I recently stayed at the Heron Hotel during a week long conference and business trip. The hotel is ideally located if you are looking to avoid the massive traffic jams leading into the BDC of Nairobi. Nairobi traffic can be very bad.

The rooms are nice, modern and have all ameneties any business traveller might be looking for. Reception staff are friendly and helpfull.

The restaurant is average by any standards. Breakfast is very mediocre and restaurant service was very slow and uncoordinated. It took 3 waiters to get me a fork, a knife, service and they still got my order wrong! clearly there is a lack of supervision or training there. The a la carte menu is ok but nothing to wrtie home about. Room service is ok.

The room stewards are very friendly yet slightly slow on the information intake. Cleaning standards are ad hock. One day the toilet paper is there....the other day its gone...Same with the shampoo and soap.

In all I enjoyed my stay and since the location is very business inducive I will return but hope to see improved guest service.

We stayed here one night, during our safari trip with Eyes on Africa Safaris (which is a company we do not recommend booking with!). The hotel is spacious, pretty, well secured, and rooms are spacious and really clean. Our room was on the first floor with a big bed, a living space area (very nice, with two seats and a large flatscreen tv), large bathroom with bath and shower, large closet for clothes, and minibar. There is free wifi available, which works well (though connection might be lost several times, but after logging in again, you can surf the web again). Staff were very friendly and helpful in explaining how to get to places. Staff in restaurant was less on top of things, but still nice. Food in the restaurant (dinner time) was good and we enjoyed the terrace where you can have dinner. We had a kenyan burger with spicy chicken and avocado, and a beef dish. Both tasted very good. Breakfast is good with plenty of choice: cereals, breads, pancakes, eggs freshly baked for you, fruits etc. If ever going to Nairobi again, I would definitely stay here again. Compared to other hotels in the city, the value for money is also pretty good here.

We decided to stay here because it was next door to the Kivi Millmani Hotel the starting base of our Intrepid Safari. The trip advisor reviews of Kivi convinced us to stay somewhere better.
We stayed 4 nights at the Heron , we picked up a hotel transfer and at check in the reception staff were friendly and hotel is decent. Hospitality staff are friendly and helpful.
The downside and there are a few: breakfast is mediocre (stay away from the eggs), bathroom has mould and the water pressure was poor additionally the walls are paper thin on two nights I listened to my neighbours TV and romantic moments.
However the worst aspect of staying at the Heron is theft.......originally booked for 3 nights because I had pre-paid accommodation at the Kivi I left my luggage in the luggage room I visited the Kivi and decided to book a further night at the Heron. On the same day I booked a tour of Keibra and did not want to carry the safari kitty to a slum area so I locked the kitty funds in my backpack, the total amount was USD$800 that night when I met my tour group I am missing USD$120 and could not pay the full kitty - I was happy that the full amount was not taken but had to run around Nairobi with a cab to replace the kitty funds stolen.
We searched our entire luggage and my since I counted my funds the day before ( I brought US dollars for specific purpose ) the funds were stolen while our bags were in the luggage room or within our room. In the morning I mentioned this to the reception staff but we did not have time to get a proper reply. Sadly and inadvertently, I had booked an additional night at the Heron which I had pre-paid prior to discovering the theft.
After my safari I stayed at the Fairview but had overbook a night at the Heron so I cancelled more than 24 hours before by was informed by the Manager (David) that cancellation policy is 48 hours and not due a refund though the T&C’s are not on the website, I requested a copy of the T&C’s which David has failed to supply.
Most of the Hotels in Nairobi have a 24 hour cancellation policy however the Heron has 48 Hours but nowhere in writing. So the Hilton, Fairview etc 24 hour cancellation policy.

So I would not recommend staying at the Heron - for a bit of extra money stay at the Fairview, it has excellent grounds, breakfast is 5 star quality, rooms are spotless and comfortable, proper water pressure , super friendly staff......... the Fairview is a 4 star hotel with 5 star service.
So avoid Heron there are plenty of good quality alternatives in Nairobi.

After staying for five days I found the Heron to have well equipped standard rooms with comfortable beds, a good desk, reliable wifi and an good if limited choice of TV channels.

The Bar, dining room and coffee shop were all attractive, but ruined by the clear problem of inadequately trained serving staff. In the case of the coffee shop there was also a lack of sufficient waiters and short order cooks, whilst there were excessive but badly organized bodies in the main dining room. I suggest that the hotel should look to recruit a short term advisor to retrain the front of house, and advise the management to dismiss supervisory staff unwilling to "get with the programme". I suspect that much of the problem comes from the places historic reputation as a "hire rooms by the hour" establishment.