has been developed indirectly and directly throughout the bedroom.

The Business Centre offers the business traveller Internet, copying, binding, fax, personal computers and printing solutions.

In addition, secretarial and translations services are available. The centre can reproduce business cards within minutes. Projectors, charts, televideo and PA systems are available in all function rooms.

The Serena Group was established in the mid 1970s with the aim of becoming the leading hotel group in East Africa. Today this goal has become a reality and Serena Hotels are recognised both locally and internationally as clear market leaders. Personalised and friendly customer service is the number one priority of the group.

Nairobi Serena Hotel’s reputation for uncompromising standards of quality has attracted a growing VIP clientele. They include: the Crown Prince of the Netherlands, Prince Willem Alexander, who is the Patron of African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref), legendary Italian film director Bernado Bertolucci, former United States President Jimmy Carter, former South African President Nelson Mandela, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Director of Unicef, Ms Carol Bellamy.

Other recent guest are Ms Catherine Bertini, special envoy of the UN Secretary General, German State Minister Ludger Volmer, former British Minister Baroness Lynda Chalker, former Presidents Ketumile Masire (Botswana) and Jerry Rawlings (Ghana).

In October, last year the hotel hosted the President of Ireland, Ms Mary McAleese. In December, Chinese leader Fu Quayou Fu visited the hotel. Some of the VIPs at the hotel this year include Mr William Gates Senior (January) and Ms Fama Hane Ba Director of Africa, UNFPA.