The ONE, Watamu Bay is a four star, family beach resort that seeks to redefine the holiday experience, offering a host of leisure activities, pampering spa facilities and indulgent dining options to delight and inspire our guests. Watamu Bay is a small picturesque town located 20km from Malindi and is part of Kilifi County, The ONE resort is nestled off the coast of the Indian ocean in the breath-taking Watamu bay just a short 20 minute drive from Malindi International airport. Facilities include in-house Spa with a Jacuzzi, gym, some small retail outlets, water sports, plus other outdoor activities such as tennis, snorkelling and a children’s kids club play area . The resort also has 4 swimming pools. Enjoy African hospitality within our 2 Restaurants and 4 Bars. Our chefs are trained to the highest standard in East Africa. We delight our guests with either Traditional Local cuisine via a'la carte or Indulgent Buffet.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
That was one of our best stay as a family over the Christmas 2021. Top notch family destination. Very friendly staff, top notch food with different variety, well aerated rooms with ACs to ensure you're cool; you know how hot it can get in Coast! The place was fully booked and most families and guests were return clients. That tells you the place got a very good reputation. The pool was on point and kids were well taken care off by provision of water slides among other kids activities.
The only negative was power outages but on research we found out the whole of Malindi had the same problem. Kudos to the facility for having a standby generator.
This is a must return destination come 2022 and beyond!
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Date of stay: December 2021
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Â Ocean front rooms offer the best views
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We really enjoyed our stay in this hotel. After a very last minute booking (we booked the same day) we arrived too early, but the staff did everything possible so we could check in a bit earlier. The welcome was very sincere and we got some refreshing towels and a welcome drink. That was really much appreciated. Our room was basic, but okay and the ocean view great. The hotel facilities were clean and the breakfast / dinner was good. The dinner buffet varied on every day of our stay. Everybody working in this hotel always welcomed us with a smile and tried to make us feel comfortable. Thank you very much for this!
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Spent 6 nights during Christmas/New Year, beautiful hotel; good food, spacious rooms, kind staff especially waiters and pool staff. Hotel spacious & good for walks with fabulous sea view. Variety of indoor games. However, for a 4 star, hotel needs to pull up its socks: first 3 days no wifi in rooms & TV had only one Uganda news channel, water supply in room on/off (i called reception at least 4 different times during my stay), backup generator during power outages is for security lights only which i think is a bit risky for a hotel esp. in Kenya where power can go for hours/days, e.g first night, power went off for an hour and we sat in darkness waiting for its return before we could shower & go for dinner. By the way, taps also ran dry coz they use the power, so u cannot shower/use bathroom when there is a blackout!
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Date of stay: December 2022
Value
Location
Service
Room Tip:Â Sea facing rooms will provide an excellent view
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
If you are looking for a village resort where majority of the staff are local and semi illiterate, look no further than the one. Sad that they charged us Kshs 17,000 per head and ended up giving me and my family the worst service. This explains why they left booking.com and other online booking platforms and only require you to book directly from their facility. Over our 4 day stay, our beddings were never changed, the soaps are shampoos were never restocked and power outages were a norm. To top it all off, the food was horrible. How do you explain serving an all spicy buffet selection at dinner when your guests have small children? There was no alternative and our kids had to go hungry that day. On complaining to the manager, he acted like it was all news to him. He told us that he knew they had poor services and that he knew several guests would review the hotel badly. Did I also mention that their food was scarce and several food choices ran out before serving all guests? Mind you this was during the Christmas period when they had full bookings. Additionally some hotel staff wanted us to make local arrangements with them of swindling the hotel by telling us to pay half for our drinks directly to their mpesa number. This we bluntly refused. I really feel for the owner because if there isn't a total overhaul of the management at this facility, it will soon go to the dogs. Sad that this was my second time staying at the resort after having received a 5 star treatment in 2019. Thats why I decided to come back again. Never again will I set foot in this hotel. My sentiments are deeply echoed by other guests who stayed at the resort over the 2021 Christmas period. The one resort watamu:Thanks for nothing.
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Date of stay: December 2021Trip type: Traveled with family
Room Tip:Â Book your stay elwewhere
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My kids and I spent our Christmas holidays at the ONE Watamu and they met and exceeded our expectations. The kids were kept entertained at the kids club, where they served delicious kid friendly food options. There was always something for them to do, from fun water slides to awesome magic shows. They even had Santa give presents on Christmas Day to the kids.
I enjoyed a relaxing massage at their spa, the food was amazing with so many options especially for breakfast and Dinner. Very friendly and helpful staff.
Our rooms were always clean with all the amenities replenished daily. The Air conditioning and mini fridges worked well. Loved breathtaking views of the ocean, the beautiful sunset, the hotel ambiance and I also enjoyed the breezy scenic walks to the restaurant.
I will definitely be coming back and recommending you to my circles.
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Date of stay: December 2021Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I stayed in this hotel with family members from 24/12 to 2/1. We had 4 rooms. On the last day as we had different departure times I agreed to cover the bill for extras. We found out later that the hotel had wrongly billed us. They billed us for tabs incurred by someone else, they billed us for unsigned bills and different waiters seem to have charged differently for the same items. I called them back immediately I found out and asked for a refund which they agreed to make immediately. Unfortunately since then I have just been getting the run around with everyone I call saying they are checking with finance or they are waiting for approval. This is so wrong. The one please make this right.
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Date of stay: December 2021Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The rooms are spacious and clean which I really appreciated. I'd recommend requesting a room near the pool if you are with kids or enjoy the water.
The hotel staff were attentive and especially helpful in organizing local guides and several car hire options. The receptionist was helpful in giving tips about where to shop locally. Enjoyed my stay
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Date of stay: January 2022
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I stayed at The One for 7 nights during the Christmas Season. My extended family and I were in awe of the hospitality and warmth of the hotel staff. The younger children enjoyed the Kid's club which ran a kiddie menu that was delicious! The hotel staff were warm and friendly and always went the extra mile to cater to our needs. Their response to inquiries and concern for our well being was exceptional! We all thoroughly enjoyed the food. Kudos to the chefs who each day treated us to different cuisine ranging from Indian, Thai, Mexican etc. The poolside set-up and great music made dinner an unforgettable experience. My favorite chill-out area was the Malindi bar at The One where made wonderful and fun family moments, swimming in the pristine pools, playing pool and darts and having endless servings of ice-cream! Thanks The One for making our holiday extra special. We no doubt will be back again!
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Date of stay: December 2021
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Â Sea view rooms have a spectacular view
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We visited with Family over Christmas and we enjoyed our stay. The staff was friendly & we enjoyed the food during the Christmas & Boxing Day dinners & the Live Band was great. The rooms were clean, spacious and the views from the rooms are spectacular. My wife & daughter really enjoyed the various poolside activities and the kids loved seeing Father Christmas & receiving their gifts/presents. The hotel made arrangements for a boat ride to the Marine Park and also for the trip to the Watamu Snake Park which we really enjoyed. If looking to have a fun & relaxing time with family, I would recommend staying at The One, Watamu Bay. We will definitely visit again, Inshallah!
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Date of stay: December 2021Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The room was amazing! Spacious, with good aircon. The bed, excellent! There are several pools, and there's something for every taste: You have the busy pools and you have completely quiet pools where you can float and feel like you're miles away from everyone else in the world. Good food,very friendly service. Lovely situated on the beach Room 25: Coming back soon!
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Antonella,
thanks a lot for your question and the interest in our paradise.
Our Hotel Resort provides on 48 acres lots of facilities like:
2 Restaurants, Spa Center, Kids Club, 2 Pool Bars, Lobby Bar, Library, Shop and Conference center. Indeed the property is direct on the indian ocean with a white sandy beach. We do have a private beach access with several equipped beach beds, chairs and umbrellas as well beach towels. On the whole east coast of Kenya we are facing the magnificent nature wonder of low and high tide. That means during high tide you can swim direct from the beach access in the ocean. During low tide you have the opportunity to explore the marvelous beauty of our lagoon. During low tide of course the ocean disappear for miles and some coral stones are visible. For an nice low tide walk we do highly recommend to bring up some reef shoes. But our beach is without any rocks and corals at all.
We hope this answer could hep you out and we really looking forward to welcome you at THE ONE.
There are more places to choose from in the Watamu area.
PRICE RANGE
$111 - $232 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
KenyaCoast ProvinceWatamu
NUMBER OF ROOMS
150
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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